5B4ES- The English School Radio Club

WPX Contest 1999

Continuing the Clubs tradition to be as active as possible in contests, we took part in the WPX 1999 SSB contest on the last weekend of March.After the IOTA contest in the summer of 98 (Ranked 2nd! Worldwide in the MS Island Section with an amazing score of 7 million points)and the All Asian Contest early in September of 98 (we are expecting a good position in Asia part),we had the chance to take part in yet another contest!
The thrill of calling out "CQ contest" and "P39P" again,excited us all once more, and pushed us to live another great contest and more gain valuable experience and as always enjoy the contest and have fun!And we all did!

The working conditions for this contest were:

YAESU FT-1000MP tranceiver
Kenwood TL-922 Linear Amp
A Yagi tribander 5 element antenna for 10/15/20 meters
A 4CD 2 element Cushcraft for 40m
Two 80m Sloppers one facing NW and one facing SE
A 160m Inverted-V antenna all, antennas on an 80-foot tower
PII 350Hz Gateway Computer System - Running CT logging software
Pentium 120Hz Optimus Comptuter System - for the WebCluster connection
Many,many but many operators,club members,classmates,friends!

The contest started off a bit badly... the propagation didn't do us the favor this time.As another amateur radio operator and friend told us a few hours before - Murphys Law! "If something can go wrong it will!".But other than that we encountered no problems.

Many younger members of the club, friends, classmates visited the club during the contest.Lots of them for the first time there,were thrilled by the contest experience.Others were asking later what kind of language where we talking on the radio!

The TNC we were waiting from the States to arrive, didn't get on time so we had to use the WebCluster for DXspots and other info about the traffic on the air...But the line couldn't stay for long connected with the ISP.The RF just didn't allow that.It was just matter of when will we transmit again from the running station!

You can view photographs of the event in the gallery

By: 5B4AIP added:17-10-2009 16:40 (modified: 17-10-2009 16:59)

5B4ES Carwash - 28/3/1999

On the 28th of March 1999, the English School Radio Club organised a Carwash - Open day.The purpose was fund raising for the club's expansive needs,and a day that everyone would have the chance to watch the club's operators in action in the WPX contest, while their car was washed inside out!

The response from the club members and our fellow students was tremendous! There were so many friends, non-members of the club, that were willing to help and organise the carwash that we couldn't really make it without them. A big thank you goes to all of them and of course to the club members that were there and supported the club for once more.

The carwash did not start with the best conditions ever. It started with the worse! The carwash was advertised long before and we were expecting a lot of people coming at the school's parking place where it was organised. But the weather played us a nasty trick. From early morning it started raining and the clouds covered quickly the sky. The spirit reached so low levels at time that we even considered to cancel it. But fortunately some friends did come in the morning and the carwash did begin.(of course the rates where not as high as the QSO rates back in the shack)

The spirit goes sky high with food!And that's what happened at noon.The "Souvla"(Cypriot kebab like traditional food) and everything else there helped us to get going despite what was happening.The fun never stops at times like this.

Thanx to all the members,friends,parents of friends and some teachers (we expected more of them) we were kept busy until 8:00PM when we start packing up,cleaning the place and moving to the shack for some more taste of the contest!

You can view photographs of the event in the gallery

By: 5B4AIP added:17-10-2009 16:58 (modified: 17-10-2009 16:59)