Back in 2015, Thurrock Acorns ARC launched a new idea to encourage more activity on 2m – The “2m Essex Activity Day”
On Saturday the 18th of November 2017, it was the sixth 2m Activity Day, and as with previous events, members of Essex Ham were showing their support for the initiative.
With the Thurrock Acorns team planning to be tucked up in the warmth of Rachel G6AMY’s QTH, making use of the the TAARC club callsign (GX4HKO), it seemed like a good idea to squeeze in a quick field day in Shoebury to get some Essex Hams on-air. Sadly the weather had other plans, and almost on-cue at midday (the planned start time) at the operating position in Shoebury, the drizzle started.
After hoisting and guying Peter G0DZB’s 2m antenna, we took shelter in our cars for some 2m action.
As an experiment, we tried some SSTV. No takers, but thanks to some advice from Bill G4OAX in Frinton, Pete M0PSX had learnt how to get the Clacton SSTV repeater to parrot back SSTV images, so a couple of successful tests of sending and receiving SSTV were made.
By this time, the 2m car had three damp hams, an FT-857, laptop and half a carload of chairs and tables on board, and steamed up windows – no doubt causing some odd looks from the handful of dog walkers bracing the sea air.
The weather subsided enough for a couple of “wish you were here” photos…
We all know we could do with a little more activity on 2m, and the idea of getting the county to get on-air for events like this, is excellent. Essex Ham’s fully supportive of this initiative, which is why we’ve supported each event since they started in 2015. (See: Essex 2m Activity Reports). For the March 2017 event, the team set up a 2m station at a fairly blustery Shoebury East Beach.
Well done to Thurrock Acorns for championing the Essex 2m Activity Days, and thanks to everyone who called in or sent us a message. Special thanks to Herbie for making contact using the Colchester Club’s callsign G3CO – making a total of 3 of the 18 Essex clubs taking part in this county-wide event…
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