OM3AU Memorial and Microwave Contest

Once again this year, we couldn’t miss the Ondrej Oravec OM3AU Memorial, which significantly contributed to the development of VHF in Slovakia as well as in the former Czechoslovakia. The contest is organized by the Slovak Amateur Radio Association on the 144 and 432 MHz bands. For the first time this year, we also participated in the Microwave Contest on the 1 296 MHz band.

This year, the contest took place on 6^th and 7^th June. After our experience from last year, we went to our new spot in the locator KN08QQ and thanks to the funds obtained from a project, we joined the contest with new equipment.

We entered the second year of the memorial in an expanded group with a plan to train young operators, whom we are preparing for exams. Compared to last year, we have three new members: Rudo, OM8ATS, Jaroslav and Maxim. Peter, OM8ADU, also joined us on the hill and helped with the transport. Peter, many thanks for the help.

The day began with a small meeting at the club by planning activities for the rest of the year. In the morning, we loaded the equipment in the car and set off to the spot above the village of Kosicka Polianka (KN08QQ). The unpacking went really quickly. There were many of us and we used Peter’s mast (OM8ADU). Due to the declining participation in the contest, we decided to pack the equipment for the QO-100 in the trunk and the equipment in test operation for the 1,2 GHz band for the Microwave Contest. Shortly before the race, we got soaked by a shower, which we waited out under a shelter next to our car.

Peter, OM8ADU, commenced the contest under his call sign. He was quickly contacted by boys in Kosice, who also actively participated in the contest. He made 27 connections in just two hours of broadcasting. I (Miroslav) sat down to the QO-100 workstation and trained operation. On the 1.2 GHz, Dusan, OM3WAK, alternated with Jaroslav and since the connections we made on this band were only CW, Peter, OM8WG, always came around to establish connection with the particular station. Maxim and Rudo provided moral support and looked after the drinking regime.

The absence of air traffic was felt on the band. Earlier this year in the 2nd Subregional Contest, we could see how big of an influence airplanes have on establishing connections. However, the operation on the QO-100 was excellent. Counterparts kept giving us 59 and listened in amazement to the news that we were ‘portable’ during a VHF contest. We made the least number of connections on the 1.2 GHz band. These were our first connections on this band. In order to test this band with our new ICOM IC9700, Peter, OM8WG borrowed an irradiator from Peter, OM3PV, from Trnava. Thank you for lending. During the contest, we managed to establish connections with only two Hungarian stations and our partner radio club OM3KTR from Trnava. The connection with OM3KTR is our record so far. :)

We decided not to spend the night on the hill this year. Our goal was to increase participation and awareness of this contest and to prepare young club members for amateur radio exams, and we managed that. For the first time in the modern history of the club, we broadcasted on three bands at the same time.

And finally, a brief statistic of our connections.