GB2NWA Airfields on the Air 5/6 April 2025

By | 13 April 2025
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LEFARS participated in the RAFARS AOTA activation as GB2NWA at North Weald Airfield, Essex on HF over the the weekend. This was in partnership with Thames Amateur Radio Group (TARG) who operated nearby as GB0NWA on 2m, 70cm and QO-100 satellite. Both LEFARS and TARG thank our hosts, Weald Aviation, for the opportunity to be back at North Weald Airfield and for LEFARS after a gap of a few years.

North Weald Airfield, near Epping in Essex, was the famous Battle of Britain fighter base, formally RAF North Weald and first established in 1916. More info in the links below.

Some photos and report from sister station GB0NWA are in the April 2025 TARG newsletter.

Setup for GB2NWA started on Friday afternoon with Dave M0VID collecting the Tawney syndicate radio caravan and a few essential items from our store. Richard G4DDP and John G8DZH assisted.  We arrived at North Weald Airfield on Friday 4th April around 16:00 and set up adjacent to the Weald Aviation premises.  With the 40m dipole setup on its 9m telescopic mast, we left and returned for a 9am start on Saturday 5th April.

Equipment was an Icom IC-7300 running 100w to a 40m dipole. Power sources over the weekend were from a 1kW EcoFlow battery pack (George M1GEO) and V2L from Dave M0TAZ’s EV [photo below] as well as a fossil fuel generator on Saturday evening and Sunday.
Operators over the weekend were: John G0VEH, George M1GEO, Richard G4DDP and Dave M0TAZ (Region 12 RSGB representative).  Richard G4DDP stayed onsite over the weekend. John G8DZH updated social media (WhatsApp and Facebook).

George M1GEO operating on 40m

 

Richard G4DDP entering latest QSO on 40m into Cloudlog.

We were also  visited over the weekend by Chris G8OCV, Ron G6LTT and XYL Karen, Dave M0MBD, Kevin M7MJW and YL Sophie.
Due to a solar flare, conditions were variable and Saturday morning poor. By Saturday afternoon picked up with some inter-G but a Polish contest in the late afternoon with long skip made working inter-G hard. Later in the evening with worsening conditions, moved to try 20m FT8 with best DX VK6AS Australia.
Sunday morning first thing poor conditions prevailed but late Sunday morning and afternoon inter-G improved considerably allowing more G contacts.   We ended with 184 contacts and 20 countries worked. Mainly EU and UK but also Russia, USA and Australia. Bands used were predominately 40m SSB but also 60m, 20m and 15m and a few FT8 contacts.  Packing up started at around 15:30 on Sunday.

GB2NWA – full map of the European stations worked.

Airfields worked

  • GB0CC – RAF Coastal Command
  • GX1IDR – RAF Husbands Bosworth
  • GB0BAM – RAF Bottisham
  • GB1RY – RAF Ramsbury
  • GB5HAF – RAF Hornchurch
  • GX1RAF – RAF Halton
  • GB1FOX – RAF Martlesham Heath
  • GB0WAO – RAF Chipping Ongar
  • GB0WZL – RAF Westonzoyland

Other special event stations

  • TM16REF, TM85REF, TM91REF – 100 years of French Amateur Radio Society REF
  • GB0IARU RSGB HQ Station. OP100U, OR100U – Belgium celebration 100 years of IARU
  • PA80HGV, PH80LIB – Netherlands celebrating 80 years of liberation.

LEFARS members worked

  • G4YOH – Wayne
  • M0OAB – Brian/M6OAB Boo
  • G6LTT – Ron
  • M0JLI – Ion
  • M7MJW – Kevin
  • M1GEO – George
  • 2E0EWM – Ellis
  • 2E0TFJ – John Paul

GB2NWA logs / callsign search

GB2NWA logs, with callsign search, can be seen on the visitor page of the club’s Cloudlog server. All contacts were uploaded to the GB2NWA QRZ page.

Acknowledgements

LEFARS would like to thank Thames Amateur Radio Group (TARG) for facilitating the return of LEFARS to North Weald Airfield and our hosts, Weald Aviation for allowing us to set up opposite the Essex/Herts Air Ambulance base.

Links

Photos

Photo credit Dave M0TAZ and John G8DZH.

GB2NWA was powered  by V2L on Saturday by Dave M0TAZ’s car battery.  (Also a 1kW EcoFlow from George M1GEO but not shown)

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GB0NWA, operated by TARG were alongside over the weekend. Operation was predominately on 2m and QO-100 satellite.

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TARG’s QO-100 satellite dish and shelter for GB0NWA. TARG had 112  QSOs from 31 countries, and on 2m many contacts closer to home.

GB2NWA shack and 40m dipole at North Weald Airfield. To the right is GB0NWA operated by TARG. Essex/Herts Air ambulance in the background.

73
John Ray G8DZH
13th April 2025   [Updated 18th April 2025]