On Saturday 16th January George M1GEO, Chris G8OCV and Dave M0TAZ took part in the RSGB AFS phone contest. The idea was to give the Secret Nuclear Bunker Contest Groups first outing of the clubs call MX0SNB. The clubs contest site benefits from having a large doublet antenna (40m per leg) 30m up on the large onsite mast.

Using the Icom 7100 and 100w we noticed quickly while it was possible to match the antenna it didn’t seem to be working very effectively.  The shack is located 20m below ground, in the original Home Office radio room. Once inside the bunker you have no idea what may have occurred. We decided to go back up to the mast and check, and on taking the doublet down we discovered one of the 300 Ohm feeder legs had become detached.

The antenna is located close to 30m above the ground, and the mast is already very well elevated, making it sometimes hard to maintain a working HF antenna in the winter weather. A quick fix later and we was soon back on the air.

We operated from 3 till 5 PM and managed to work over 100 stations. The contest was well supported with many club stations and members from around the country. It was just a casual entry, but enabled us to get our club call on the air. Thanks to everyone we worked. 73 MX0SNB