GB50GSR Special Event Station

Jump to the GB50GSR Logbook.

Over the weekend of the 18th to 20th September amateur radio operators from Gwynedd, Lancashire, Yorkshire and Gloucestershire converged on Shell Island, near Harlech in North Wales, to run the GB50GSR special event station.

Those present during this weekend form the core of the annual GB8SOS special event team. GB8SOS is operated during SOS Radio Week to raise awareness of the amazing work the unpaid volunteers of the RNLI lifeboat crews perform. They save lives at sea and around the coasts of the UK mainland, Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands in some of the worst conditions imaginable. However, their reason for gathering this weekend was to celebrate one of the team’s 50th birthday.

Simon, better known as M0GSR (or MW0GSR since he’s the one that lives in Wales), knew that he was coming along to Shell Island for his birthday weekend, but he wasn’t aware that a special event callsign had been obtained in his honour.

Simon is a well respected figure in the British amateur radio scene. In his time as an amateur radio operator Simon has contributed to many clubs, including both the Meirionnydd, Porthmadog and Wales Digital Radio Group. He has been instrumental in the creation and maintenance of the digital voice WDRG network on the VHF/UHF bands. He has brought together who have expanded their knowledge and skills under his tutelage. He also works with the members of the Quantum Technology Club, in Lancashire, with events and exhibitions, demonstrating digital voice radio to the masses.

Many years ago, Simon launched the Snowdonia Radio Company (SRC). It specialised in developing and producing affordable and reliable antennas that really worked. His creations include the …

• SRC X80 – a telescoping aluminium vertical antenna that looked a bit like a Silver Rod CB antenna but which utilised a 9:1 unun to be used on the 80-10m amateur radio bands. It received a 4.2 rating on eHam.
• SRC X65 – a 65ft long HF multiband wire antenna that used Simon’s signature a 9:1 UNUN. The antenna could be deployed in many different ways including as a straight wire, a vertical wire, or as an inverted-L using a fishing pole and tree tie-off.
• SRC HF360 – an extremely solid and dependable end-fed fiberglass vertical antenna, capable of allowing the user to work 80 meters through 10 meter bands. It received a rating of 3.8 on eHam.
• SRC 8010 – a multiband HF antenna for mounting on car roofs. It received a rating of 5 on eHam.

At a time when most affordable HF antennas were long lengths of wire and antennas for compact gardens were expensive, Simon’s antennas were just what the market needed. He revolutionised amateur radio for those on a limited budget and with small postage-stamp sized gardens (myself included). His antennas enabled many to get on the air who might not have otherwise been able to.

Sadly, SRC is no longer trading, but his designs have stood the test of time. They have since been copied by several antenna manufacturers, even retaining Simon’s original model designations as a tribute.

How did the GB50GSR special event station go?

As we all made our way to Shell Island on the Friday, the weather was not conducive to running a special event station at all. Simon and Sooty had arrived earlier in the afternoon and the windows were high and the rain plentiful. So much so that one of the camping fields was under water. However, the weather forecast was for the winds to abate over the weekend and the precipitation to reduce during the evening.

Accordingly, where I arrived at around 17:45 the wind was a steady 20-25mph, gusting 30-45mph, and it was wet, very wet. So we all retired to the pub and got fed and watered. By the time we’d finished the rain had indeed died down so we went back to the camping area, decided that it was far too windy to erect tents, decided to sleep in vehicles and returned to the pub. The rest of the crew arrived during the evening and after some more food and watering, we retired back to the vehicles for the night.

When we awoke on the Saturday morning, the wind was still around 10-15mph, gusting 20-25 mph, but it was so much better than it had been through the night and there was no rain. We thought it was probably still too windy to erect tents, so I attached a large tarp to the back of my van and we all managed to seek some shelter from the wind.

My trusty SRC HF360 was erected as far away from the vans as my co-ax allowed and the Icom IC-705 set up for FT operation on 17m and above inside the van. Simon put his HF screwdriver antenna on my van’s roof and operated FT8 on 40m under the tarp using his Yaesu FT-897. Pablo put my screwdriver antenna on Sooty’s car and used his Yaesu FT-891 to operate FT8 on 40m too. Sooty, meanwhile, was experimenting with his new, bright orange, Jackery Power Station and solar cells.

There are no electric hook-ups available at Shell Island, so everyone was operating off-grid. Folk took turns at trying to run Sooty’s battery down in his Jackery as much as they could by charging all their devices. However, the solar panels were more than a match for the drainage current now that the sun had come out around mid-day and it was to stay out for the rest of the day. Sooty was very happy with his investment.

There afternoon turned out glorious, with the wind down to a breeze and the sun shining. We worked through until late afternoon and then packed everything up before heading off to the pub again for more food and watering.

Sunday started much as Saturday had finished, with even lighter wind. Simon did some digital voice operating on VHF and I continued operating FT8 on the HF bands – 20m and up. Sooty and Pablo packed away to get off around lunch time as they had long trips back home. Simon and I continued operating until 14:00 before we did the same.

In the end I had made ninety contacts over the weekend. The best DX were several contacts into Japan, Canada and the US with contacts into Africa and the Middle East too – all using just 5w of power. Proof, if it were needed, that Simon’s HF360 antenna really does work.

The QRZ page set up for GB50GSR received more than 400 lookups during the weekend.

GB50GSR logbook

The following logbook is not complete yet, I am awaiting the logs from Simon, Sooty and Pablo. The locator square for Shell Island is IO72.