RSGB National Field Day 1996

摘要

Every contest has its own character and National Field Day is no different. The main thrust of this event is to make as many contacts as possible with other European groups. Anyone connected to the DX PacketCluster would have seen the excellent openings on 50MHz during the early summer months. In the CQ WPX Contest the previous weekend, 28MHz was really humming with European and Stateside activity. NFD participants who had been monitoring the band were hopeful that at least the Sporadic E propagation would continue over the following seven days, since each contact on 28MHz is worth double points. What a disappointment then to find virtually no Es and the scramble for contacts limited to those close to high areas of population. With low sunspot activity still holding down F2 layer ioniza-tion, 21 MHz was good for only a few contacts and therefore the bulk of activity was again shared by the other four bands.