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
Equipment Used
We’ve been undertaking our Special Events for a number of years now and have gradually fine tuned our equipment and setup over time. Railways on the Air is one of our favourite events and the only one where we regularly operate both SSB and Data. In the future our data might have to be FT8 in place of our preferred PSK as the number of PSK operators appears to have diminished since the advent of FT8, time will tell if this switch is permanent or not.
This year we used:
SSB Station:
Nissei DPS300GL power supply;
Yaesu FT991 HF/6m/2m/70cm multi-mode transceiver;
MFJ 993 auto atu;
80m doublet fed with 450Ω ladder line;
Behringer Xeynx 302 USB mixer/splitter;
Logitech powered external speakers; and
Acer Aspire 8942 laptop running CQRLog under Ubuntu MATE 18.04LTS.
Toshiba Satellite C660D-19X laptop running FLDigi under XUbuntu 18.04LTS.
The Operation
This year’s event was rather sparsely attended, in fact jokingly it became known as the “Andy and Mark roadshow” although others were in attendance, notably Ken M7MYU on Sunday.
Saturday didn’t include any digi operations, this was for two reasons:
Firstly we were missing a non-critical cable from the digi-modes station, we could have operated but would have lacked the CAT interface that allows frequency information to be logged automatically; and
More importantly we were going to lose one operator on the Saturday due to other commitments so data had to take a back seat on Saturday.
This wasn’t too much of a handicap, and allowed some operation on 20m by the SSB station resulting in our best DX into Carlise Pennsylvania when we worked W3SOX for a distance of around 5,600km, not bad going for 100W into an 80m doubet although having looked at Davids QRZ page his station was probably doing a lot of the work!
On the Sunday we had both stations on air and operations were more normal for this event.
We had a good operation over the weekend as a whole managing over 100 contacts, although only 12 of these contacts were with other Railways on the Air registered stations.
The Log
Date (UTC)
Time (UTC)
Station Worked
Band or Frequency
Mode
RST
Operators Name
QTH
Gridsquare
Notes
Sent
Rec'd
21/09/19
10:57
GB4OST
80m
SSB
59
59
Steve
Old Station Tintern
Newport Amateur Radio Society
21/09/19
11:04
GB0SCR
80m
SSB
59
59
Colin
Swindon Cricklade Railway
Colin G4GBP
21/09/19
11:08
GB2LHR
80m
SSB
57
59
Tom
LAKESIDE & HAVERTHWAITE RAILWAY
Furness Amateur Radio Society
21/09/19
11:11
GB0CVR
80m
SSB
59
59
John
Colne Valley Railway
Braintree and District Amateur Radio Society
21/09/19
11:16
G8QZ
80m
SSB
57
59
David
Derby
21/09/19
11:19
G3NYY
80m
SSB
59
59
Walt
Tewkesbury
21/09/19
11:25
G3OBX
80m
SSB
59
59
Derek
Romford
21/09/19
11:31
GW0WPO/P
80m
SSB
55
59
Neil
Llangollen Canal
21/09/19
11:36
M0TCD
80m
SSB
59
59
Adrian
West Sussex
21/09/19
11:40
G4UAQ
80m
SSB
59
59
Ian
Maidstone
21/09/19
11:45
M1AQO
80m
SSB
59
59
Glen
Warrington
21/09/19
11:46
M0LZY
80m
SSB
59
59
Paul
New Forest National Park
21/09/19
11:49
G0FGI
80m
SSB
56
59
Tom
North Devon
21/09/19
11:52
G4ACS
80m
SSB
59
59
Geoff
Kinver
21/09/19
11:56
G8YPL
80m
SSB
59
59
Keith
Liverpool
21/09/19
12:00
G4CVU
80m
SSB
55
59
Wall Heath Kingswinford
21/09/19
12:02
M0XLT
80m
SSB
43
59
Kevin
Skipton
21/09/19
12:11
PH75MG
40m
SSB
59
59
Michael
Culemborg
21/09/19
12:27
W3SOX
20m
SSB
55
58
David
Carlise PA USA
21/09/19
12:45
GB0WHH
80m
SSB
59
59
Thomas
Welsh Highland Heritage Railway
Porthmadog & District Amateur Radio Society
21/09/19
12:56
GB4VBR
80m
SSB
59
59
Owen
Berkeley Vale Railway
Thornbury and South Gloucestershire ARC
21/09/19
12:58
M0OYH
80m
SSB
58
58
Craig
Liverpool
21/09/19
13:04
GW3RVG
80m
SSB
57
59
21/09/19
13:05
G3OKA
80m
SSB
58
58
John
Wirral
21/09/19
13:34
GB2RDR
40m
SSB
56
59
Goerge
Royal Deeside Railway
Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society
21/09/19
13:49
MD/OP2D
40m
SSB
59
59
21/09/19
13:53
GB4OKE
80m
SSB
57
57
Jim
DARTMOOR RAILWAY
HOLSWORTHY AMATEUR RADIO CLUB
21/09/19
14:10
GB2VK
80m
SSB
59
59
Danny
Caernarfon
21/09/19
14:56
M0UTC
80m
SSB
59
59
Paul
Malvern
21/09/19
14:59
G4NXL
80m
SSB
59
59
Malc
21/09/19
15:01
G0JNT
80m
SSB
59
59
Les
Grimsby
21/09/19
15:02
F4VPL
80m
SSB
59
59
Dave
Brittany
21/09/19
15:05
G0RMU
80m
SSB
59
59
Roger
Woking
21/09/19
15:06
M0RBM
80m
SSB
59
59
Rodney
Bude
22/09/19
09:19
GB2SDR
80m
SSB
59
59
John
South Devon Railway
Torbay Amateur Radio Society
22/09/19
10:07
GW0WTH
80m
SSB
59
59
Hugh
22/09/19
10:12
GB0GCR
80m
SSB
59
59
Stephen
Great Central Railway (Nottingham)
Nunsfield House Amateur Radio Group
22/09/19
10:12
G4FOG
80m
SSB
59
58
Colin
22/09/19
10:16
GB4MHR
80m
SSB
57
59
Chris
Mid-Hants Railway (The Watercress Line)
Horndean & District ARC
22/09/19
10:20
M0RLO
80m
SSB
56
59
Dennis
Hitchin
22/09/19
10:24
M0KEP
80m
SSB
59
59
Tim
Abingdon
22/09/19
10:28
G4TXF
80m
SSB
59
59
Colin
22/09/19
10:32
G3VHH
80m
SSB
59
59
John
Langley
22/09/19
10:36
DL3APY
14.0714
PSK31
599
599
Matthias
Berlstedt
JO51ob
22/09/19
10:39
GW6EWX
80m
SSB
46
59
Nick
Bala Wales
22/09/19
10:49
G4POF
80m
SSB
59
59
John
Hampshire
22/09/19
10:52
G3IOI
80m
SSB
59
59
Ray
Bristol
22/09/19
10:58
G3TPP
80m
SSB
59
59
Barry
22/09/19
11:03
G8OFA
80m
SSB
59
59
Martin
22/09/19
11:03
EA2DDO
14.0717
PSK31
599
599
Aritz
Legazpi
IN83
22/09/19
11:06
G4VHL
80m
SSB
59
59
Tim
Devon
22/09/19
11:13
G3KIP
80m
SSB
59
59
Ken
Tunbridge
22/09/19
11:17
M0NMI
80m
SSB
59
59
David
Swindon
22/09/19
11:24
M5AKY
80m
SSB
59
59
Donald
Farrington
22/09/19
11:27
G4AQY
80m
SSB
59
59
David
22/09/19
11:34
IZ8IZK
14.0719
PSK31
599
599
Carmine
Grimaldi
JM89cd
22/09/19
11:38
G7OPD
80m
SSB
59
59
Paul
Great Barr Birmingham
22/09/19
11:46
GB2MOP
80m
SSB
59
59
22/09/19
11:49
GW4OFQ
80m
SSB
59
59
Roger
Ammanford
22/09/19
11:52
G3XBN
80m
SSB
59
59
22/09/19
11:56
DJ0WO
14.0708
PSK31
599
599
Wolf
Munich
JN57rx
22/09/19
11:58
GB0CVR
80m
SSB
59
59
Geoff
Colne Valley Railway
Braintree and District Amateur Radio Society
22/09/19
12:27
DD9ZZ
14.0716
PSK31
599
599
Horst
Limburg
JO40ai
22/09/19
12:36
M0IRB
40m
SSB
59
59
Sam
North Yorkshire
22/09/19
12:41
F4VPL
40m
SSB
59
59
Dave
Brittany
22/09/19
12:42
M0WRI
40m
SSB
59
59
Peter
Durham
22/09/19
12:49
GW6STK
40m
SSB
59
59
Robert
22/09/19
12:53
G0MMN
40m
SSB
59
59
Ben
22/09/19
12:56
M0PER
40m
SSB
59
59
Alan
Chester
22/09/19
12:58
F5GPE/P
14.0715
PSK31
599
599
Pierre
St Martin de Clelles
JN24tu
22/09/19
13:03
G0RRZ
40m
SSB
59
59
Richard
Nottinghamshire
22/09/19
13:07
G4IWO
40m
SSB
59
59
Nick
Yorkshire
22/09/19
13:09
M0HOY
40m
SSB
59
59
Stephen
Leigh
22/09/19
13:10
M6KQK
40m
SSB
59
59
Paul
Leeds
22/09/19
13:12
M3COY
40m
SSB
59
59
Mike
Manchester
22/09/19
13:14
M3MAY
40m
SSB
59
59
Matty
Wakefield
22/09/19
13:18
M6IHM
40m
SSB
59
59
Tony
Sheffield
22/09/19
13:19
G0PSM
40m
SSB
59
59
Peter
Manchester
22/09/19
13:20
IK3RIP
14.0719
PSK31
599
599
Angelo
Venice
22/09/19
13:22
M0BZZ
40m
SSB
59
59
Bob
Birkenhead
22/09/19
13:26
2E0NMK/M
40m
SSB
59
59
Simon
Coxhoe
22/09/19
13:29
G4GTX
40m
SSB
59
59
Stuart
Sunderland
22/09/19
13:32
G8XOU
40m
SSB
59
59
Ivan
Norfolk
22/09/19
13:39
GD0BFN
40m
SSB
59
59
John
Isle of Man
22/09/19
13:46
MM0KBT
40m
SSB
59
59
Davy
Scotland
22/09/19
13:53
M0TZR
40m
SSB
59
59
Paul
County Durham
22/09/19
13:54
F4EQE
14.0718
PSK31
599
599
Serguei
Strasbourg
JN38uo
22/09/19
13:58
2E0TGK
40m
SSB
59
59
Pendennis Cornwall
22/09/19
13:58
LZ3QE
14.0712
PSK31
599
599
Burgas
KN32ql
22/09/19
14:02
MM0AOQ
40m
SSB
59
59
Colin
Scotland
22/09/19
14:03
G3TGB
40m
SSB
59
59
Brian
Braintree
22/09/19
14:10
2M0RHT
40m
SSB
45
57
Ralph
Scotland
22/09/19
14:13
F4VSU
40m
SSB
59
59
David
Le Pont Gourge
22/09/19
14:18
GM4EIW
40m
SSB
59
59
John
Scotland
22/09/19
14:19
ER1PB
14.0714
PSK31
599
599
Serghei
Chisinau
KN47ja
22/09/19
14:20
GM4MTI
40m
SSB
59
59
Donald
Scotland
22/09/19
14:22
M0HEM
40m
SSB
59
59
John
Essex
22/09/19
14:26
2M0SWA
40m
SSB
59
59
Stuart
Scotland
22/09/19
14:29
G0JHK
40m
SSB
59
59
Mike
Hastings East Sussex
22/09/19
14:33
2M0BHR
40m
SSB
59
59
Peter
Scotland
22/09/19
14:35
PA3JD
40m
SSB
59
59
Joop
Netherlands
22/09/19
14:39
DF9TW
14.0707
PSK31
599
599
Tom
Pirmasens
JN39tf
22/09/19
14:40
M0ABT
40m
SSB
59
59
Stuart
East Sussex
22/09/19
14:41
PA3ECZ
40m
SSB
59
59
Ruud
Netherlands
22/09/19
14:44
GB6RHD
40m
SSB
56
59
Malcolm
Dungerness
22/09/19
14:49
F/PA3TOP
40m
SSB
59
59
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