Today, Sunday the 8th of March 2015, saw another great day of in-the-field radio in Essex.
Several Essex Hams descended to Shoebury East Beach to try out their radio kit, work some DX and catch up with friends.
Band and WX conditions were good, with some good contacts made as a result of the ARRL International DX SSB Contest. It was also great to see so many people new to the hobby, coming down to ask for some advice, get some ideas, and soak up the atmosphere.
Over 20 people came along, including: Charlie M0PZT, David G3SVI, Dorothy 2E0NCE, Ed G8FAX, Jakub 2E0FTX, Kristian 2E0SSX, Laura SWL, Maj SWL, Michael M6HSH, Mike G1KOT, Myra M0MYR, Nick 2E0DVX, Peter G0DZB, Pete M0PSX, Phil G8LHW, Richard M0CLZ, Rob M6LMX, Sarah SWL, Steve 2E0UEH, plus a few family members and youngsters… oh, and Zena, of course.
Four HF and one VHF station were operating:
- Steve 2E0UEH was working the ARRL contest, mostly on 15m, from his impressive 10m pole
- Peter G0DZB working HF CW from the back of his motorbike,
- Kristian 2E0SSX and Michael M6HSH working DX from their car (and getting some excellent results too!)
- Pete M0PSX’s FT-857 was set up and made available for anyone to use – with most of the team working the special event station ED5LD in the afternoon on 17m.
- VHF was mostly on Pete M0PSX’s FT-857 with his home-made slim-Jim, or on the Yaesu FT-60 handheld. We switched to Rob M6LMX’s 2m slim jim to allow Laura (studying for her Foundation) to send a few /P guest messages.
A few firsts:
- Laura’s first time on the radio (thanks to Tony G1HSW for the help with a guest message),
- Rob M6LMX’s first experiences of working HF – Two contacts into the US on his first day – no bad start
- Plus, newly-licensed Michael M6HSH working 9 stations in the US on 10m at 10 watts on the FT-817.
As well as clocking up some radio contacts and sharing some antenna advice, nice to chat to a few family members and to those who’ve not been to a Shoebury East Beach event before – also good to see a few hams getting some exercise by “helping” with games of fetch, with the two keen canines in attendance. Here’s our favourite action shot of the day – makes a change from catching contacts…
All in all, a great day. Couples with yesterday’s Galleywood Common Activity day, a good weekend of radio!
Thanks so much to all who turned up – we’ve already had requests for a similar day of radio, so watch this space for details of upcoming events.
Excellent day out, look forward to the next one.
Nice to meet everyone.
Absolutely loved it today, in fact both days , here and at galleywood common yesterday, Thankyou to the organisers of both days, love the photos , was great to see so many people , and new licensees to the hobby too, hope everyone enjoyed themselves, xena certainly did, she’s out for the count now, best wishes all 73 xx
Hi Pete,
Nice day out, interesting to see other peoples approaches to going /P
Phil