May 21, 2012
2011 Contests February 27, 2011 RSGB March 2m & 70 cm Contests The Five Bells Group will be active for the Radio Society of Great Britain's March 2m & 70 cm contest. Callsign - G5B Locator - IO92ws Operators & Contributors - G4ODA; G0VTL; G1GSN; G1LSB; G4DHF; G1ZJP; M0WAF; G4YHF Comment:  -  In 2010 although the group won the overall contest they suffered badly from interference between the two stations.  Harmonic interference can be an issue, but after trying many different solutions over th years, the group had, as they thought, solved all issues.  From the outset in the 2010 there were problems which resulted in considerable downtime during important periods of the contests and the group were surprise to win the overall contest - http://www.rsgbcc.org/vhf/results/10/mar144432.html In 2010 QSOs [contacts] realised on respective bands were - 2m [144MHz] - 287 giving a "normalised" score as band winners of 1000 70cm [432MHz] - 120 giving a "normalised" score of 892 This gave a total score of 1892 compared to our friends and rivals Colchester Contest Group G0VHF who's total score was 1573. During the winter season our team leader G4ODA has been incredibly busy building and repairing a lot of equipment which gave trouble last year and adding new equipment too. Here's to a good contest for all and maybe, just maybe we will have some better weather than we are normally accustomed to!!  Good Luck to all.  The Five Bells Group - G5B   Add new comment All fields are required. Name:* Email Address:* Comments* Please enter the phrase as it is shown in the box above.    Show/Hide Comments (2) Bob Feb-28 9:55am Tropo forecast looking "reasonable" for Saturday at the moment -<br /> http://www.dxinfocentre.com/tr_map/fcst/nwe138.jpg<br /> Also weather forecast is showing slight rain starting about 15:00 - what a coincidence!! :) Bob Mar-4 9:52am This has to be a first - <br /> Major preparation work completed by Wednesday Evening prior to he event including erection of antennas [just need winding to full height on the day] - antennas checked along with feeders and all antenna system faults cleared.<br /> Thanks to Keith for spearheading the preparation for this contest and access to allow us to assist him.<br /> Here's to a good contest!! Archives February 2011
Wow!! - What a blast!! - this is almost certainly the first time in over 20 years that The Five Bells Group have worked this contest without shutting down overnight.  Yes, conditions were so promising with occasional contacts over 1000km on both 2m and 70cms that we kept both stations open for the full 24 hours.  All group members are sooooo tired and we are grateful not only to our host, Keith G4ODA, but also to our respective partners / spouses for signing passes for the entire weekend and putting up with the extreme tiredness post contest on our return home.  Logs have to be checked for silly mistakes & typo’s and as soon as time permits a comparison / analysis between bands done.  I was aware that 70cms was open to the Dx somewhat earlier than 2m opened to similar areas and distances.  More soon …….  If you heard our signals but failed to contact our station we will be very pleased to hear from you; please give as much information as possible, date, time, your call and locator and your station details.   Please email to –   mar2and70_11@g4siv.com
20th April 2011 - The Radio Society of Great Britain Contest Committee announce the results of the March 144MHz & 432MHz Contest.  The Five Bells Group have been announced  as clear winners on this the first contest in the National VHF series for 2011 Our thanks go to the RSGBCC all for their hard work and dedication in making results available so promptly. Full results are available here. Thanks to everybody for your contact and points.