Humber Fortress DX Amateur Radio Club ( M0HFC & MX0HFC & M6C )

When a call came into the Humber Fortress club from a couple of our members, that Kevin 2E0KVK and Valerie M6OGK were in need of help with a project in the form of demolition of a bridge. Well the guys all jumped at the chance; well it is not every day you get to blow up a bridge with dynamite is it?. Well so we all thought: but it was not to be this time as the bridge was over a garden pond which had been filled in years before.
This was a big project to undertake on your own, but when Kevin said the magic words, “Beer and Food in the form of a BBQ”, (for which he is well known for his Bear Grylls style cooking) then names soon went on the list for a work party.
With that, a date was set and we all geared up for the job in hand in true club style.
Sunday 25th June saw a large party of members descend upon Kevin and Valerie QTH with the bonus of the the sun shinning brightly.
All bearing arms of some sort in the form of hammers ,chisels and jack hammers, his neighbours must of thought we was going to take his house down.
Well, Valerie has been waiting a year to get this Job done and could not contain her frustration any longer , with a big sledge hammer in hand she started the demolition and knocked down the sides – well done Valerie.

Now came the young guy’s turn Mike, Kevin’s son and Andy G7LRR’s son, Lenny M6LRR went to town with the Big Hammers and broke the bridge’s back, Jason M0MGF and Big Pat 2E0KCW went to town with jack hammers.
Jason did seem to like swinging that big sledge hammer about as well, we have heard on the QT it was his workout for the gym as it is closed the next day.
Lots of friends and family of Kevin’s and Valerie also came along to help, we had a great work party and the trips to the local tip with all the rubble got underway, we even had all the kids helping out too.
In between all the hammering and banging,trips to the tip etc.., Kevin and Valerie still found time to put on a great BBQ and lots of cold drinks were on hand. These were especially welcome as we were laughing so hard at Pat for breaking a sledge hammer.
Kevin and Valerie would like to thank all that turned out today for a great day and all the hard work they put in thanks guys.
As the Club Chairman I would like to thank all the members of the club for turning out in true spirit, this is what makes our Club what it is today well done guys.
I have been informed they may well be a return party required, so watch this space.

Here is a little slide show off the work undertaken today

In attendance from the club today was
Trevor G1TDN
Dave G4ASA
Jason M0MGF
Pat 2E0KCW
Sean 2E0SCA
Kevin 2E0OAH
Andy G7LRR
Linda M6LGN
Lenny M6LRR
guest appearance and photographer from
Roger G4SEF
and mine hosts of course
Kevin 2E0KVK and Valerie M6OGK

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A new company has started up just north of the border. This venture is the child of a fellow Ham, MM0HJX, and will be producing Morse keys. The difference with these keys is that they will be in kit form. Yes, you will be putting them together yourself!

The website although not fully up and running yet, has some useful facilities for those wishing to learn the CODE. Take a look at what is on offer, or look back towards the end of the month when the site should be fully up and running. Link to the site is HERE

 

 

 

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Friday evening saw the start of the GB0BB weekend.

This is a time when the club operates the call sign GB0BB in the aim of promoting to the world this last remaining Blackburn Beverley aircraft.

Within a couple shouts of CQ, the contacts started to flow and the log book was no longer looking empty – that is until gremlins started to set in. If something could go wrong, it did RF, I.T… it was all fine on Tuesday when setting up.. honest. With the quick response from the support team, downtime was minimised to a couple of minutes and the lads were back on the radio.

There were two stations running, one on 20m and the other on 40m, and five operators rotating throughout the night-time period to help maintain a constant operation.

The first contact was with a Japan station, which made Kevin’s day, this been his first ever contact into JA. Japan was not the only DX entity worked, with several pile ups in to North America as well as the EU and Asia. Kevin did try to work a ZL2 station, but alas, this was when a gremlin attacked.. Better luck next time Kev.

The morning saw a couple of relief operators arrive, and with this the added ability of fluent CW. All of a sudden the shack was quiet, just the sound of keys been pressed on the keyboard for the logging programs. As lunch arrived, the older guys started to feel the sound of their stomachs rumbling so a change of operators and a change of bands to try to avoid the ever-present contests.

Bad news: Half of the operators for operating over saturday night have called in sick, so now there will be only two. Good luck guys.

As the sun starts to set, the contest stations on 40m are becoming more prominent, making getting those contacts a struggle. If only there were no contests this weekend – oh well, we are persevering. The second station which was not setup for the WARC bands, is now relying on a 204ft dipole and a ATU to try to give us something on 17m and 12m. This has not really returned the results wanted, with what seems to be an inefficient setup. Hey, but atleast we have managed some contacts on 17m. Hopefully the evening will get better….

Good news: with the reduction in the number of operators this evening, we are splashing out, and indulging in a Chinese take-away, as opposed to the usual Fish & Chips.  Cheers 🙂

From all of us here, Have a nice time, and hope to work you on our next Event: Museums on the Air (GB0FP) in June.

Operators:
Friday Evening: Pat (2E0KCW), Bob (M0RWL), Marcin, (M0GVL), Kevin (2E0KVK), Sean (2E0SCA)
Saturday Daytime: Dave (G4ASA), Mike (G4VHM)

Saturday Evening: Andy (G7LRR), Pat (2E0KCW), Jason (M0MGF)

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