Storm Arwen passed here bringing 100mph (160km/h) winds and heavy rain. The rain was beaten against the house from the North, not the usual direction. It came though the windows and flooded the kitchen but we suffered very little. The damage to property round here was terrible. Our local Co-op store has been closed for three weeks. This is the only general store around here and we have to go to England (!) for shopping. Still, the 150mph winds during the typhoon in the Philippines must have been dreadful, so I cannot complain.
The power at GM4FVM was off for a day and the internet for another 8 hours. Needless to say, there was no radio operation without electricity. Others waited a week for their power to be restored. When it came to the important things in life, such as the antennas, I seemed to do OK.
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| Missing ridge tile at GM4FVM, which fell without damaging the mast |
There was some damage to the roof here. When a ridge tile blew off it managed to fall without damaging the mast which it hit on the way down. The tile shattered into pieces, and it has now been replaced with a (slightly too long) second hand one, and we are going again.
Overall we were very lucky that the damage was not worse. This is one of those "rare" weather events which now seem to happen a lot more regularly.
I have been down the A1 road to the Spire Hospital in Washington and had the operation I mentioned earlier. In the weeks running up to the 3 December op I have hardly been on the radio thanks to being in some pain, so there has not been much said on this blog then.
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| GM4FVM looking dozy in the Washington hospital |
I am back in the shack now. I am already 3 weeks into the 2 month recuperation. Although the operation was pretty minor as these things go, I am left with a 10cm wound which will take a while to heal. Ouch. A few of those antenna elements look a bit bent after the storm but that will have to wait as my movement is somewhat restricted.
I was back in time for a long tropo opening. The usual pattern for these things is for a high pressure system to arrive, usually from the West but sometimes from the East, and for that to stop over the North Sea giving me paths into Scandinavia and the Baltic. Then as it subsides and slips away to the South East when I can work into Germany, Netherlands and Belgium.
This one was different as it formed over France and was predicted to move due North before heading off over Norway. In the event it moved very slowly and covered the UK for several days before gradually filling.
The total for all bands over 7 days was 93 QSOs and 53 squares in 13 countries with the best DX being to EA1G in IN52 square at 1539km on 144MHz.
16 December marked the start here with 19 QSOs involving 5 DXCC, with best DX to EA2XR on 2m a distance of 1392km. 70cms was particularly good with the best DX being to F1OTU in JN05, a distance of 1202km and a new square. F6DBF in JN27 was also a new square on 70cm, as was F8DBF in IN78. While there is no "worked all DBF in France" award, I worked F8DBF on 2m as well, though I had worked him before on that band.
17 December was interesting too but I did not work outside the UK. 18 December produced more DX. Starting with 3 stations in Denmark on 2m, SM6CEN and OZ2ND followed on 70cms. Then came SM and OZ on 2m, LA on 70cms. 19 December produced a string of German stations on 2m, PA on 2m and 70cm, and finally ON on 2m. So 18 and 19 December was more like a "normal" tropo opening in terms of the paths available, but the next day was definitely not typical.
On 20 December I was flipping between 2m and 70cms to work France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and England. In fact it went 70, 70, 2, 2, 70, 70, 70, 70, 2, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, 70, with quite a few new squares on 70cms in France. It was notable that most of the stations I worked on 70cms were stations I had worked before on 2m but which I had no idea had 432MHz. Perhaps there is more interest in UHF in France now, as I have not seen a lot of activity there on DX Maps on the past. However, you can never really tell as I so rarely have a tropo opening in that direction. On this day I was working 70cms stations around Bordeaux, Poitiers and in the Loire Valley, areas I had never reached on 432MHz before.
By 21 December things were beginning to tail off here, though French stations were still present on 70cms. This sort of count ignores the nature of the opening. Each day was different. There were several ducts. EA2XR was present for hours on end. Jean-Louis, F5DYD/P, near Toulouse, was heard for two days. In fact F5DYD/P is now my best DX on SSB on 70cms when I worked him in JN03 square on 21 December (1415km). We also tried 23cms, and although I could receive him clearly he could not decode me on FT8 nor receive me Q5 on SSB - hardly surprising on my puny 65W. This failed QSO was the only thing I heard on 23cms during the entire lift.
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| 432MHz contacts at GM4FVM 16 to 22 December 2021. |
As usual, click the image to enlarge it, if you need to.
22 December saw the whole thing drawing to a close here. I worked F5RD on 2m and F8DBF on 70cms, both of which would have made my day in any other circumstances. Good though, of course, but at first I could hear stations South of me working DX. As the day progressed I was in the classic "outside the tropo" situation which I have described before. When this occurs I hear nothing, not even the UK stations working the DX. They are all beaming the other way, and there is an eerie silence as the cluster showed stations towards the south of G-land who I could not hear. They were working Switzerland and Italy. No doubt while I was working into Spain and France during the previous few days they were seeing me and wondering what they could do.
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| 144MHz contacts at GM4FVM 16 to 22 December 2021. |
Under the FVM scoring system, higher frequency band contacts score double points. As we know POINTS MEAN PRIZES. Thus my 47 2m QSOs mean less to me than my 46 70cms ones. The difference is small but I was concentrating on the higher band.
That was certainly an opening to remember. I have now reached 80 squares on 70cms (excluding EME), as opposed to 223 on 2m. However, each of the 70cms ones mean more to me. My little 12 element on 70cms is doing fairly well.
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May I wish everybody a Happy New Year.
Usually at this time I would be working during the RSGB "Christmas" 4 band 4 day contest, but not this year. The Contest Committee have seen fit to change the format into one involving 4 one day single band contests. Having lost the multi-band aspect I am no longer motivated to try. Ah, progress. The concept of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" appears to be unknown to the Contest Committee.
Meanwhile the EU FT8 contests are to be extended to 23cms. Thanks for Martin, GM8IEM for that information. There was something that was broken - there was a lack of 23cm data contests. And in a wonderful bit of Euro-fudging, the 23cms FT8 contest includes non-FT8 modes. I would like to try ISCAT and fast JT modes for that, if anybody else bothers with it. We shall see, and I hope to be involved in their 70cm and 2m contests next year too.
So good luck everybody, and may 2022 bring you health, happiness, and more DX.
73
Jim
GM4FVM
P.S. With some enhanced geomagnetic activity predicted over the next days, I will be watching 4m and 6m just in case.
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