Isle of Wight

Isle of Wight DXpedition

The Dxpedition went well with everybody (Ray, Stuart, Pete and Kevin) all giving favourable verdicts. The Ferry trip was a bit tame compared with previous swashbuckling experiences, but our three cars were safely transported out and back. The return journey was less convenient than we would have liked because we had to check-out early, and the timetable had been changed so that we didn’t get to sail until 17.05. All our attempts to cadge an earlier trip failed, despite our hopes being raised on multiple occasions.

Our accommodation in Dairyman’s Cottage on Tapnell Farm Park was excellent, we had an en-suite room each and we found plenty of opportunities for erecting a comprehensive antenna farm consisting of two switchable multi-band dipoles a 10 m vertical, Kevin’s rotatable 2m horizontal Yagi and several 2m and 4 m whips. The Kitchen/ Lounge was very well appointed, and after a fairly basic Curry and Tinned-fruit supper on day one (necessitated by every other restaurant in Christendom being closed due to Her Majesty’s funeral) on subsequent days we enjoyed sumptuous fried breakfasts courtesy of Stuart, followed by evening repasts in various Island Hostelries, including one which involved being served raw steaks which we cooked ourselves on sizzling hot rocks at the table.

Operating results were not quite so favourable due to a variety of technical gremlins. Ray's FT8 station using an iCom 7300 started well on day one, but then it suffered a USB interface failure which despite all efforts and excellent assistance from Kevin continues to plague him even back at his home QTH. It seems to be a problem due to the HAMLIB interface software, and it appears this is a common problem affecting the 7300. Why it should suddenly appear is still a mystery. Our LSB activity, mainly on 40m and 80m seemed to go well with two stations situated on the kitchen table, namely Pete’s iCom 7300 and Stuart’s transceiver setup, both using one of the SOTA dipoles. We had an afternoon trip out on most days, starting with a trip to nearby Newport and followed by a refreshing and educational trip to the Mermaid Gin Distillery near Ryde. Other trips to Cowes and Yarmouth followed