2m Backpackers / PW contests this Sunday (13/06/21)

Activation Reports Pre-Planning
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This Sunday, 13 June 2021, there will be two contests of interest to portable operators:

It should be a great opportunity for lots of 2m activity across the UK. I thought a thread to share SOTA plans and to encourage people to get involved would be a good idea.

I intend to enter the RSGB contest in the 5W “Backpacker” section. The Brecon Beacons will be my closest high-ground this weekend, and the weather forecast looks good! My “plan A” is to get up early enough to summit Waun Fach (GW/SW-002) before the contest starts. If that fails (i.e. I am too lazy) then “plan B” is to activate Sugarloaf (GW/SW-011).

I can see one more alert for a contest station so will be looking out for an S2S opportunity with @MW0UCL on Fan Brycheiniog (GW/SW-003).

Does anyone else have 2m activation plans for the weekend that they want to share?

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I’ll be out tonight and tomorrow on the high Cairngorm tops and have taken my 2m beam. So, if anyone wants a practice for Sunday, look out for my Spots. I’ll have the handheld on 145.500 throughout.

73,

Fraser

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I’m going to be on Brown Willy (!) G/DC-002 on Bodmin Moor on Sunday morning. I was originally going to do HF only but I’ll bring my 2m Yagi and point it at Wales. If you’ve just spotted I’ll tune to your frequency but also spot myself so you know I’m QRV and could point my way if you are able and not in a pile up. :slight_smile:

John

Edit: I’ve just read the rules of the contest and the maximum power allowed is 3W. My radio has a 2.5W setting so I’ll try that.

Another Edit: :slight_smile: I now see the current rules are for 5W maximum power. The web page I found with 3W must be an old cached one. @MM0FMF The only thing I can find about self-spotting are in the general rules for VHF/EHF contests and it says it is not allowed on the DX Cluster. I am far from being an expert and if anyone knows if this implies no self-spotting on any system please shout out.

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There’s an inconvenient diary clash with G vs 9A scheduled for 1300z that day.

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There are specific rules about self-spotting in contests John. Even if you don’t intended to submit an entry it’s worth knowing the specifics so you can spot yourself and others in a contest acceptable manner.

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I’ll be on Gummers How. But will anyone else be doing CW?

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Andy @MM0FMF, after reading your post I thought I had better check.
Looking at …
https://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/rules/21rules/General.shtml
… the only reference to spotting I could find is:

h) Use of the DX Cluster, or any similar spotting network (e.g. ON4KST), is permitted.

It doesn’t mention any “acceptable manner” so I take it self-spotting on SOTA when QRV is okay.

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Well, I’m not sure I’ll be up for a SOTA trip this weekend, but if it’s a case of going to one of the many 150m high hills in Edinburgh and being a contact for stations in a contest for a few hours I could give it a go.

Dare I say it I could also take part with my Slim Jim, but I’ve never done a contest before and I’m a bit scared. Also I have no real S-meter on my D868 - am I to estimate signal strength from how it sounds or is it enough to say “RST 5-“?

Re serial numbers, is it that I have to record both their number in my log, and also my number in their log?

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59 of they are strong, 55 if not so strong. Its not important!

73 Phil

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  • Self-spotting on the DX Cluster network is not permitted during the contest.
    ON4KST or other live chat facilities are not allowed (active or passive) in the following contests.
  • The Backpacker Series of contests
  • The 144MHz and 432MHz Low Power Contests

Cross-spotting is allowed, self spotting is not

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I guess the SSB calling frequency of 144.300 sounds like a good frequency to call CQ contest on?

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No, for very obvious reasons.

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I guess I need to give up on the idea of competitions. :). But I wasn’t suggesting doing the QSO on the calling frequency that would need a QSY to somewhere else which isn’t very slick. Contests are a mystery to me. Do folk just choose a free frequency and call CQ in the hope someone finds them? Perhaps they do.

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If you sit calling CQ contest on .300 where do people not in the contest call for non-contest QSOs?

It will become clearer how the contests work when you’ve heard one but like HF contests, you pick a clear Freq and call. Then give everyone 59xxx reports ! :slight_smile:

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Thank you. I’ll get the hang of this eventually. :slight_smile:

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New to contests other than UKAC myself I did look at the rules today in the hope I would be compliant on Sunday without being actually competing . Self-spotting will disqualify me - but not my contacts and so will calling on 144.300 ± 5 MHz. As I probably will not have 2m ssb with me and will concentrate on 2m FM this should not be a problem. There appears to be no mention of 2m FM in the rules.
73,
Rod

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Hi Rod

The heading section of the rules lists the modes : SSB, CW, FM, AM, JT6M, ISCAT and FSK441

Not sure how active FM will be though - most seem to prefer SSB/CW in mixed mode contests

Cheers
Rick

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ive not done any contest activity for some years now, also not been on a summit for 6 years, think i should start again and get my self back into shape, never got a great scorer but deffo loved the conditions, last sota contest was wioth GD3YUM & M0SGB (check my qrz.com) over on the Island of Man good times, but i will give some points out this Sunday i think.
Steve m0sgb

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Ah, I’m not an RSGB member so can’t enter the Backpackers it seems? Not really my thing and I wouldn’t get anything from being a member I think so I’ve never bothered. This is stuff I’m learning for the first time today as I’ve never looked up contesting really until now.

Which means that I’ll just go out for a few hours tomorrow and essentially just be a contact for folk, I guess.

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So who is standing up for your rights and privileges against loss of bands?

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