The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Event 2nd - 7th June 2022
The Platinum Jubilee weekend saw some BADARS members operating the special event call GB2QPJ from the contest site at Stisted. The stations were set up on Thursday 2nd allowing us to operate on all the HF bands and also 6 4 2 & 70.
Thursday started off a little slow with only a handful of contacts. However Friday was an altogether more lively affair producing over 100 contacts across all bands. 40 meters turned out to be the best performing band on HF with the calls coming thick and fast until the static crashes and noise from the building storms caused us to close down around 19:00 BST.
Saturday was another busy day with Dave G0DEC working several stations via 6 meters both on SSB and Digital modes. The HF station was again very busy on a noisy 40 meter band with the odd few contacts on 20 meters thrown in. The day finished well with a hastily arranged BBQ in the evening enjoyed by all present. The score at the end of the event on Saturday Evening was 294 contacts across the bands and various modes, the majority were 40 meter SSB.
Thanks to all those stations that called in and supported the event and also thanks to the XYL's that signed the weekend passes for the operators.
To see some pictures taken at the event please to to our Gallery page.
73 de Geoff G1GNQ
The weekend of 16th & 17th October 2021 saw “Jamboree on the Air”
BADARS took part in the weekend by setting up and operating at 1st Castle Hedingham Scout Headquarters.
Setting up commenced on the Thursday evening with Colin M6NCU, Chris M7LGC and Geoff G1GNQ erecting the masts and antennas. This was done mostly in the dark with the assistance of some torches and scouts. The clubs Carolina Windom along with a V2000 Co-Linear and 70cms beam all set up with feeders routed into the building in readiness for Friday.
Friday PM the rest of the set up was put in place with HF, VHF & DMR being set up and tested. The testing on HF was expertly carried out by Mike G8DJO who on his second call managed to work a DX spedition station J5T on Bubaque Island Guinea Bassu
With everything working on the HF station, VHF was tried and operating OK so attention was turned to DMR. The Dual Mode repeater at GB3BZ was turned back on for the weekend to allow easy access to the Phoenix Network and all started OK until a problem arose with access from the clubs Motorola DMR Rig. After a lot of trial and a great many errors Dave G0DEC was able to clear up the problems by carrying out some minor adjustments to the DMR side of the BZ Box. Once this was sorted out Colin M6NCU was able to make several contacts which resulted in some young scouts being able to pass messages to a station in Sydney.
Our “Night Watchman” Tim G0JMT was all set up with his Motorhome at the scout HQ and so took advantage of the station to operate late into Friday night. Several contacts were made on 80 meters until closing down at around mid-night.
Saturday morning those that arrived early were treated to a breakfast roll of Bacon, sausage, and Black Pudding all prepared and cooked by Chris M7LGC in his capacity of Scout Leader. There was a steady stream of scouts attending throughout the day with a great deal of interest in all the various stations we had running and also a Morse Code challenge for them to try their hand at.
There was a large range of Morse keys on display and for use provided by Edwin G0LPO & Dave G0DEC. Several scouts tried their hand at sending their names and were rewarded with a small certificate for their efforts.
Saturdays proceedings were very successful with scout attendance dropping off at around 18:30 so most operators departed for home leaving our night watchman in charge again.
Sunday started early again with Chris M7LGC at the stove cooking breakfast for the early birds, Scout attendance was a little less on the Sunday morning but there were again several contacts made with other JOTA stations and the youngsters were able to pass greetings messages to other scout organizations. The proceedings concluded at 13:00 with members in attendance to assist with the taking down of the antennas and packing away. All in all a successful weekend enjoyed by both the Scouts and our club members
To see some pictures taken at the event please to to our Gallery page
Thank you to 1st Castle Hedingham Scouts for their hospitality at the weekend and we look forward to being able to return in 2022.
Geoff G1GNQ