RotA 2019

Location

The Somerset and Dorset Railway Heritage Trust are based at the former Midsomer Norton South Railway Station. The postal address is Midsomer Norton Station, Silver Street, Midsomer Norton, BA3 2EY. However, there are some specific details that will be of interest to radio hams:

  1. Lat/Long: 51.281077°,-2.482759°
  2. IARU: IO81sg
  3. IOTA: EU005 (UK Mainland)
  4. WAB: ST65 – England

Stepping back in timeStepping back in time

Equipment Used

We’ve been undertaking our Special Events for a number of years now and have gradually fine tuned our equipment and setup over time. Railways on the Air is one of our favourite events and the only one where we regularly operate both SSB and Data. In the future our data might have to be FT8 in place of our preferred PSK as the number of PSK operators appears to have diminished since the advent of FT8, time will tell if this switch is permanent or not.

This year we used:

  • SSB Station:
    1. Nissei DPS300GL power supply;
    2. Yaesu FT991 HF/6m/2m/70cm multi-mode transceiver;
    3. MFJ 993 auto atu;
    4. 80m doublet fed with 450Ω ladder line;
    5. Behringer Xeynx 302 USB mixer/splitter;
    6. Logitech powered external speakers; and
    7. Acer Aspire 8942 laptop running CQRLog under Ubuntu MATE 18.04LTS.
  • Data Station:
    1. Watson PowerMite NF power supply;
    2. Yaesu FT857D HF/6m/2m/70cm multi-mode transceiver;
    3. LDG Z11 Pro auto atu;
    4. Multi-band (40m, 30m, 20m, 15m) delta loop antenna;
    5. Tigertronics Signalink USB data interface; and
    6. Toshiba Satellite C660D-19X laptop running FLDigi under XUbuntu 18.04LTS.

SSB stationData station

The Operation

This year’s event was rather sparsely attended, in fact jokingly it became known as the “Andy and Mark roadshow” although others were in attendance, notably Ken M7MYU on Sunday.

Saturday didn’t include any digi operations, this was for two reasons:

  • Firstly we were missing a non-critical cable from the digi-modes station, we could have operated but would have lacked the CAT interface that allows frequency information to be logged automatically; and
  • More importantly we were going to lose one operator on the Saturday due to other commitments so data had to take a back seat on Saturday.

This wasn’t too much of a handicap, and allowed some operation on 20m by the SSB station resulting in our best DX into Carlise Pennsylvania when we worked W3SOX for a distance of around 5,600km, not bad going for 100W into an 80m doubet although having looked at Davids QRZ page his station was probably doing a lot of the work!

AntennasAntennas

On the Sunday we had both stations on air and operations were more normal for this event.

Mark M0SKV operating with Ken M7MYU loggingMark M0SKV operating with Ken M7MYU logging

We had a good operation over the weekend as a whole managing over 100 contacts, although only 12 of these contacts were with other Railways on the Air registered stations.

Restored rolling stockRestored rolling stock

The Log

Date of Contact Time Station Worked Band or Freq (MHz) Mode TX RX Operator’s Name QTH IARU Locator Distance (km) Notes
RST No. RST No.
21/09/2019 10:57 GB4OST 80m SSB 59   59   Steve Old Station Tintern     Newport Amateur Radio Society
21/09/2019 11:04 GB0SCR 80m SSB 59   59   Colin Swindon Cricklade Railway     Home call G4GBP
21/09/2019 11:08 GB2LHR 80m SSB 57   59   Tom Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway     Furness Amateur Radio Society
21/09/2019 11:11 GB0CVR 80m SSB 59   59   John Colne Valley Railway     Braintree and District Amateur Radio Society
21/09/2019 11:16 G8QZ 80m SSB 57   59   David Derby      
21/09/2019 11:19 G3NYY 80m SSB 59   59   Walt Tewkesbury      
21/09/2019 11:25 G3OBX 80m SSB 59   59   Derek Romford      
21/09/2019 11:31 GW0WPO/P 80m SSB 55   59   Neil Llangollen Canal      
21/09/2019 11:36 M0TCD 80m SSB 59   59   Adrian West Sussex      
21/09/2019 11:40 G4UAQ 80m SSB 59   59   Ian Maidstone      
21/09/2019 11:45 M1AQO 80m SSB 59   59   Glen Warrington      
21/09/2019 11:46 M0LZY 80m SSB 59   59   Paul New Forest National Park      
21/09/2019 11:49 G0FGI 80m SSB 56   59   Tom North Devon      
21/09/2019 11:52 G4ACS 80m SSB 59   59   Geoff Kinver      
21/09/2019 11:56 G8YPL 80m SSB 59   59   Keith Liverpool      
21/09/2019 12:00 G4CVU 80m SSB 55   59     Wall Heath Kingswinford      
21/09/2019 12:02 M0XLT 80m SSB 43   59   Kevin Skipton      
21/09/2019 12:11 PH75MG 40m SSB 59   59   Michael Culemborg      
21/09/2019 12:27 W3SOX 20m SSB 55   58   David Carlise PA USA      
21/09/2019 12:45 GB0WHH 80m SSB 59   59   Thomas Welsh Highland Heritage Railway     Porthmadog & District Amateur Radio Society
21/09/2019 12:56 GB4VBR 80m SSB 59   59   Owen Berkeley Vale Railway     Thornbury and South Gloucestershire ARC
21/09/2019 12:58 M0OYH 80m SSB 58   58   Craig Liverpool      
21/09/2019 13:04 GW3RVG 80m SSB 57   59            
21/09/2019 13:05 G3OKA 80m SSB 58   58   John Wirral      
21/09/2019 13:34 GB2RDR 40m SSB 56   59   Goerge Royal Deeside Railway     Aberdeen Amateur Radio Society
21/09/2019 13:49 MD/OP2D 40m SSB 59   59            
21/09/2019 13:53 GB4OKE 80m SSB 57   57   Jim Dartmoor Railway     Holsworthy Amateur Radio Club
21/09/2019 14:10 GB2VK 80m SSB 59   59   Danny Caernarfon      
21/09/2019 14:56 M0UTC 80m SSB 59   59   Paul Malvern      
21/09/2019 14:59 G4NXL 80m SSB 59   59   Malc        
21/09/2019 15:01 G0JNT 80m SSB 59   59   Les Grimsby      
21/09/2019 15:02 F4VPL 80m SSB 59   59   Dave Brittany      
21/09/2019 15:05 G0RMU 80m SSB 59   59   Roger Woking      
21/09/2019 15:06 M0RBM 80m SSB 59   59   Rodney Bude      
22/09/2019 09:19 GB2SDR 80m SSB 59   59   John South Devon Railway     Torbay Amateur Radio Society
22/09/2019 10:07 GW0WTH 80m SSB 59   59   Hugh        
22/09/2019 10:12 GB0GCR 80m SSB 59   59   Stephen Great Central Railway (Nottingham)     Nunsfield House Amateur Radio Group
22/09/2019 10:12 G4FOG 80m SSB 59   58   Colin        
22/09/2019 10:16 GB4MHR 80m SSB 57   59   Chris Mid-Hants Railway (The Watercress Line)     Horndean & District ARC
22/09/2019 10:20 M0RLO 80m SSB 56   59   Dennis Hitchin      
22/09/2019 10:24 M0KEP 80m SSB 59   59   Tim Abingdon      
22/09/2019 10:28 G4TXF 80m SSB 59   59   Colin        
22/09/2019 10:32 G3VHH 80m SSB 59   59   John Langley      
22/09/2019 10:36 DL3APY 14.0714 PSK31 599   599   Matthias Berlstedt JO51ob 952  
22/09/2019 10:39 GW6EWX 80m SSB 46   59   Nick Bala Wales      
22/09/2019 10:49 G4POF 80m SSB 59   59   John Hampshire      
22/09/2019 10:52 G3IOI 80m SSB 59   59   Ray Bristol      
22/09/2019 10:58 G3TPP 80m SSB 59   59   Barry        
22/09/2019 11:03 G8OFA 80m SSB 59   59   Martin        
22/09/2019 11:03 EA2DDO 14.0717 PSK31 599   599   Aritz Legazpi IN83tb 912  
22/09/2019 11:06 G4VHL 80m SSB 59   59   Tim Devon      
22/09/2019 11:13 G3KIP 80m SSB 59   59   Ken Tunbridge      
22/09/2019 11:17 M0NMI 80m SSB 59   59   David Swindon      
22/09/2019 11:24 M5AKY 80m SSB 59   59   Donald Farrington      
22/09/2019 11:27 G4AQY 80m SSB 59   59   David        
22/09/2019 11:34 IZ8IZK 14.0719 PSK31 599   599   Carmine Grimaldi JM89cd 1978  
22/09/2019 11:38 G7OPD 80m SSB 59   59   Paul Great Barr Birmingham      
22/09/2019 11:46 GB2MOP 80m SSB 59   59            
22/09/2019 11:49 GW4OFQ 80m SSB 59   59   Roger Ammanford      
22/09/2019 11:52 G3XBN 80m SSB 59   59            
22/09/2019 11:56 DJ0WO 14.0708 PSK31 599   599   Wolf Munich JN57rx 1065  
22/09/2019 11:58 GB0CVR 80m SSB 59   59   Geoff Colne Valley Railway     Braintree and District Amateur Radio Society
22/09/2019 12:27 DD9ZZ 14.0716 PSK31 599   599   Horst Limburg JO40ai 744  
22/09/2019 12:36 M0IRB 40m SSB 59   59   Sam North Yorkshire      
22/09/2019 12:41 F4VPL 40m SSB 59   59   Dave Brittany      
22/09/2019 12:42 M0WRI 40m SSB 59   59   Peter Durham      
22/09/2019 12:49 GW6STK 40m SSB 59   59   Robert        
22/09/2019 12:53 G0MMN 40m SSB 59   59   Ben        
22/09/2019 12:56 M0PER 40m SSB 59   59   Alan Chester      
22/09/2019 12:58 F5GPE/P 14.0715 PSK31 599   599   Pierre St Martin de Clelles JN24tu 931  
22/09/2019 13:03 G0RRZ 40m SSB 59   59   Richard Nottinghamshire      
22/09/2019 13:07 G4IWO 40m SSB 59   59   Nick Yorkshire      
22/09/2019 13:09 M0HOY 40m SSB 59   59   Stephen Leigh      
22/09/2019 13:10 M6KQK 40m SSB 59   59   Paul Leeds      
22/09/2019 13:12 M3COY 40m SSB 59   59   Mike Manchester      
22/09/2019 13:14 M3MAY 40m SSB 59   59   Matty Wakefield      
22/09/2019 13:18 M6IHM 40m SSB 59   59   Tony Sheffield      
22/09/2019 13:19 G0PSM 40m SSB 59   59   Peter Manchester      
22/09/2019 13:20 IK3RIP 14.0719 PSK31 599   599   Angelo Venice      
22/09/2019 13:22 M0BZZ 40m SSB 59   59   Bob Birkenhead      
22/09/2019 13:26 2E0NMK/M 40m SSB 59   59   Simon Coxhoe      
22/09/2019 13:29 G4GTX 40m SSB 59   59   Stuart Sunderland      
22/09/2019 13:32 G8XOU 40m SSB 59   59   Ivan Norfolk      
22/09/2019 13:39 GD0BFN 40m SSB 59   59   John Isle of Man      
22/09/2019 13:46 MM0KBT 40m SSB 59   59   Davy Scotland      
22/09/2019 13:53 M0TZR 40m SSB 59   59   Paul County Durham      
22/09/2019 13:54 F4EQE 14.0718 PSK31 599   599   Serguei Strasbourg JN38uo 785  
22/09/2019 13:58 2E0TGK 40m SSB 59   59     Pendennis Cornwall      
22/09/2019 13:58 LZ3QE 14.0712 PSK31 599   599     Burgas KN32ql 2447  
22/09/2019 14:02 MM0AOQ 40m SSB 59   59   Colin Scotland      
22/09/2019 14:03 G3TGB 40m SSB 59   59   Brian Braintree      
22/09/2019 14:10 2M0RHT 40m SSB 45   57   Ralph Scotland      
22/09/2019 14:13 F4VSU 40m SSB 59   59   David Le Pont Gourge      
22/09/2019 14:18 GM4EIW 40m SSB 59   59   John Scotland      
22/09/2019 14:19 ER1PB 14.0714 PSK31 599   599   Serghei Chisinau KN47ja 2303  
22/09/2019 14:20 GM4MTI 40m SSB 59   59   Donald Scotland      
22/09/2019 14:22 M0HEM 40m SSB 59   59   John Essex      
22/09/2019 14:26 2M0SWA 40m SSB 59   59   Stuart Scotland      
22/09/2019 14:29 G0JHK 40m SSB 59   59   Mike Hastings East Sussex      
22/09/2019 14:33 2M0BHR 40m SSB 59   59   Peter Scotland      
22/09/2019 14:35 PA3JD 40m SSB 59   59   Joop Netherlands      
22/09/2019 14:39 DF9TW 14.0707 PSK31 599   599   Tom Pirmasens JN39tf 751  
22/09/2019 14:40 M0ABT 40m SSB 59   59   Stuart East Sussex      
22/09/2019 14:41 PA3ECZ 40m SSB 59   59   Ruud Netherlands      
22/09/2019 14:44 GB6RHD 40m SSB 56   59   Malcolm Dungerness      
22/09/2019 14:49 F/PA3TOP 40m SSB 59   59