Tim VK2BT, Dave VK2JDS, Owen VK2OL and Greg VK2XE

The Manly Warringah Radio Society (MWRS) participated in the 2018 John Moyle Memorial Field Day, held 17-18 March. John Moyle(1908-1960) was an engineer, editor, music and art lover, and the following two-part biography by Neville Williams eloquently describes his significant contributions to radio in Australia: (1) http://messui.polygonal-moogle.com/valves/NW198909.pdf, and (2) http://messui.polygonal-moogle.com/valves/NW198910.pdf.

The Manly Warringah Radio Society gratefully accepted an invitation to operate from  a wonderful property in the bush at Gowan, about 250km west of Sydney that is owned by Dave – VK2JDS and Phillipa – VK2XPH.

Tim – VK2BT, Geoff – VK2AVR, Owen – VK2OL, Dom – VK2JNA and Greg – VK2XE all left Sydney Friday afternoon co-ordinating their travel via either the Terrey Hills 2m repeater 146.875MHz VK2RMB or 2m simplex 147.4750 MHz. Leo – VK2LEO and Philip VK2APL turned up the following morning, with Ian VK2FJEN arriving later on Saturday afternoon.

The “advance party” met up at Lithgow McDonalds for dinner around 7pm before travelling in convoy to Dave and Phillipa’s house.  The trip between Bathurst and Dave’s was harrowing and filled with danger as there were many kangaroos (and the occasional deer!)  lurking in the shadows beside the road.  Greg was surprised by one of the roos attempting to travel through his van between the front and rear lights! Luckily both saw each other, and the roo and van attempted to swerve away from each other at the last minute.  Whilst they did still collide, the roo hopped away with a bruise or two and the van had a few minor cosmetic dents and fur scrapes down the right side.

We arrived at Dave and Phillipa’s around 9.30-10pm and were welcomed by the dog Saul going crazy and trying to lick and get a pat from everyone all at once which was followed by coffee, tea, cheese and bacon balls and a grand tour of the amazing radioactive glass, rock and ceramics collection.  We all wondered whether we should have worn a dosimeter for the weekend and monitor our radiation exposure 😉

Later in the evening a campsite was established around the lower dam and we all attempted to sleep and get some rest before Saturday site setup.

Saturday morning started around 7.30 with a site review of the Mountain top followed by breakfast.  After breakfast, work commenced on the establishment of an antenna farm in preparation for the John Moyle Field Day start around midday.  Various antennas were erected and retuned using the Rigexpert Analyzer.

Dom assisted with the site preparation, Gazebo erection, antenna setup and tuning.  However, he had to leave around midday due to other commitments for the remainder of the weekend.

Primary HF Antennas included an end fed half wave vertical which was used for 40m, 20m and 10m; an 80m loop antenna which was also used on 40m and 15m; and a 160m dipole.

VHF, UHF antennas included 6m, 2m, and 70cm, and the microwave setups for 23cm, 13cm, 9cm, 6cm, 3cm, 12mm, 6mm, and 4mm consisted of Dave’s custom made Dishes and Panels Antennas with their own rifle sights and attached Transverters. Contacts on these higher “line of sight” microwave frequencies were made with the operators from the Amateur Radio Central West Group who had established a temporary JMFD setup on another hilltop.

Dave VK2JDS under his moonbounce dish antenna – that was not used during the JMFD.

In addition whilst not part of the contest Owen – VK2OL had his old CODAN 6924 25W lunchbox radio setup with its own antenna chatting away with Bruce VK4MQ in Queensland also operating a CODAN 6924 at a VK4 JMFD location.

Radios used during the contest included the club’s ICOM IC-7300 used for the HF bands, Tims ICOM IC-7300 was connected to the 6m yagi and was used for our only 6m contact (unfortunately the 6m band was really quiet).  An ICOM IC-910H was used for 2m, 70cm and 23cm.  A Yaesu FT-817 was utilised to feed Dave’s various microwave transverters.

Greg VK2XE and Geoff VK2AVR

Contest operations commenced around 1pm and we decided to call it quits for the evening around 7.15pm.  We made contacts on just about every band between 160m to 76Ghz.  The only blank band appeared to be 10m where we heard nothing and had no response to a number of CQ calls. On HF we predominantly operated on SSB with Owen operating CW for about a 90 minute block and made a few CW contacts.

Leo VK2LEO and Owen VK2OL

Sunset at Gowan.

That evening, we were treated by with the Amateur Radio Central West Group (CWG) with a feast consisting of 3 (!) lamb legs, potatoes, pumpkin, peas, and Leo’s (secret recipe) spicy beans, prepared by Phillipa and Lindsay.

Lindsay VK2AMV preparing dinner

Phillipa VK2XPH, note the number of radios in the kitchen

Owen VK2OL and Tim VK2BT carving the lamb, Leo VK2LEO observing.

Group photo of Manly Warringah Radio Society and Amateur Radio Central West Group, both participating in the John Moyle Memorial Field Day. From left to right:

Steve VK2KFJ, Jason VK2GUY, Owen VK2OL, Gordon VK2MTM, Justin VK2CU, Gary VK2FGAZ, Dave VK2JDS, Leo VK2LEO, Phillipa VK2XPH, John VK2ELM, Geoff VK2AVR, Greg VK2XE, Tim VK2BT, Lindsay VK2AMV , Ian VK2FJEN, Philip VK2APL

Missing from photo are Dom VK2JNA, and Terry VK2MTJ

In the photograph below, the light flare to the left of the beam is from Sydney, and the light flare from Bathurst is to the right.

Supernatural phenomenon? Or someone undertaking astronomy observations?

Although we approached the weekend with an attitude more of having fun than serious contesting, we still managed to achieve nearly 90 contacts on each and every one of the contest amateur bands with the exception of 10m (no activity heard on 10m at all). In other words we achieved contacts on 160m, 80m, 40m, 20m, 15m, 6m, 2m, 70cm, 23cm, 13cm, 9cm, 6cm, 3cm, 12mm, 6mm, and 4mm.

The weather was just perfect for the entire weekend. Overall it was a wonderful experience for all that participated and we thank Dave and Phillipa for their wonderful hospitality.

Results at http://www.wia.org.au/members/contests/johnmoyle/