Mad Sunday 2008 Special Event Station by the IOMARS
Every year in the Isle of Man the local club used setup a small event at the local Tractor Show over here which happened at the same time as the middle Sunday of the Tourist Trophy Motorcycle Road Races which happens to be called ‘Mad Sunday’, where many motorcyclists and also boy racers in there cars travel over the mountain course trying to out do each other at whatever speed they feel safe at doing this, and whats more it’s legal for just one day, not that there are speed limits on most of the mountain course anyway, but on this day each year the boy racers out there just have fun at speed on our mountain road.
Whilst all this mental stuff is going on there is a small field down south of the Island that hosts an event for all the tractor restoration people that are on the island, and as one of the organizers of this event is also a radio ham, the local club get to put up a tent, throw up an antenna or two and play radio.
This Mad Sunday event is quite good for a PR exercise and the club normally get a steady steam of people popping in for a chat…
Steve Kelly (GD7DUZ) started assembling the Mosley Beam on the floor with the help of John Butler (GD0NFN) and Harry Blackburn (MD0HEB).
With most of the antenna built it was just a few final touches needed doing…
Matty Cunningham (MD0MAN) turned up at just the right time to help out. Next job was to turn the beam upright so that it can be fitted onto the stub mast.
Steve Kelly (GD7DUZ) bolted the beam on to the stub mast, now all they have to do is insert the last of the elements.
By raising the mast a little Steve (GD7DUZ) was able to add the last elements in place.
With Steve tightening up each element that John was passing to him, the beam was nearly finished.
Harry Blackburn (MD0HEB) is always a good wind up, so he gets the job of getting the antenna up in the air…
Nearly there….
Looks like the flag is going to get a little messed up, hopefully it will all work out well in the wash…
Steve keeping an eye on things to make sure that everything is going OK.
Finally there and ready to be used.
There is nothing nicer than a portable tower, with a beam and a flag on a nice summers day.
The view up the tower, looks quite nice in the sun, we certainly had great weather for Mad Sunday in 2008..
The Manx Flag flying high over the field, it managed to get caught up a little in the head unit, but it still looks good in the light breeze that we had that day
Steve (GD7DUZ) working on sorting out the cables to make sure that they don’t get tangled up or damaged if the wind blows up, better to be on the safe side. Meanwhile Harry is locking off the lifting wheel to make sure that it is nice and tight.
At least the weather held out for the day…
The workings of an old steam engine.
The mast standing tall over the field ate the Mad Sunday show and Special Event Station.…
This is Dave Corkish’s (2D0RGW) domain, not only is he a Radio Amateur, but he loves his farmyard equipment as well.
The view across the field to the make shift ham shack..
James Kelly (MD3WKJ) making the most of some radio time whilst being watched by passing people.
John Butler (GD0NFN) posing for the camera in-between a contact or two on the radio.
John Butler (GD0NFN) was working on one of the stations whilst James Kelly (MD3WKJ) was on the other, and both making quite a few contacts throughout the day.
There is something quite nice about watching these old belt driven machines at work!
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There are lots of old machines around and most are running so that you can see how they use to be used.
One of the larger attractions at the event is an old working thresher and baler, and the team of operators are always willing to show how things were done in the old days.
