JOTA 2013 – Report from Sevenhampton

For this year’s JOTA the Sevenhampton Scout Group camped in a field near the masts on Cleeve Hill. The Scout Leader Stuart G7IHN was assisted by Giles G0NXA who provided much of the equipment.

CARA made available an 80m loaded dipole which also resonated on 40m and this was strung between a convenient telegraph pole and a 42′ portable mast. Used in conjunction with a TS570 this offered good performance on both bands. The following morning a Capco SPC matching unit was added which extended the coverage from 80m through to 10m.

On 2m operations commenced with an IC271e feeding a mag mounted car aerial, coverage was never satisfactory. On Saturday, this was altered to use the pump up mast on Stuart’s Vauxhall Frontera to support a rotator and J Beam quad. Performance fell below expectation but some local contacts were made, so effort was concentrated on HF. This is perhaps to be expected as there was no testing prior to the event.

All the Scouts who attended the site were able to talk to other stations and several were heard talking to their parents about Foundation Courses. Stuart, the Scout Leader, is going to follow this up in the immediate future.