My 2023 UK Island Tour: M/VK5GR, MM/VK5GR & MW/VK5GR EU-005

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VK5GR’s UK Tour 2023

Part 1 – Scotland – Fort William

I operated portable QRP whilst touring the UK this year. In Scotland, I set up my KX3 and dipole at the lodge we stayed at outside Fort William on the west coast, not far from Ben Nevis.

I worked over 170 stations over a 4 day period.

Part 2 – Wales – MW/VK5GR – Snowdonia National Park

September 30th saw me activate a park in Wales. GWFF-0074 Snowdonia National Park was accessible about 30 minutes south of Conwy where we were based. I was in grid IO83cc just on the eastern edge of the park.

While in the park I operated as:

  • CQ Parks – 20m and 40m SSB
  • Search and Pounce Parks – 20m SSB
  • Search and pounce – UKEI SSB DX Contest in the QRP 12 hour section – 19 QSOs made
  • 20m FT8 – to round out my final contacts to reach 44 QSOs and allow me to qualify the park.

Thanks to everyone who called or responded to my call. Yes, MW/VK5GR/P is a mouthful!

Part 3 – Kildwick, Yorkeshire IO93av  (Sept 23-27 2023) (England) – M/VK5GR

I have also been on air from a cootage in Kildwick, Yorkshire, England. IO93av  (Sept 23-27 2023)

I was active in the CQ WW RTTY contest as a single band (20m) unassisted station using 5W on a KX3, a signalink and my laptop, with a very low 1/2 wave Windcamp SOTA dipole hung up in the trees in the courtyard of our holiday cottage.

M/VK5GR Station setup on the Kitchen bench in Kildwick

Where did I manage to reach with my meagre RTTY station? The best QSO was with PY2NY – a distance of 9459km!

Part 4 – Upper South Wraxall (near Bath) IO81vj (October 3-7 2023) – M/VK5GR

In Bath I have been mostly on FT8 with multiple attempts at SSB using the following configuration

Part 5 – Mevagissey, Cornwall IO70og  (October 8-12 2023) – M/VK5GR

From this QTH I am located inside of GFF-0247 Cornwall AONB so I am running the station as a 4 day Parks activation as well as normal DXing.

Here is my antenna setup

I am particularly pleased to have worked ZD9W from this QTH on 17m FT8.

All up I worked over 600 stations during my time in the UK using a simple dipole and 10 watts from an Elecraft KX3. Total station weight was under 4kg.