VHF NFD - 6th/7th JULY 2024

After an increase in number of entrants in VHF NFD between 2022 & 2023 it is disappointing to note that this trend was reversed in 2024. The number of portable groups entering this year was 35 (two of which were not UK&CD based): this was 29% down on 2023. Entries were distributed between sections as follows: Open - nine: Restricted - fourteen: Low Power - thirteen, Mix & Match - nine: Multi-Single - four. The same downward trend applies to the number of Sweepers which, at 54, was 22% down on 2023. Possible explanations for this fall are the poor weather and a clash with the football: fortunately the latter is not likely to recur in the near future...

Looking at the overall results, there was little change among the section leaders. In the Open and Restricted sections, the leading three groups were the same as in 2023 (although their positions had swapped around) and in the Mix & Match and Multi-Single sections there was only one change of group in the top three. But it was all change in the remaining two sections: in the Low Power section, the leading three groups were all different from 2023 and in the Sweeper section only one of the three was the same.

Before considering individual bands, it is worth looking at entrants' comments that apply to multiple bands. The most frequent related to the weather: perhaps this is not surprising given the fascination of us Brits with the topic, but this year entrants' comments would make good source material for anyone producing a thesaurus of bad weather, with the words 'rain' or 'wet' appearing no less than 24 times, followed by 'windy' twelve times. It appears that the Celtic fringes of the British Isles got away more lightly than other parts, but reports of thunderstorms and static rain showers (often serious enough to require stations to close down temporarily) were widely spread. One entrant reports being teased by periods of alternating heavy showers interspersed by sunshine.  A classic case of understatement came from the group which commented 'Weather a bit wild for July'. A second recurring theme (19 comments) was the low level of activity (obviously related to the reduced number of entrants) with observations that more contacts could be made in a 2.5 hour UKAC than in the whole VHF NFD weekend. And there were overall no less than 34 comments of poor or flat conditions, although not all commenters agreed, and the detail varied from band to band.

On 6m, a limited amount of sporadic E was available with a few contacts made into the Iberian peninsula and a Spanish beacon was briefly in evidence, although many stations failed to catch the openings. There was also a single contact with VO1 (from EI) but the precise propagation mode is not clear.

4m was reported as very unstable, with no sporadic E and high noise levels. Activity was reported as better than 6m.

On 2m, despite low activity on the Saturday, things are reported to have picked up a little on Sunday morning, including a tropo opening to SW Germany. One entrant reported 'some very iffy signals that were difficult to read' suggesting path instability.

Although 70cm conditions were generally disappointing - with one entrant commenting 'conditions as per a pancake' - alternative views were expressed by two entrants who found that aircraft scatter offered some interesting contacts and another who found some nice DX was available - but very quiet within the UK. And, similar to 2m, there was a report of 'occasional very bad distortion of signals' believed to be due to thunderstorms.

And finally 23cm: not a great deal to report, although one entrant commented that some good DX was available.

As usual 'Schadenfreude Corner' makes interesting reading, including the following:

'Remember to bring wellies next year'

'Awoke on Saturday morning to find our site devastated by a storm, that had not been forecast,  passing through during night.  The very heavy ex-army operating tent had been upturned and thrown onto the bank together with our 2 gazebos. Tables upturned and equipment scattered and one mast blown over.  A box of 7 laptops soaked'.

'Poor SWR caused panic due to corroded DE. Soldered a wire to a brass screw tapped in it'.

'Please, can we have VHF NFD on a Tuesday night? '

'Tent broken due to wind, transverter failed due to broken relay, antenna and preamp destroyed in a rapid uncontrolled descent. Everything soaked'.

'Struggled on this band [2m] then found out the next day that the antenna had rotated by 90 degrees'.

'Laptop problems (don't like being dropped from a great height )'

But equally some positives help to balance the picture:

'The weather was reasonably kind to us this year, we were even able to enjoy our traditional post-contest Sunday roast al fresco style'

'Managed to work an ex pat Yorkshire man in EA'

'The traditional Chinese and beer at 10pm was welcolmed heartily'.

'Amazed ourselves by getting all the stations on the air, although 23cm was a bit late.  The weekend actually turned out to be very enjoyable thanks to members pulling together to make it happen'

'WX quite nice for a change'

'Setup dry in between showers'

'The weather gods took their holiday in SW Scotland with only a couple of showers with lots of sunshine, blue skies. Breezy at times. Nice to set up and take down stations in dry weather'

'[After earlier disaster] first thoughts were we would be going home but after a brew and cooked breakfast we set about re-erecting the tent and salvaging what we could, drying equipment with a hair dryer'.

'Lots of heavy showers but setup/down dry! Wow... Static rain before start-gone during-Wow!'

Well, that's it for another year - thanks to all this taking part - look forward to seeing you in VHF NFD 2025 - in a more conducive environment!

Quin Collier G3WRR

g3wrr@rsgbcc.org