2026 - RSGB National Field Day (CW)

Yet again, our intrepid team of Tony G2NF, Mike G3WPH, David G4ERW and myself, John G4IRN set out for annual pilgrimage for the RSGB National Field Day, which is an HF, CW contest event that coincides with the IARU Region 1 Field Day. Many clubs and groups get into the spirit of Field Day by operating portable under generator power and with simple antennas; it's sad that portable stations are on the decline, however a 'fixed station' section help ensure activity throughout the contest.

Our site on the south coast of England on Portland Bill is very exposed. This year we had severe gale warnings for the Saturday, so we wanted to ensure all antenna work was completed on Friday afternoon, ahead of the 1500z start on Saturday. We managed to do that, but any thought of putting tents up was quite literally blown apart. We do not normally get more than a few hours of sleep each during  Field Day but having to sleep in a car isn't the best. Fortunately, on the Friday evening we stayed in a local hotel where we were able to rest ahead of the inevitable discomfort.

It is not always the case, but this time the station worked well throughout the 24 hour contest. Our station consisted of a doublet antenna on two 15m long masts. The open wire feeder went through a balanced auto-ATU and into the Flex 6600 running 100 Watts. Logging was with DXlog and keying via WinKey. We entered the 'assisted' section this year, though that was more by accident than design (the rules had changed this year).

This was not a winning entry - we've identified weaknesses and hope to address that next year. But if nothing else, it was a fun weekend and good to have social time with friends.

Score summary and phots below. Many thanks to Rich M5RIC for helping out with the antenna building and tear-down.