Author Archives: Dan McGraw

In September 2017, 6 members of CUWS: DK2AB, G3ZAY, G7VJR, M0BLF, M0WUT, M0ZXA plus DH5FS operated from Ile aux Marins off the island of St Pierre. This was a short 6 day operation but in this time, over 10k QSOs were made, in particular over 1000 on 160m.

Day 1 (17/9/2017)

Most of the team before departing Gatwick: (l-r) M0WUT, M0ZXA, DK2AB, G7VJR, DH5FS, G3ZAY Photo: M0BLF

The team set off from Gatwick airport on the Sunday morning and after an uneventful flight arrived at St John’s where we had lunch with Rick, VO1SA.

Rick, VO1SA

We then caught a second flight to St Pierre where we spent the evening in Hotel Robert and met FP5CJ for dinner.

 

Day 2 (18/9/2017)

We shopped for provisions and then caught the ferry for roughly 200m to get us to Ile aux Marins.

We then began setting up and started on 20m CW and quickly got a large pile-up but managed to work several fellow Camb-Hams including M0VFC, M1BXF and G3PJT within the first 100 QSOs.

We then kept building stations and started working people as each station was complete. At full strength, we had 5 stations, 4 K3s running barefoot and 1 KX3 running into a Juma PA1000. Operation was mainly CW but there was a substantial number of SSB QSOs and several hundred on the new FT8 data mode. Antennas were all vertical with the exception of an inverted-L on 160m. Due to the house having WiFi, all QSOs were uploaded to both Clublog and LotW within 5 minutes thanks to M0VFC and M0BLF. The pile-ups were good particularly considering the state of the sunspot cycle currently, with some fairly notable DX including working the 5T5OK DXpedition on several bands including 160m

QTH for the week

Day 3 (19/9/2017)

We were visited by FP5AC who visited our QTH and kindly brought us some gifts.

FP5AC with M0BLF.

Dom M0BLF also did a shack tour which can be found on Youtube here.

Day 4 (20/9/2017)

On the Thursday we attempted the first SOTA activation in the newly formed FP SOTA list. M0BLF and M0WUT climbed Le Trépied and activated it, only just making the requisite 4 QSOs due to the antenna showing very high SWR and Thursday lunchtime being a poor time to work local stations. However we did manage to work RU3GF so there was some DX there.

View of Ile aux Marins on the descent and the cairn at the summit.

 

Day 5 (21/9/2017)

Today, we were interviewed for TV St Pierre which was also repeated on French national television.  Michael G7VJR and Dom M0BLF were interviewed.

Day 6 (22/9/2017)

As this was the last day, the main thought was dismantling the stations, as the lower bands closed these stations were taken down with 20m being run until the last minute. Final QSO count was over 10,500. We packed the equipment, had lunch at the excellent Maison Jezequel on Ile aux Marins and most of the operators caught flights home that evening.

QSL is up to personal operators preference, listed on qrz.com but mainly we will use Clublog OQRS, as discussed above, all QSOS that we have made have been uploaded to Clublog and LotW.

 

 

 

CUWS 2017 DXpedition to FP

The CUWS DXpedition for 2017 will be to St Pierre and Miquelon. A team of at least 5 members (G3ZAY, M0BLF, M0WUT, DK2AB, G7VJR) plus guest operator DH5FS will be active from Ils aux Marins from 18th September – 22nd September. More operators may be confirmed at a later date.

The team will be active on HF in both CW and SSB and there may also be some operations via satellites.

Operators will be active under FP/ homecall. QSL preferably via Clublog OQRS or via operator’s homecall.

Michaelmas 2012

Welcome to all our members, old and new, to the new year.

There are a number of activities planned this term, with more to come.

Firstly, to our new members, if you haven’t yet had a chance to visit the shack contact Martin G3ZAY who is arranging visits. Also anyone who is interested in taking any level of Amateur Radio exam in Cambridge (student or not) should contact Martin for details.

At the end of October is the CQWW DX SSB contest, in which we usually make a competitive entry (for the past two years we have set new English records in our category). Contact Dom M0BLF for more information or to find out how you can get involved with operating.
If you want to see what the contest is about, but don’t fancy operating, then feel free to come along to the shack any time on the 27th or 28th October to see the contest in action.
Volunteers are also needed the weekend before, and the Monday and Friday either side of, the contest to assist in erecting and then dismantling the additional antennas we use for the event.

If you would like to start contesting with something a bit easier, we also enter the weekly RSGB UKAC – these are contests on VHF and UHF bands which last for 2.5 hours every Tuesday evening. Feel free to come along and join in (or just watch!)

Also this month is the annual RSGB convention, to which a number of our members will be going and some presenting. There are a number of talks on a variety of subjects, and tickets are available on the door if you are interested in joining them.

Finally, every Thursday we have an informal meeting in the Maypole pub at 8pm, which is a great chance to get to know fellow amateurs in the area. It is also a great chance to ask questions about almost anything technical – our members have interests and expertise ranging from mathematics to electronics, engineering and computer science!

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at chairman@g6uw.org.

William (M0ZXA)
CUWS Chairman

CUWS AGM

The Cambridge University Wireless Society Annual General Meeting will take place on Thursday 10th May 2012 at 1915.

This is one of the most important events of the year for CUWS and the meeting will only be valid if sufficient society members are present, so please do come along if you possibly can – the meeting is very unlikely to last more than about half an hour.

Date: Thursday 10th May 2012
Time: 1915
Venue: Syndicate Room 1, Wolfson College, Cambridge

Syndicate Room 1 is in the Chancellor’s Centre. From the front (Barton Road) side of College, standing at the flagpole looking towards the Porter’s Lodge, the Chancellor’s Centre is the building with the clock on it along the road to the left.

Agenda
1. Reading, amendment if necessary, and adoption of the Minutes of the previous AGM.
2. Presentation and acceptance of the Secretary’s report on the activities of the Society since the last AGM.
3. Presentation and acceptance of the Junior Treasurer’s report and audited accounts for the previous financial year.
4. Election of the officers of the Society for the coming year.
5. Any other business.

Notes
The Chairman, Secretary and Junior Treasurer for the coming year will be elected. If you would like to stand for a post, nominations should be made in writing to the Secretary at least 24 hours in advance of the AGM, or to the Chairman at the meeting at any time up to the start of the election for the relevant post.

If you would like to raise a matter in ‘Any other business’, it would be appreciated if you could notify the Secretary or Chairman in advance of the meeting.