[Waverley ARS] John Moyle Report

[Gordon & Kizny]

The tents are rolled, the coax is coiled...here is my report form the recent John Moyle Field Day Contest expedition to Cataract:

Firstly the numbers

Total contacts made: 368
Contest points claimed: 2000 - a nice round number
Operators: 10
Accidents/Mishaps: 0
Enjoyment Factor: 100%


The advance party arrived early Friday afternoon and began clearing out the hut on Campsite No. 2. Apparently the area has not been used for a few years and the buildings are scheduled for demolition so a fair bit of sweeping was in order. This was to be our HQ, cooking & eating area as well as operating position for VHF. It was also to double as emergency accommodation in the event of rain, but the weekend turned out to be gloriously sunny by day and comfortably cool by night. 

By 4pm more people had arrived and we began putting up our HF antennae consisting of 20 and 40m dipoles, and all-band Windom. Using the slingshot made the task pretty straightforward and allowed us to get as high as possible in the trees. The area was ideal for long wires as it consisted of several large flat camping areas surrounded by medium height gum trees. The hardest task was choosing the right trees to give the required distance. By this time, the trailer of equipment had arrived so we busied ourselves setting up the club's gazebo and tent along with personal tents.  The club's tent, by the way, should be made available for hire as a (1) hand-brain-eye co-ordination test for 9 year-olds;  (2) bonding experience for otherwise technically literate, practical and rational blokes; or (3) a Divorce Detector. The final pegs were hammered home in the dark after more than  a few cuss-words.

Three generators provided the 240v and pretty soon we were able to get some test signals out. Unfortunately there was not a lot of activity on the bands at that point.

The other challenging task was to erect our VHF and UHF mast, rotator and yagis. The rotator was apparently missing a vital part so it was decided to rely on the "Arm-strong" method to point in the required direction. The contest was due to begin at 12 noon local time so much effort was put into fine-tuning both 70cm and 2m beams. Finally after much heaving, they were up and in business.

As the contest took off, 40M sprang to life with contacts from VK1,2,3,4,5 & 7 hitting the dipole. There were 148 total contacts made on this band, by far the most successful.  Contacts on VHF and UHF began to build up during the afternoon as our operators grasped the working etiquette and found the calling frequencies.

Most other bands were sluggish, though perseverance paid some dividends, particularly on 20m in the afternoon. Our 20m - or was it 40m? - dipole actually refused to tune up on those bands but was put to use on 6m where it produced some useful QSOs.

As the evening got under way, 160m then 80m sprang into life on the Windom, with occasional 20m signals being heard. Rest assured we made the most of anything with even a slight chance of two-way contact. All the time, our 40m station was consistently pulling in the contacts from all points.

Some operators took the bop-till-you-drop approach while others decided a night's sleep was more attractive; and so we continued into the night, pausing only for our very welcome and well-prepared dinner.

Morning brought 40m back into the fray with a vengeance and persistence paid off still in the VHF/UHF department. The contest drew to a close at 12 noon local with a good two or three hours needed to take down all the rigging, pack up head home.

This is the full tally of contacts (log will be available in due course at the club or maybe it can be made available on our website):

160m    9 contacts    18 points
80m    98 contacts    196 points
40m    148 contacts    282 points
20m    18 contacts    36 points
30m    1 contact    2 points
6m    8 contacts    130 points
2m    55 contacts    858 points
70cm    31 contacts    478 points

Operators in attendance: VK2s BEH, BNG, CEC, FDGW, FLTJ, HHS, JAH, TUI, VE, VEC with support from FGKC and FHDK.

I think we all learned how successful a combined effort can be with all making a great contribution to the weekend. Everyone put in their best and the results made the whole thing a fun and enjoyable event. I'd like to especially thank Lyn VK2FLTJ and Brad VK2CEC who took on the catering and ensured everyone was well fed.  Everyone is to be congratulated on a fine co-operative effort, technically, practically and socially.

All in all, not a bad result for the club's first serious attempt at contesting in the field.

If anyone has further comments, please email me so I can follow up this report with observations and suggestions for future events.

Cheers all
73
Laurie VK2JAH






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