Exercise Blue Ham - a successful weekend

5 minute read

The station was set up on the day before and the antenna tuned.

AARC Chairman Matt 2E0FNT at the dipole centre

We used the Club callsign MX0IOA, which is a Full callsign, Richard G7LEE was the licence-holder in charge of the station. This meant the members with Intermediate and Foundation licences could use the Club call under supervision. The 5MHz band is currently restricted¹ to Full licence stations only.

update: Exercise Blue Ham have validated our 72 contacts and issued a certificate

We log using paper, rather than a computer, though we use a computer for getting feedback on our signal from RAF Hack Green SDR We usually have a separate person logging, who can listen to the signal using a CAIRO dual operator box if we aren’t using a speaker output. Conditions were good this weekend, so we were able to use a speaker most of the time. I operated solo on some of Sunday morning and logged at the same time, it is possible to operate, log and track duplicates at the same time but more of a challenge.

Saturday 7th March 2020

Matt 2E0FNT and I started at 8am, the first hours started a little bit slowly but soon began to speed up. Thanks to RAFAC for allocating some stations as frequency agile, this kept us on our toes with MRE34 worked on five different frequencies in the morning. Some stations stayed on one frequency for most of the day. We used some of the techniques refined by Mike 2E0RWW last October.

It was great to welcome Andy G7KNA who is the RSGB Region 11 representative for our area and we put his operating and contesting experience to work at the mic - we had a good number of operators - Matt 2E0FNT, Steve 2E0OSS, Callum M7AJO and Andy G7KNA

Some of the earlier cadet operators noted the echo on our signal, we were using a boom mic on a headset to try and reduce the ambient echo from the hard surfaces of the Scout Hut, but it seems we still have some way to go. Part of a QSO with MRE34 recorded at Hack Green near Manchester using 100W.

Sunday 8th March

Our antenna survived the 48mph gusts overnight, the SWR was checked before going live. It was a slow start to the day, and we still suffered problems with echo. We are considering switching to something like a noise cancelling mike. These have to be used extremely close, almost like a lip mike. Switching to a hand mike in the afternoon helped if used very close.

Results

Looking at the alphacharlie logs ² we were nearly but not quite pipped by G8UWW near Bedford. Our club callsign is both a slightly unusual format with the Mike X-Ray prefix and more susceptible to transcription errors on the I and zero, but this caused a lot less trouble this time than in October.

Like last time some of the cadets became more skilled across the weekend,and reporting was tighter this time, with fewer transcription errors. More activity kept us Amateur radio operators on the ball. Congratulations to the cadets on their hard work and the trainers who brought cadet skills up to a high standard..

Audio samples recorded at RAF Hack Green

Propagation was kinder to us than to Hack Green this weekend for some reason, signals were clearer to our site than received at HG in general. It is tough to record a 100W sideband QSO locally because the RF gets into audio gear - my scanner Yupiteru MVT7100 does not work that well in the near field of the antenna even with a 50 ohm term and attenuator on. The RF seems to get into the IF or audio stages. Hack Green is closer to the centre of activity with Blue Ham than Glastonbury, but perhaps their antenna system favours DX rather than NVIS.

MRE44A in IO75sv near Glasgow on 5.379MHz

MRE44A again, on 5.301MHz - this station moved frequency more than most, it had an experienced operator at the controls

MRE72 using a Clansman PRC320 in IO94ta near Hull

MRE53 in IO81sm just NE of Bristol quite near us over the Mendip hills

Not every contact is possible, we do OK getting to Scotland with MRE44A but struggled to complete this contact with MRE21H

MRE21H in JO01bs near Harlow

We did get MRE21H at a later time, there was just a bit too much fading on this attempt.

Contacts for MX0IOA = 72

MRE34(5304), MRE33(5.2785), MRE34(5354), MRE44(5.395), MRE34(5398.5), MRE21(5320), MRE44(5.398), MRE21(5379), MRE34(5403.5), MRE21(5278.5), MRE12(5.278), MRE12(5.403), MRE34(5371.5), MRE33(5.379), MRE53(5.395), MRE21(5.335), MRE44(5.304), MRE34(5363), MRE21(5.354), MRE12(5.304), MRE33(5.304), MRE44(5.301), MRE10(5403.5), MRE34(5320), MRE21(5.395), MRE21(5.304), MRE34(5379), MRE34(5395), MRE53(5.335), MRE44(5.32), MRE10(5395), MRE44(5.354), MRE44(5.371), MRE34(5278.5), MRE12(5.398), MRE70(5335), MRE44(5.298), MRE10(5320), MRE44(5.278), MRE13(5.301), MRE33(5.395), MRE13(5.2985), MRE72(5398.5), MRE21(5.2785), MRE34(5298.5), MRE13(5.3985), MRE44(5.363), MRE13(5.304), MRE70(5371.5), MRE21(5.379), MRE72(5304), MRE44(5.379), MRE53(5.3985), MRE33(5.335), MRE21(5304), MRE13(5.32), MRE21(5.4035), MRE13(5.395), MRE72(5371.5), MRE44(5320), MRE72(5379), MRE53(5.379), MRE72(5395), MRE13(5403.5), MRE51(5.403), MRE44(5.335), MRE33(5.363), MRE13(5.3715), MRE33(5.403), MRE72(5335), MRE70(53790), MRE10(5298.5),

Contacts for G8UWW = 71

MRE34(5335), MRE33(5.2785), MRE34(5354), MRE44(5.395), MRE34(5398.5), MRE21(5320), MRE44(5.398), MRE21(5379), MRE33(5.301), MRE21(5278.5), MRE34(5371.5), MRE33(5.379), MRE44(5.304), MRE33(5.335), MRE21(5.395), MRE21(5.304), MRE34(5379), MRE53(5.335), MRE44(5.32), MRE44(5.354), MRE34(5278.5), MRE12(5.398), MRE70(5304), MRE70(5335), MRE44(5.313), MRE44(5.298), MRE44(5.278), MRE13(5.301), MRE21(5.335), MRE10(5320), MRE72(5398.5), MRE33(5.395), MRE13(5.2985), MRE34(5298.5), MRE13(5.3985), MRE21(5.301), MRE44(5.363), MRE21(5.354), MRE13(5.379), MRE13(5.304), MRE70(5371.5), MRE12(5.304), MRE44(5.379), MRE53(5.3985), MRE34(5395), MRE13(5.354), MRE21(5304), MRE72(5371.5), MRE13(5.32), MRE10(5403.5), MRE53(5.363), MRE21(5.4035), MRE21(5.2785), MRE51(5.313), MRE72(5379), MRE13(5.403), MRE53(5.379), MRE34(5301), MRE34(5363), MRE51(5.403), MRE33(5.363), MRE44(5.335), MRE36(5325), MRE34(5304), MRE33(5.403), MRE53(5.2785), MRE72(5395), MRE72(5335), MRE70(53790), MRE10(5298.5), MRE13(5.3045),

We had to strike camp about 10 minutes short of the 5pm end because the Scouts needed their hall back for another event.

Summarised by the RSGB as “Frequencies at 5MHz are available on a secondary basis to holders of a UK Full Amateur Licence. The maximum permitted output power is 100 Watts from the transmitter and 200 Watts eirp from the antenna. Mobile operation is not allowed.” ↩
This page gets overwritten by following Exercise Blue Ham events so will only be current for a couple of months. The boilerplate header still says 2018 at the time of writing, but the script takes in the updated QSOs ↩