RotA 2014

Location

The Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust are based at the former Midsomer Norton South Railway Station. The postal address is Midsomer Norton Station, Silver Street, Midsomer Norton, BA3 2EY. However, there are some specific details that will be of interest to radio hams:

• Lat/Long: 51.281077°,-2.482759°
• IARU: IO81sg
• IOTA: EU005 (UK Mainland)
• WAB: ST65 – England

Introduction

The weekend of 27/28 September, aside from being the weekend of the National Hamfest, was the weekend set aside for Railways on the Air. This is one of our bigger special events and it is our fourth year of operation.

We were blessed with good weather on both days and a good turnout of members and visitors throughout the weekend.

As last year we set up our HF SSB station in the carriage adjacent to the buffet car. The carriage had been altered since our last visit and allowed us to face the door whilst operating so as to be able to greet any visitors, although this meant that visitors first perceptions of us, aside from our sunny demeanour, was the back of the rig, ATU and PSU and its associated cabling which is not, perhaps, the most attractive view and something that even our youngest members were unable to fully compensate for.

Setting up on the Saturday morning went more or less to plan until it came time to put up the antenna. Last year had shown us that a half size G5RV at 15.55m (51 feet) in length fitted nicely between roach poles strapped to either end of our railway carriage, with the standard railway carriage length being 19.5m (64 feet) and our plan was to repeat this arrangement this year.

Unfortunately, and unbeknown to us, the vertical "handrails" at either end of our carriage had been removed as part of the refurbishment/restoration/conversion process. This was a shame as last year the carriage had formed a really useful prop to the end of antenna supports.

This year we had to resort to using the rail on the adjoining buffet car at one end and on a locomotive a couple of wagons away at the other end. In and of itself not a major problem, but it did mean that the roach poles had to do much more work this year as instead of having the full height of the operating carriage to resist the tension from the antenna self weight and wind load, this time they had to rely on their own tensile properties and a couple of velcro staps at the base and about 1500mm above the base.

The inevitable happened, and as the antenna was drawn up to provide something approaching a horizontal line the tension was too much and the roach pole at the buffet car snapped its second telescopic section.

It wasn’t the end of the world, collapsing that section into the base restored sufficient structural integrity all be it at the expense of some height which if Louis Varney is to be believed is of little importance over the last sixth of the antennas length in any case. But it did make us more circumspect about tensioning the antenna with the result that this year our antenna was a bit of a droopy affair!

Never the less, aside from this setback we were on air. Our first contact at around 11:45 BST was GB5ABA the Special Event Station for the West Midlands Air Ambulance, they are fund raising through their QSL cards and donating proceeds to the West Midlands Air Ambulance. There was a small pile-up trying to work Neville but we managed to crack through it on the first or second call so we felt our station was fine even if the aesthetics could have done with a bit more work. A similar result occurred with our first RotA contact of the day with GB1BAS the Bickershaw and Abram Railway Station when we punched through the pile-up there too!

Not all pile-ups were as easy to crack, Pete G0DRX initially failed to emulate the success of both Andy G7KNA and Dave G7BYN although he made many contacts and is to be congratulated for having reserves of feeder which was to prove invaluable through the weekend.

The day moved on in this fashion as we took turns between operating, logging, chatting to visitors, many of whom were lapsed hams, touring the station. By the end of the first day we had logged 42 contacts including 14 other RotA registered operations, 5 other Special Event Stations and 2 members of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust who used Amateur Radio to pass their apologies for not being able to get to the AGM.

Thanks should go to the members of SBARC who turned up and supported and helped, in no particular order: Andy G7KNA, Dave G7BYN, Henryk M0HTB, Peter G0DRZ, Eddie 2E0LJT, Tania 2E0TUK, Josh 2E0DSR and Doug G1TYK and anyone I may have inadvertently forgotten

On the Sunday we were joined by a couple of our younger Foundation Licensees who took the opportunity to operate the Special Event Station.

As the antenna had been left up overnight setup on the Sunday was more efficient and we opened our account shortly after 10:00 BST with a QSO with North Norfolk Railway to set the tone for the day. We found that new RotA registered stations were thinner on the ground today, although we had changed our operating method a little and were working less Special Event stations as we were calling CQ rather than hunting and pouncing. As a result our early work rate was quite high with 15 QSOs in the first hour.

As things were ticking along quite nicely in the afternoon as a “proof of concept” experiment we decided to try to set up a PSK31 station. This consisted of:

• Yaesu FT-857 HF/VHF/UHF Multi-mode 100W transceiver;
• 20m Full Wave Delta Loop Antenna with ability to work 30m as a loaded full wave loop, 40m as half wave inverted V-dipole and 15m as a 1.5 wave inverted V-dipole;
• Watson Power Mite NF25 Switch Mode Power Supply;
• LDG Z-11 Pro Mk I Auto ATU;
• Signalink USB Digi Modes Adapter;
• Diamond SX600 SWR/Power Meter; and
• Acer Aspire 1 Intel Atom Netbook running Elementary OS (a combination of Ubuntu and Enlightenment Desktop) using FLDigi for PSK31.

It took a little while to get set up, the antenna was constructed around the static goods wagon that forms a feature near the Trust’s museum, and the station itself was set up in the gazebo outside out operating carriage and adjacent to the buffet car.

30m wasn’t really that active for data so we switched to 20m. Conscious that we were now working two stations with antennas in close proximity on harmonically related bands we were expecting some issues with interference but nothing manifested itself. Part of this might have been the fact that the antennas were cross polarised, that is the half size G5RV was horizontally polarised whilst the top fed Delta Loop was vertically polarised plus the G5RV was radiating more or less north-south whilst the Delta Loop was more or less east-west.

We didn’t have a great deal of operating time on PSK31 but we managed to have 6 QSOs in PSK31 with stations in Italy, Norway, Germany, Austria and Spain. Most enjoyable was the contact with IN3GNV Giovanni who went away from the standard macro driven rubber stamp QSOs for a personal keyboard to keyboard QSO. Andy G7KNA was operating the PSK31 station at the time and was more than willing to reciprocate with equally non-macro responses and information. In fact the two had worked before, on 17 September 2010 Andy G7KNA operating as GB2BLE from Lundy Island had an equally enjoyable and unscripted QSO with IN3GNV just before the station was packed up for the year. It was memorable precisely because it was personal and not macro driven.

Thanks for help and support on the Sunday go, in no particular order, to Andy G7KNA, Dave G7BYN, Henryk M0HTB, Tom M3TWJ, Ashley M3USP and anyone else who might have been forgotten.

GB0SDR Log

Date of Contact	Time	Station Worked	Band or Freq (MHz)	Mode	TX		RX		Operator’s Name	QTH	IARU Locator	Distance (km)	Notes
					RST	No.	RST	No.
27/09/2014	10:47	GB5ABA	40m	SSB	59		59		Nevil	Walsall
27/09/2014	11:13	GB1BAS	40m	SSB	59		59		Jason	Bickershaw			RotA Bickershaw and Abrham Railway Station
27/09/2014	11:17	GB14NH	40m	SSB	59		59		Jamie				Newark Radio Rally
27/09/2014	11:35	GB0GNA	40m	SSB	59		59		Carl	Hartlepool			A013 International Air Ambulance Week WW1 Gun Battery Museum
27/09/2014	11:47	GB0ELR	40m	SSB	58				Steve	Ramsbottom			RotA East Lancashire Railway
27/09/2014	11:56	GB2LHR	40m	SSB	59		59		Bill				RotA Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway (WAB: SD38)
27/09/2014	12:06	GB5RSR	40m	SSB	58		45		Peter	Preston Lancashire			RotA Ribble Steam Railway
27/09/2014	12:13	GB2RGM	40m	SSB	56		59		John	Waltham Abbey			RotA Royal Gunpowder Mills
27/09/2014	12:20	GB1PCA	40m	SSB	58		59		Andrew				Special Event station run by Llanelli ARS to promote the awareness of Prostate Cancer in men in conjunction with Prostate Cancer UK – see QRZ.com (IARU: IO71wq, WAB: SN51)
27/09/2014	12:25	GB2EVR	40m	SSB	59		59		Mike	Appleby Cumbria			RotA Eden Valley Railway (Extension to Stockton and Darlington Railway)
27/09/2014	13:10	GB0BR	40m	SSB	59		59		Mike	Horsted Keynes Station	IO91xb	170	RotA Bluebell Railway
27/09/2014	13:11	F5VIG	40m	SSB	59		59		Mike	Brittany
27/09/2014	13:20	G8NEO	40m	SSB	59		59		David	Cromer
27/09/2014	13:24	MX0NBC	40m	SSB	59		59		Dave	Bitton			RotA Avon Valley Railway Oldland Common Bitton by North Bristol Radio Club
27/09/2014	13:26	GB2AA	40m	SSB	59		59		Ben				Widness and Runcorn ARC Special Event for Air Ambulance
27/09/2014	13:28	GB2WS	40m	SSB	59		59		David				RotA Princess Royal Class Locamotive Trust
27/09/2014	13:31	G4STP	40m	SSB	59		59		Tony	Durham			WAB: NZ23
27/09/2014	13:33	2E1VAR	40m	SSB	59		56		Richard	Exeter
27/09/2014	13:36	G4SZST	40m	SSB	59		58		Dave
27/09/2014	13:37	GB2DMR	40m	SSB	59		59		Bill				RotA Drumawhey Miniture Railway Bangor Northern Ireland
27/09/2014	13:39	F4VPL	40m	SSB	59		59		Dave	South Brittany			Member of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust
27/09/2014	13:43	GB1NNR	40m	SSB	59		59		Bob	Norfolk			RotA North Norfolk Railway
27/09/2014	13:45	M0XLT	40m	SSB	59		58		Kevin	Skipton
27/09/2014	13:46	G4RAC	40m	SSB	59		59		John	Burton on Trent
27/09/2014	13:47	M0SRS	40m	SSB	58		59		Sid
27/09/2014	13:49	2E2KJ	40m	SSB	59		59		Adrian
27/09/2014	13:51	M5AEO/P	40m	SSB	59		57
27/09/2014	13:54	GB0TLR	40m	SSB	59		59		Mike				RotA Tyttenhanger Light Railway
27/09/2014	13:58	M0DFW	40m	SSB	59		59		Dave				Member of the Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust
27/09/2014	14:03	G4PEK	40m	SSB	58		59		Les	Gloucester
27/09/2014	14:05	M0KLK	40m	SSB	59		59		Bill	Isle of Sheppy
27/09/2014	14:11	G8YPL	40m	SSB	59		59		Pete	Liverpool			Use eQSL or QSL card
27/09/2014	14:15	M0RLK	40m	SSB	59		58		Brian	Trowbridge			No QSL Card
27/09/2014	14:16	GB2MHR	40m	SSB	59		59		James
27/09/2014	14:20	2E0GBK	40m	SSB	59		59		Keith	Leatherhead
27/09/2014	14:21	M0SSF	40m	SSB	59		57		Peter
27/09/2014	14:24	GB2FLR	40m	SSB	59		59		Ian				RotA Foxfield Light Railway
27/09/2014	14:31	2E0TVV	40m	SSB	59		58		Scot	West Bromwich
27/09/2014	14:35	GB2CR	40m	SSB	59		57		Derek				RotA Corris Railway Snowdonia National Park
27/09/2014	14:39	M6CYN	40m	SSB	56		59		Tony				QRP Station
27/09/2014	14:42	G3KAG	40m	SSB	57		59		Tony	Derbyshire
27/09/2014	14:42	G3VCN	40m	SSB	59		59		Paul	Plymouth
28/09/2014	09:05	GB2NNR	40m	SSB	59		59		Paul				RotA North Norfolk Railway
28/09/2014	09:16	G3YSW	40m	SSB	59		59		Nigel
28/09/2014	09:16	G1KPK	40m	SSB	59		59		Nigel
28/09/2014	09:19	F8DRA	40m	SSB	59					Normandy
28/09/2014	09:21	G4GTX	40m	SSB	58				Stuart	Sunderland
28/09/2014	09:21	M3FEH	40m	SSB						Cornwall
28/09/2014	09:23	F8FLK	40m	SSB					Therri	North France
28/09/2014	09:24	PA1AT	40m	SSB	58		58		Gerry
28/09/2014	09:27	GB0DR	40m	SSB	53				John				RotA Dartmoor (Okehampton Station)
28/09/2014	09:28	G4WIA	40m	SSB	59		58		Ivan	Cornwall
28/09/2014	09:30	G0TRB	40m	SSB			59		Roger	Tamworth
28/09/2014	09:31	G0IJM	40m	SSB	59		59		Jen	Leicester
28/09/2014	09:34	M0PJD	40m	SSB					Peter
28/09/2014	09:39	2E0CCF	40m	SSB	57		55		Gerry	Yorkshire
28/09/2014	10:07	M0DDU	40m	SSB	27								Lost contact due to noise
28/09/2014	10:17	G8ISI	40m	SSB	59		57		Francis				QSL Card Requested
28/09/2014	10:24	G0AJH	40m	SSB	59		59		John	Hornchurch Essex			QSL Card Requested
28/09/2014	10:27	G4CIB	40m	SSB	59		59		Brian
28/09/2014	10:29	M0KRP	40m	SSB	58		59		Rod	Yeovil
28/09/2014	10:42	G4EJQ	40m	SSB	59		59		Rob	Plymouth
28/09/2014	10:43	G4SQA	40m	SSB	59		59		Dave	Peterborough
28/09/2014	12:28	GB2KAA	40m	SSB					Patrick
28/09/2014	12:42	G8NT	40m	SSB	59		59		Malcolm
28/09/2014	12:44	F4VLP	40m	SSB	59		59		Dave
28/09/2014	12:47	2M0RBM	40m	SSB	59		59
28/09/2014	13:03	GB0HBL	40m	SSB	59		59		Cliff				RotA The Helston Railway
28/09/2014	13:10	2E0PGS	40m	SSB	59		58		Peter	Bristol
28/09/2014	13:18	G0DMH	40m	SSB	59		59		Bruce	Loughborough			No QSL Card
28/09/2014	13:30	IN3GNV	14.068896	PSK31	599		599		Giovanni	Bolzano
28/09/2014	13:32	MW0GYV	40m	SSB	59		59		Peter	Bridgend
28/09/2014	13:42	GI0AZB	40m	SSB	59		59		Ian	NW Northern Ireland
28/09/2014	13:43	2E0ZAP	40m	SSB	57		37		Rob	Tamworth
28/09/2014	13:45	G4YYD	40m	SSB	59		59		Alan	Bury
28/09/2014	13:48	M0TFY	40m	SSB	59		59		David
28/09/2014	13:51	M6NAQ	40m	SSB	47		47		Andy
28/09/2014	13:55	G0SYF	40m	SSB	59		59		Bob	Wooton Under Edge
28/09/2014	14:00	M1AYI/P	40m	SSB	59		47		Tom	Lincoln
28/09/2014	14:02	2E1TAF	40m	SSB	59		59		Dave	Norwich
28/09/2014	14:06	M1EYA	40m	SSB	59		59		Richard	Liechester
28/09/2014	14:08	2E0ZYL	40m	SSB	59		59		Sue	Paulborough
28/09/2014	14:14	M0ZPZ/M	40m	SSB	59		59		Lee	Stockport
28/09/2014	14:18	G1NEU	40m	SSB	59		59		Alan	Brixham
28/09/2014	14:19	LB2M	14.06994	PSK31	599		599		Nils		JO59gw	1258
28/09/2014	14:21	2E0NER	40m	SSB	59		59		Mike	Wakefield
28/09/2014	14:26	DL1HRN	40m	SSB	59		59		Eurkin
28/09/2014	14:27	G4NUJ	40m	SSB	57		59		Ken	North Devon
28/09/2014	14:32	DG2VW	14.069614	PSK31	599		599		Werner	Pirna	JO60xx	1144
28/09/2014	14:33	G4AFJ	40m	SSB	59		59		Geoff
28/09/2014	14:40	M0DFW	40m	SSB	59		47
28/09/2014	14:42	OE1JEW	14.069614	PSK31			599		Hans		JN88ee	1392
28/09/2014	14:42	G1FHR	40m	SSB	57		59		Reg	Gillingham
28/09/2014	14:43	MX0HFC	40m	SSB	59		59		John	Paull
28/09/2014	14:50	DF1GB	14.069614	PSK31	599		599		Gerd	Neuhofen	JN49fk	800
28/09/2014	14:50	GI0OND	40m	SSB	59		59		Jim	Armagh
28/09/2014	14:52	GW3OAJ	40m	SSB	59		59		Cess	Cardiff
28/09/2014	14:54	M0MTJ	40m	SSB	59		59		Mike	Perton Near Wolverhampton
28/09/2014	14:57	GB3PFM	40m	SSB	59		59		Terry Or Tony
28/09/2014	14:58	EA3HOE	14.069614	PSK31					Ton		JN11bl	1143