Back in May I installed my Tennamast and dual band EA270ZB13 2m / 70cm Yagi made by EAntenna. The antenna is 5 elements on 2m (10.8 dBi) and 8 elements on 70cm (11 dBi).
With the mast at full height, my antenna is 171ft ASL. Tonight I took part in my first ever UKAC 70cm SSB contest.
Some people I spoke to said conditions were not great and there was quite a bit of QSB. As this was my first proper go at 70cm SSB it’s difficult to know what good or bad is, but I did experience a bit of QSB on a couple of the longer distance contacts making exchange of details a challenge.
I set out hoping to reach the south coast and I achieved this with contacts on the Isle of Wight (Paul – G0GMY) and Northern France (Jacques – F1BHL).
I achieved a total of 27 QSO’s in the two and a half hours of which my furthest was to Jacques – F1BHL at a distance of 427km. The reason for the low number of QSO’s was mainly because I spent quite a bit of time listening, changing frequency and responding to calls rather than calling CQ, testing my equipment and focusing on the longer distance contacts to test my antenna. I’m really looking forward to the next contest as I am sure I will get many more contacts.
Some learnings from this contest:
- Get a headset
- Get a masthead pre-amp
- Get a frequency and call CQ
MAP SHOWING MY 70CM UKAC CONTACTS
Very much looking forward to next time!
Why not take a look at my YouTube channel here or Twitter posts here.
You can also register for my website here.
Thanks
73 de M0NWK
