A quick introduction: by day, I'm a DevOps Engineer at Red Gate, a software company in Cambridge, UK. Outside of work, I enjoy both amateur radio (hence the callsign, M0VFC) and community broadcast radio at Cambridge 105. This blog aims to span all those interests - so feel free to ignore the posts that aren't relevant!
Feel free to get in touch on Twitter (@rmc47).
73 / Best wishes,
Rob
One of the things that keeps me occupied is acting as QSL Manager for the Camb-Hams callsigns - mostly GS3PYE/P and GM3PYE/P from our Scottish DX'peditions. I've spent the last few evenings catching up on a bit of a backlog of bureau cards, and in doing so, came up with a set of tips for anyone sending cards...
Starting off with something that bit us - make sure your QSL cards are the right size.
Historically, this has been described as "postcard size", but there's no standard definition of postcard size. We incorrectly went with 6x4", rather than the correct 5.5x3.5" (139x89mm) for our 2009 and 2010 cards, leading to the following problems:
Our newer cards are the correct size, and the RSGB website now gives much clearer information on the correct size.
Through some thought and software, I can process, reply to and sort about 500 bureau cards in an evening. One of the steps is to sit with a pile of cards in front of me, type the callsign, briefly check the QSO details, press enter, and move on to the next card - normally spending only a couple of seconds on each card.
One of the biggest slow-downs in this process is if I have to search the card the callsign of the station sending it. That may sound obvious, but remember that the side of the card facing me will be that with the QSO details - so if your callsign is only on the other side, it can double the time taken to do this stage.
A nicely designed card is a real pleasure to receive, and it's great to see the effort, artistic talent and creativity that goes into many cards.
However, don't get carried away and print your callsign in such an obscure font that I can't actually read it!
If you've made a couple of QSOs with the same station, maybe on different bands, try and include as many as possible on one card, rather than sending multiple cards to the same station.
This keeps bureau costs down, and generally avoids wasting resources, so when designing your cards, allow plenty of room for more than one QSO.
Our outgoing cards can handle up to four QSOs per card. If I receive a card from a station, I tend to reply with the details of all the QSOs in our log, as often the card for other QSOs appears shortly after in the pile!
This specifically applies to the sort of operations that I manage, but it's worth bearing in mind: each year, we go to a different island, and each year's operation has its own QSL card design. So if you've worked us once in 2009, and again in 2010, that will need two cards.
When I'm replying to cards, the first step is to separate the incoming cards by operation, then work through a pile of cards for one operation. This poses something of a problem when a single incoming card needs two cards in reply - I need to remember which card I've sent, and instead of moving it to the "done" pile, move it to the next "incoming" pile.
This last tip won't apply to all DX stations you send cards to, but it's worth considering.
(I should point out that if you do combine multiple years on one card, I'll still reply to you - it's just a preference on my part as it significantly eases the workflow!)
Finally, here's my lounge floor earlier this evening, with just short of 2000 cards sorted by DXCC entity, before being packed up and sent off to the bureau:
Today, Phil M0DEG and myself entered the CW leg of the RSGB's 80m Affilliated Societies Contest as G3PYE. Today's contest forms part of the AFS Super League that the Camb-Hams are taking part in, encompassing contests from 160m to 70cm.
Neither of us had entered a CW contest in a serious way before - we'd both done a little casual search & pounce in the likes of CQWW CW, but never tried to run, and never actually gone for a competitive entry.
CW is something I've been wanting to improve for some time - I've periodically spent time practising, but life always seems to get in the way before I actually become competent! Phil is somewhat better than me, but it's similarly a relatively new skill for him.
Having set up in plenty of time, and with the (surprising!) absence of any technical difficulties, we started the contest in search & pounce mode to get warmed up. An hour in, we dared to hit the F1 key for the first time - "CQ G3PYE TEST"! Thankfully, no-one replied the first time :-).
Thereafter, we managed a steady run at about 60 QSOs per hour, and between the pair of us, we managed to copy most stations reasonably quickly - but many thanks to everyone who was patient with us if we didn't get it right the first time!
The occasional pile-ups were an interesting challenge, normally resulting in blank looks all round:
"Did you get any of that?"
"Nope."
"Me neither. There's probably a G3 in there though..."
[Sends "G3?"]
"Oh yes. All good."
We finished the contest with 176 in the log, less a couple of dupes, and no doubt more than a few errors that we'll lose in adjudication, but with smiles on both our faces, and thoroughly exhausted after four hours of intense concentration.
As an aside, this morning also saw some work at the G6UW shack - the rotator cable for the main tower had become caught under a guying lug when the tower was wound down, and snapped when we then wound it up.Unfortunately, this meant we couldn't rotate the beams into the right orientation to be able to tilt the tower over. Gavin, M1BXF leant me his climbing harness, and a quick repair was made at the top of the tower, before heading off for coffee before going our separate ways to prepare for the AFS contest.
As it's just into the new year, I thought a quick post was in order, looking back at 2011, and forward to what's in store for the forthcoming year...
Like Keith, G6NHU, I started 2011 with the goal of making a QSO every day of the year - something to try and get myself more active from home. For the first four months of the year, I managed that, with no days missed.
However, the start of May saw the very successful Camb-Hams DX'pedition to Arran - where as a group we made 9,100 QSOs in a week from the not-very-rare DXCC of Scotland - and I realised that the "project 365" challenge was getting in the way of many other activities I was enjoying, so decided to put it on hold on my return. My hat goes off to Keith for completing his a couple of days ago - very well done indeed!
Another regular feature has been the Tuesday evening RSGB UK Activity Contest series, where I've joined Gavin, M1BXF, Lawrence, M0LCM, Joe, M0ZRN, Mark, M0MJH and several others throughout the year to put G3PYE/P for 48 weeks of the year. We've seen our results steadily increase, ending the year second on 4m, 6th on 2m, and hopefully in the top few on 70cm and 6m as well. 23cm has been a challenging band for us, but with some recent investigations, it looks like we're heading in the right direction there at last.
After a summer of various other contests, Raynet events (Cambridgeshire Raynet's busiest and most successful year for a long time - if not ever), September bought with it a week-long trip to Saint Pierre et Miquelon with Cambridge University Wireless Society (CUWS). Between the six of us, we managed over 15,000 QSOs from our four stations, with some wonderful pileups to go with the great food, company and hospitality. It was a pleasure to meet Rick, VO1SA and Jean-Pierre, FP5CJ, while we were out there, and it was a real trip to remember.
Barely time to unpack, and it was off to the RSGB Convention, where Cambridgeshire was well represented, with myself, Gavin and Dom, M0BLF all giving talks. As well as the entertaining and informative lectures, the social side of the convention was great, and the chance to meet up with some very familiar callsigns face to face most welcome.
Next up, CQ WW SSB with the CUWS (operating as M4A), where the fantastic HF conditions allowed us to anhialate the England Multi-Two record we set ourselves in 2010 - final results pending adjudication, of course.
And so into the winter months, with the return of the AFS Super League, and a great start there for the Camb-Hams: second in the 50MHz leg, and third on 160m. The 2m results aren't yet published, but it's looking hopeful for a good result there as well.
Finally, a few days off over Christmas allowed me to join my Dad, G3VFC and Fred, M0RFD operating as G5MW/P in the RSGB Christmas Cumulatives contest series, which runs over four days from 26th to 29th December. It's a fairly relaxed and cheerful contest, and it was a nice way to round off the year.
I ended 2011 with just over 600 QSOs (80 DXCCs, 90 all-time) in my M0VFC logbook for the year - a small fraction of the number I've made using other callsigns (G3PYE, FP/M0VFC, M4A, G6UW, G5MW and so on), but well up on the 210 logged in 2010.
So what of 2012?
2011 saw a lot going on - a little too much, at times - and there's lots of projects I just couldn't find time to finish. I need to make some more time available for these in the next few months, as well as maybe keeping a few more weekends free to "just play". Having literally zero free days for months on end certainly doesn't lead to boredom, but I do need to find some down-time sometimes.
That said, there's already a lot of exciting stuff planned:
In September, I also hope to be travelling to Tristan da Cunha (ZD9) with Martin, G3ZAY, where we'll be active for about three weeks. This is still dependent on getting a place on the ship, but it's looking hopeful so far. Assuming we do get there, it should be a real once in a lifetime experience.
I look forward to catching you on the bands!
73 and Happy New Year,
Rob, M0VFC