Due to us not being able to get a strong signal and slow speeds on the mobile dongle this year, we have been unable to upload a daily blog whilst on the island. But we are now back at the farm.

Anthony and Oliver have returned home. Tim, Tony and Chris are spending an extra night at the farm before their long journey home. Rob and Jane have again provided fantastic company and hospitality once more - and all the boys cannot thank them enough.

A full write up and report will be on here, along with a galery of photos soon. All logs will be uploaded to LOTW this evening, and any QSL requests will be dealt with when Tim returns home.

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This was recently printed in the GMDX group's digest. And as I have seen this in other publications I thought they would not mind if we borrowed it, certainly as this is what we all here at SHDXCG follow and believe in.

DX CODE OF CONDUCT

1. I WILL LISTEN, AND LISTEN, AND THEN LISTEN SOME MORE!!!

2. I WILL ONLY CALL IF I CAN COPY THE DX STATION PROPERLY.

3. I WILL NOT TRUST THE CLUSTER AND WILL BE SURE OF THE DX STATION'S CALL SIGN BEFORE CALLING.

4. I WILL NOT INTERFERE WITH THE DX STATION NOR ANYONE CALLING HIM AND WILL NEVER TUNE UP ON THE DX FREQUENCY OR IN THE QSX SLOT.

5. I WILL WAIT FOR THE DX STATION TO END A CONTACT BEFORE CALLING HIM.

6. I WILL ALWAYS SEND MY FULL CALL SIGN - MOST IMPORTANT. PLEASE STICK TO THIS ONE!

7. I WILL CALL AND THEN LISTEN FOR A REASONABLE INTERVAL. I WILL NOT CALL CONTINUOUSLY.

8. I WILL NOT TRANSMIT WHEN THE DX OPERATOR CALLS ANOTHER CALLSIGN, NOT MINE.

9. I WILL NOT TRANSMIT WHEN THE DX OPERATOR QUERIES A CALL SIGN NOT LIKE MINE.

10. I WILL NOT TRANSMIT WHEN THE DX STATION CALLS OTHER GEOGRAPHIC AREAS THAN MINE.

11. WHEN THE DX OPERATOR CALLS ME, I WILL NOT REPEAT MY CALL SIGN UNLESS I THINK HE HAS COPIED IT INCORRECTLY.

12. I WILL BE THANKFUL IF AND WHEN I DO MAKE A CONTACT.

13. I WILL RESPECT MY FELLOW HAMS AND CONDUCT MYSELF SO AS TO EARN THEIR RESPECT.

If everyone who calls us follows these then we will make alot more contacts and we will work you alot quicker.

PleasE only use your FULL call when calling in.

Many thanks and see you in the pile up next week.

 

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GW - Ramsey Island EU-124 - Once again the Strumble Head DX and Contest Group are heading over the water to activate this rare Welsh coastal island. They will be on the air from 22nd July through to 26th or 27th July (all dependant on tides) using the club call MC0SHL. This trip also takes in the RSGB IOTA contest where they will be on the air using the club contest call MW9W over the weekend 24th and 25th July. Last year they tried to work as many Asian and Pacific stations as this is #18 most wanted on the IOTA listings for that area and they will again try to make as many contacts both before and during the contest. They will have 3 stations using the following equipment;

2 X Elecraft K3 Transceivers
1 X Yaesu FT2000
2 X G3TXQ Hexbeams (built by Ant MW0JZE)
80M Dipole
40M Vertical
3 X Acom 1000

The team will try to use MC0SHL on 17 and 12M during the contest to try to give as many contacts on these bands also. They will be on the air mostly in SSB, but with some RTTY and CW thrown in. This year the team will be Rob (MW0RLJ), Jane (Robs wife), Ant (MW0JZE), Oli (MW0JRX), Tim (M0URX), Chris (G1VDP) and Tony (G4LDL). Sadly Charles (M0OXO) is not joining them but will be acting as a pilot station and will be in contact with the team throughout the trip as they are taking mobile internet so they can get on skype and their website with updates. Full details and photographs of last years operation are on the groups website http://www.mc0shl.com where there may be live access to the station via webcam if they can get this up and running. All QSL requests should go via the teams manager M0URX (see http://www.m0urx.com) where there is on line request and details on how to get the QSL quicker. All logs will be uploaded to the ARRL Logbook of the World (LOTW) and Clublog upon getting back to the farm HQ on their return.

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What a fantastic weekend.

The weekend started when Tim and I arrived on Thursday evening with the four of us - Tim (M0URX), Rob (MW0RLJ), Jane, and Chris (G1VDP) - all going for a meal at The Sloop pub, in the village of Porthgain, where we were joined by Jane's friend Carrie and her 2 children Rhianon and Gwynne.

A thouroughly enjoyable evening and top food.

The Friday saw us working and getting things prepared. Tim was running Jane around with food and drinks for the reception after the church service, and Chris being Rob's gofer around the farm.

In between the running around and getting things ready we did manage to get on the air. Friday evening saw Ant (MW0JZE), his wife Laura, and daughter Eleri arrive. Sadly Jane left us for th night to stay at her sisters as tradition says the bride and groom should not see each other on the day of the wedding until they arrive in church. So we had a few beers, fish and chips and relaxed. Oli (MW0JRX) and Lucia arrived late Friday. So the team were there to celebrate in style.

Saturday saw us setting up a small marquee, which nearly was a disaster as the roof was not in the box as it should have been. But again Rob came to the rescue and a tarpaulin was substituting the roof. The rest of the day was then spent just finishing off.

The time eventually came to go to the church and the wedding. What a fantastic service and reception.

The Saturday night was even better. The number of people who walked to the back of Rob's and saw the view where it took there breath away. The usual drinks and celebrations went on well in to the night, and it was around 4.30am before Chris and Ant decided to call it a night.

Sunday was clear up, nurse a hangover and suffer England crashing out of the Football World Cup (soccer to our American brothers) to Germany, congratulations gents and we will win the next one! HiHi.

Thanks to Rob and Jane for putting up with us again, and congratulations to you both from all the boys and girls of the Strumble Head DX and Contest Group.

A gallery with Photo's will be on here soon.

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This is it folks.

The weekend has arrived.

Rob (Mw0RLJ) and Jane are getting married.

Almost all the team are heading down to the Farm for this wonderous occasion. Tim and Chris will be there this evening and enjoying the hospitality of the wonderful couple. Ant and his family arriving tomorrow, Oli and Lucy will also be there tomorrow. Villiam will be absent as it is his busy period at work.

And sadly Charles and his wife Debbie have had to cancel for a family emergency. All the groups thoughts are with them through this difficult time and we just hope all goes well on Friday.

The new boys will also be absent this time round, but Tony (G4LDL) will be with us for the Ramsey trip in a few weeks.

We are hoping to get on the air some time this weekend with the club call MC0SHL from the farm so do please listen for us and call in. We will be pleased to hear you over this special weekend.

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Once agin in 2010 some of the team are heading down to the farm to have some fun and maybe enter the CQ WPX Phone contest. The boys will be there from 25th March through to the 30th March 2010.

This year they will be testing the G3TXQ Hexbeam built by Ant, MW0JZE, that will be available for use by DXpeditions - see Ants web page http://www.g3txq-hexbeam.com for details - and the usual vertical for 40M and maybe 80M will be erected so a couple of bands may be used.

Chris, G1VDP, will be trying his hand at RTTY and may take his 30M vertical for some fun on that band. All contacts are valid for the WAB, WFF and IOTA awards and we have a club QSL card available if requested. Chris will be looking for Japan and Asia on 17M RTTY - this is a most wanted on this band - but he will be taking calls from all callers. The only thing he asks is that the pile up behaves and does as he says or he will go QRT and no one will work him.

Logs will be uploaded to LOTW each evening and QSL requests via the groups QSL manager Tim, M0URX - see QSL page for details.

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As in a previous posting Oliver and I were down at the farm at the end of March 2009 taking part in the CQ WPX Phone Contest. We both did a single band entry and the results have recently been published. We both did better than we thought and it looks like we have some more certificates to adorn the club shack walls.

MW9W (MW0JRX);  world 3rd & Europe 3rd: single-op assisted, high power, 7MHz
MC0SHL (G1VDP); world 3rd & Europe 3rd: single-op assisted high-power 3.7MHz

Well done both.

This year again there will be single band entries in the CQ WPX, using both calls if there are enough operators there. Hope to work you on air some time.

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Lets start with wishing all readers a Happy New Year, and I hope you had as much fun as what we all did down in Wales.

December 31st 2009
Yes the weather held off and we made it to my friend Rob's place without incident. In fact we made it in record time, 4 hours for 240 miles, and there are alot of lanes at the Welsh end where you have to be careful as a bus/tractor/other vehicle could be coming the oposite way.

When I arrived at Rob's he was the only person there, his wonderful partner Jane was at work and Ant and his family had not arrived. So a quick brew and a catch up with Rob before the fun and games. The weather was also being kind with glorious sunshine and but with a cold wind. Rob had just started his lambing season off and had 5 new arrivals up to new years eve.

Not long after Jane arrived and again it was a brew and a catch up (for those who don't know what a brew is it is a mug of tea - the drink to have socially anywhere). The plans were discussed as to what was happening that night and we got on preparing the meal and food for the rest of the guests to arrive.

Ant (MW0JZE), his wife Laura and Eleri, their daughter, arrived and again giving us even more to chat about and catch up on. This was all the team members now on scene and we sat chatting whilst the food was cooking. Rob and Jane had also invited 2 of their friends along for the meal, Rob's mate Phil and Janes friend Kath both arrived just in time for the food to be dished up. Again Jane had excelled herself with another delicious meal.

The wine flowed freely as did the conversation, but as we were preparing to have dessert there was a phone call from Janes elderly father that their dog had escaped and could not be found. Jane and Kath went round there to see if they could help out and were soon back, the dog was in the fields adjoining the house and came back wagging its tail as if nothing was wrong. Crisis over we set about the Sherry Trifle - again all home made and absolutely delicious - especially the sherry bit!

That was just the start of the evening's fun. We had planned to go up into Fishguard and see Jane's son Peter and his friend - collectively known as Neon - play in the town square where the main celebrations for new year were taking place. Ant and Family, myself, Jane and Rob all jumped into Rob's Landrover for the short trip to the town, where I must admit it is not the comfiest of rides. But it was worth it, the town square was full of revellers all ready to celebrate the New Year. Neon were on stage when we got there and they played a fantastic set, getting every one dancing and enjoying the event.

From what was said Fishguard's new year celebrations are in the top 5 places to celebrate within the UK, and from my experience I can see why. Everyone was friendly and there were no silly iddiots pushing and shoving being drunken louts. Just people having fun, dancing and singing along to the band.







We decided to leave before midnight and return to the farm. A good move as this meant we could all have a drink and celebrate the midnight hour in our own way. The warmth of the farmhouse was most welcoming, and we soon got settled in for the night.


Rob let off some fireworks in the field and we then sat and chatted. The girls and Rob went off to bed leaving Ant and I chatting about the plans for Ramsey Island in the summer, and maybe CQWW from the farm in October. The next thing we knew Rob was getting up for a cup of tea at 4am - his farmers clock where he wakes early - and we were still sat there chatting. Ant went to bed and soon after I followed to my room.

January 1st 2010
When I got up I was expecting to be the last as it was late morning, but it turned out I was the first one up, apart from Rob who still had to tend to his sheep and animals on the farm. The good news was that one of his sheep had had her lamb overnight and both were doing well. The weather was glorious, bright sunshine and quite warm. We sat on the small patio area at the rear of the farm house to have a cuppa and it was quite pleasant, but this was to change.

Mid afternoon and it started to snow, and boy did it come down. By 4pm it was about 50cm thick, and this is unusual for down in this part of the UK. As night fell it carried on snowing and the conditions got worse and worse. We had our evening meal and watched TV, with one eye on the weather.

January 2nd 2010
The next morning it was again bright sunshine and this started to melt some of the snow. Ant looked on the internet to check the roads and driving conditions. The main roads were clear of the snow and looked Ok to drive on, butthe lanes would be bad.

As I needed to get back on the Saturday for another new years do we decided to chance it. Loaded the cars and away we went, leaving Rob and Jane once more. I followed Ant out to the main roads, and the lanes were bad. A few times I had the rear end of the BMW stepping out - rear wheel drive - but managed to control it and keep the car the correct side up!

By the time we got to Llanelli the snow had virtually gone, and by Swansea on the M4 not a thing. But in the hills and valleys it looked like a Christmas card. Lots of snow and very picturesque. All the way back to the midlands it was sunny and warm, then when I got to Birmingham it rained, which does go to show that Jasper carrot was right all those years ago when he said "Where it always rains!"

So that was my new year. Lots of fun and great company. I would like to thank Rob and Jane for putting us all up and once more to Jane for her fantastic cooking and meals. To Ant, Laura and Eleri for their wonderful company. And to all of them for the fantastic New Year fun. Lots of laughs had bya all. And just as a warning Rob, I am planning to come down again next year (If that's OK?)....

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For all those who were looking forward to hearing the team on from the Farm during this years CQWW DX Phone contest we have bad news.

As the farm is a working operation and with the weather being so wet over the past few months we have had to cancel the trip down there. This is on a few counts.

1 - Due to the bad weather all of the jobs that Rob and his brother would usually have finished by now are a few weeks behind and Rob would not be able to join us as he would normally.

2 - Ant is still not 100% fit from his accident on Ramsey island (more to follow on this) and again he would not be able to get around as much and be as helpful as usual. This also goes for another team member who is suffering at the minute and we need them to be 100% fit for the team.

3 - Again due to the weather the ground is so wet that Rob feels that erecting the masts for the beams in the field would be dangerous - the whole teams safety along with potential to damage the mast and antennas is the risk here.

We hope to be on some time in 2010, may be not in the contests but on from the farm for a couple of weekends building and testing antennas for next years exploits.

Please keep reading and return soon as the Ramsey full report and pictures will be on here.

73's, Good DX from all the MC0SHL team.

P.S. Don't forget we will be at the RSGB Convention in a couple of weeks time - so say hello and do please have a chat with us.

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GW/IOTA EU-124 - The Strumblehead DX and Contest group have now sealed the final permission to activate Ramsey Island (EU-124), off the West Wales coast, from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds who own the island. They will be active from 18:00 24th July through to 14:00 27th July taking in the IOTA contest. They will be active using the club call MC0SHL for the whole duration of the operation, and using MW9W in the contest. They will be on all bands from 80M through to 10M SSB. There is also some 30M RTTY planned by G1VDP if the other guys allow him, with participation in the last 80M Club Championships DATA section. They will be operational using generators as power. Radios used will consist of 2 K3's and a Yaesu FT1000MP MkV and amplifiers. Antennas will consist of a Hexbeam, a windom and dipoles. Most of the activation is for the WAB award scheme as the square is semi rare and has not been activated for some time.  The team will be on from the farm for a few days before and after using the GB0WFF for the World Flora and Fauna award see http://www.wff44.com for award details, and using the MC0SHL club call and erecting a tower for Rob MW0RLJ. The island will not only count for the WAB award but will also count for the WFF award. A special QSL card printed for both club calls, full details are on the groups website http://www.mc0shl.com . QSL via the groups manager M0URX.

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The high claimed scores have just been published on the internet, and we are happy to say that Oli's and my attempts were not in vain. Have a look at;

http://www.cqwpx.com/claimed_2009_wpx_ssb_scores.htm

We both entered as single operator high power assisted on single bands. Oli used the club call MW9W on 40M and I used MC0SHL on 80M - Oli put a more serious entry in than myself as I was treating the trip as more of a break and some fun on the radio.

The claimed scores are;

MW9W        2,113,842 points      World 4th 40M Assisted High

MC0SHL     723,774 points         World 3rd 80M Assisted High

This again was a team effort and neither Oli nor I could have done this. So we again must say thanks to Ant and Rob for assistance on the Thursday with getting the 80M antenna in the air - full details in the write up. To Rob and Jane for being wonderful hosts, and to the rest of the team for their support and good wishes through the contest - we were on msn chatting with the boys when ever we could.

See you all in the IOTA contest when this will be the next big effort as a team (along with getting the towers up for Rob at the farm).

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We would like to announce this years Guest operators at the SHDXCG CQWW Phone contest activation.

Ian McCarthy G3YBY
Tony Bettley G4LDL












Above; Tony and his wife at the CDXC dinner 2009

Right; Ian in the corner at the CDXC dinner 2009

Both have become good friends of Chris (G1VDP) and Tim (M0URX) through their connection with CDXC. Both live in the Swindon area and are members of Swindon club. Ian spends some of the year at his home in France and holds a French call, and has been part of the French HQ team in the IARU contest. Tony has been a member of the Swindon Clubs Contest team for many years and has plenty of experience to bring with him to assist the boys in being a winning team.

All the guys in the SHDXCG welcome them along and are looking forward to getting stuck in to the contest in October.

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Thats it for another year. CQWPX Phone weekend is over.

This morning we took down the 80M vertical - which was a lot quicker than erecting it - without incidence. All the bits have been put away in to storage until we come down again in July for the IOTA weekend and CQWW in October.

We have left the 40M and 30M verticals up as Chris is staying on another day and wants to have some more fun on the bands. A full report and photographs will appear on here before the end of the week, and all logs will be uploaded to LOTW as soon as Chris gets home.

Many thanks to all who worked either MC0SHL before, during, and after the contest. And a big thank you to all who called or worked Oli - MW9W - on 40M during the contest assisting him to (hopefully) have a top 10 World score for Single Op 40M activation.

See you all at the next one, and remember to leave a comment in the guest book if you enjoyed the site.

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We arrived at the farm yesterday (Thursday 26th March) and managed to get the 80M and 30M antennas in the air, not without incident.

The 80M antenna had been made from 5ft swaged poles, but we found it to be about 1M short so we inserted one into the poles and sadly it was a little too heavy for them and one bent! We are just glad this happened now and not at the end of October when we come down for CQ WW!

We have now built the 80M out of stronger aluminium poles and we have managed to get the full quarter wave up now. This coupled with the radials is making a good antenna. We also built a 30M ground mounted vertical, and we made a number of contacts on 30M RTTY last night. And again this morning w got on 30M RTTY and made a few QSO's before tuning the vertical for 20M and working a number on there also.

This morning we erected the 40M antenna and Oli has spent time this afternoon on 40M and had a nice pile up. Mostly with Europe, and I think he will be on later this afternoon again before the contest having fun. Th weather is being kind and the sun is shining brightly. Looks like we are going to have a classic SHDXG sunnset tonight, we will be out there with camera andglass of wine relaxing before the off.

We will also be on 80M phone and 30M RTTY later, look for us around 10148 listening 10146 to 10147.

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The weekend of the 21st and 22nd March saw the Chiltern DX Club (CDXC) get together for their annual dinner and social evening at Wyboston Lakes, on the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire border. This was attended by Tim (M0URX) and myself Chris (G1VDP) - both very active members of this DX group and well worth visiting their website at http://www.cdxc.org.uk (see links pages). It was an evening of good food, good wine, and good company. Many of the UK's top dxers are among the ranks of the members, along with some famous - or infamous in some cases - DXpeditioners and contesters.

Folowing a pleasant and uneventful drive from our home in the Midlands we were welcomed at the bar by Geoff G4FKA and Ian G3YBY, 2 friends from many of these dos. Tim's comment was "It looks as if it is going to be a good one again!" and he was not wrong.

Activities started with Nigel (G3TXF) giving a demonstartion of ARRL LOTW to all comers, and I think we all left with some new information somewhere along the line. I know there were one or two who had never used LOTW and was surprised how easy it is to upload your logs for confirmations. A few drinks in the bar followed before getting ready for the evening meal and the talk.

This years guest speaker was Bob MD0CCE, who gave a facsinating insight to his life and how he started on Manhattan island and now resides on the Isle of Man. Following the talk Neville (G3NUG) presented Bob with a CDXC Mug - now a rare commodity as no more will ever be produced! We then all retired to the bar for a drink or 2 before retiring for the night.

Breakfast was then another chance to talk DX and contesting with the boys, and catch up with who was going where next on their travels.

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It is just over a week before we head down to the farm for some on air fun in the CQ WPX SSB contest. Not all team members can make it for the weekend so we will be putting on single band entries in the contest, using the club calls MW9W and MC0SHL (Oli MW0JRX and Chris G1VDP) possibly on 40 and 80M. If any other members arrive we will then look at other bands and again do single band entries with alternative call signs.

Not only will we be taking part in the contest but we are going to have a station dedicated to 30M digital modes before and after - and maybe during if any member who is free wants to have a go. Chris G1VDP is going to put Wales on the air on 30M RTTY and PSK63/125. As you all know Chris enjoys his digi modes and has looked at the activity from Wales on the 30M band, and he sees that it is still a quite wanted DXCC on this band.

He plans to be active on the Thursday night on RTTY, look aroung 10148 for him calling CQ. If the pile up gets too big he will operate split listening 1 - 2KHz down. If there is enough demand he will also try PSK63, and PSK125. Again these 2 modes are under utilised from Wales.

If you want to arrange a sked please e-mail Chris G1VDP at the address in the contacts page.

Good luck and we hope to see you on the screen.




Chris G1VDP operating on RTTY at
GB0SH

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Well the weekend of the CQWPX RTTY contest has now passed us by and I enterd from home using the club call M9W. But as usual my plans for just operating as a single band entry went out the window. I was going to enter on 80M only and operate through Friday night, sleep Saturday and then operate Saturday night, grab a couple of hours sleep on theSunday, and then go to the end on the Sunday evening.

Never happened. I started well on the Friday evening with a good small run to the USA and Caribbean area. This then dried up so I thought I would have a go on 40M, and again worked USA, Europe and Asia. It was around 4.30 and I was strting to feel sleepy so went to bed.

I then received a phone call from a friend needing some help with a small job, so off I went to their house to help. I returned and thought get on 20M for a couple of hours, and then tried 15M with only 2 contacts. So on 20M I worked Asia, throughEuropwe to the USA. And by when 5pm came round I again had to leave the radio. I had forgotten there was a Northern Soul event at a local venue (see my website http://www.g1vdp.com) and I had promised my friends I would be there. So it was off out for a few drinks and a dance.

When I returned I had a quick tune and call on 40 and 80M with more USA and Caribbean worked. Sunday I spent again on 20M with a quick check on 15M. Ending the day on 40M with a final spurt on 80M.The final results were;

432 QSO's
1408 Points
253 WPX
Claimed score of 356,224

This is only a part time score due to the constant interuptions and the antennas were only dipoles - 80M, 40M and 30M tuned for 20M and 15M through my Palstar AT2K.

Don't forget we will be on from the farm in a few weeks in the CQ WPX SSB contest. Not sure how we are going to operate as yet, but it is looking like a 2 single band activation using MW9W and MC0SHL. Hope to work you in the contest.

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