GB0BON
In 2010 the Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society decided to make a change to
their annual summer barbeque by holding a field day and running a special event
station.
We set the date 20th June 2010 and we chose a location, Rupert’s
Viewpoint on the boarder of Northamptonshire and Leicestershire. The special
event call sign GB0BON standing for the “Battle of Naseby” had been obtained
from Ofcom and permission to use the site had been granted by one of the
trustees of the Naseby Battle field.
For those interested in the history of the Battle of Naseby, it took place on
the 14th June 1645 and was the decisive battle of the English Civil
war. Details can be found at the trustees Website.
www.naseby.com
or emailinfo@naesby.com.
2010 SPECIAL EVENT
Our first special event did not go off without a few hitches. We thought that we
had covered everything. The club radios, antenna tuning units and antenna had
been tested the previous weekend and were running ok. The generator had been run
up and was working fine. The evening before the laptop-logging programme had
been put to the test and found to be working perfectly. What could possibly go
wrong! Answer, lots of things..
Problem number 1. The clubs radio, after many years of sterling work chose this
weekend to break down. No receive audio, and despite many attempts to coax it
back to life it remained stubbornly quiet. No great problem though as G1IVG, the club chairman was despatched home to pick up his base station.
Problem number 2. After returning rig in hand and plugging it all in it was
discovered that for reasons we were unable to work out that the clubs Windom
antenna was refusing to load up on anything except 20 and 40 metre bands. This
time I was dispatched back home to pick up the G5RV antenna that the local
Market Harborough Girl Guides had built for their thinking day on the air.
Problem number 3. The club Windom antenna was lowered and the Girl Guide
Manufactured G5RV antenna raised. It was at this point that someone noticed that
the PL259 connector on the coaxial wire that connected the radio to the antenna
was just hanging on by a thread. A quick bodge job and again we tried to get a
signal out. It was at this point we began to wonder what else could go wrong as
we could still only load up the radio on 20 and 40m bands.
Problem number 4. For some reason the lap top computer was refusing to talk to
the radio or should that be the radio was refusing to talk to the laptop.
Whichever way it was the pair of them would not communicate. This meant that
manual log keeping would be the order of the day. At least this did not require
another trip home as a paper log had been brought just in case of a problem like
this.
It was then that our luck changed by way of a saviour called G4EOF (SK). He
turned up at the site and to our relief just happened to have his Yaesu FT1000MP
radio with built in antenna tuning unit in the boot of his car. At last we were
on air and on every band from 80 to 10meters with no gaps.
By 0900 hrs. we were up and running. We spent the morning on the lower bands and
had many nice contacts with other stations round the UK. It was museums on the
air weekend and we managed to work quite a few of them.
At about 1300 hrs. we ventured up the bands and settled on 20 Meters. It started
off quietly enough and we were having fun exchanging details with stations.
However at some point we think that someone must have posted us on the DX
cluster as all of a sudden all hell broke loose and at the end of each contact
we were met by a wall of 59+20 noise. In the next three hours we rattled of no
less than 160 contacts. OK not a great rate for a contest station but for a
special event station it was quite a rate of QSO’s.
By 1600 things had settled down and we decided to let Steve loose with his Morse
key. A few more contacts were made before we closed the station for the day.
June 19th 2011
After the outstanding success of 2010’s field day at Rupert’s Viewpoint
the Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society decided to once again put a special
event amateur radio station on in June 2011.
We obtained the same special call sign from the regulator Ofcom,
GB0BON,
and again obtained permission from the land owners, to use the land to the rear
of the car park to set up the station and the antennas.
In 2011 the station was being run to commemorate the 366th
anniversary of the Battle of Naseby that was won by Cromwell’s new model army
and put an end to three years of civil war.
Our main day of operation was on the 19th June when we set up
the station was open to visitors from 0900 hrs. until early evening. Visitors
were able to see and hear Short Wave (HF) Amateur Radio in operation and talk to
local Amateurs about the hobby. There was also a small display of other radios
and the opportunity for anyone who has an interest in radio to find out how to
obtain a licence.
Whereas in 2010 the day was memorable for the blazing sunshine and mini
heat wave and the gazebo being our salvation from sunstroke and 1st
degree sun burns, the 2011 will be remembered for the cold, the monsoon and
winds that battered our little gazebo on the Saturday. My abiding memory of
Saturday will be of four burley radio amateurs, each gripping onto each corner
of the gazebo to try and stop it being blown away while dodging the torrents of
water streaming off the roof.
The Sunday was a much better day weather-wise, it was a little on the
chilly side but the rain did not put in another appearance thank goodness. We
managed many contacts during the day and our newly licensed M6MPT managed to get
on air for the first time. We had a number of visitors during the day including
members of a bicycle club who were using the car park as a rendezvous point;
they seemed quite impressed that we could talk round the world on a simple radio
and length of wire.
Thankfully though the previous year had taught us a number of valuable
lessons so this year we were not plagued by faulty equipment and breakdowns. The
computers and radios all talked to each other, antennas radiated all the RF we
sent up them and there were plenty of spare parts and tools. Having said that we
did learn that our displays were nor really up to par and that it would be a
good idea to have some form of hand-out for explaining who we are and what
amateur radio is for visitors.
Despite the adverse weather we again managed many contacts around the
world and as in 2010 when evening finally arrived we had to reluctantly shut
down despite there still being many stations calling us.
June 16th/17th
2012
As in previous years the station will be located at Rupert’s Viewpoint
just south of Market Harborough on the Clipston Road. Rupert’s Viewpoint is one
of the highest vantage points in the area and was chosen by Prince Rupert
because of the all-round field of view it gave him. It is also a superb location
for a VHF and UHF station for the same reasons and also ideal for HF giving us
as it does plenty of room to erect long wire antennas clear of trees and other
obstructions.
We have again applied for the call GB0BON from Ofcom and begun planning
the weekend. We will be publicising the event using our local commercial radio
station, HFM, our local paper, The Harborough Mail and The Leicester Mercury.
This year we will be specifically inviting young people from local youth groups
and schools to see an amateur radio field day in operation as well as opening
the station up to all comers.
It is hoped that we will be able to run some data communications and
possibly some slow scan television as well as voice communications.
We are exceptionally lucky in no only having permission of the land
owners to use the site but in also having permission of the Naseby Battlefield
Project to take over their car park and make use of their flag pile to mount our
antennas on and would like to extend our thanks to them for use of their
facilities.
Rupert’s Viewpoint and the other areas of interest on and around the
battle field are maintained by
The Naseby Battlefield Project a Registered Charity.
Peter Rivers
Secretary Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society
Further information
A full report of the 2010 event can be found at
http://www.frankcom.plus.com/files/rsgb_newsletter/rsgb_newsletter_august_2010.pdf
Welland Valley Amateur Radio Society
Battlefield Trust
http://www.naseby.com/index.html
History of the Battle
http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/1645-leicester-naseby.htm