Sunrise
The shack
|
Sunrise |
|
The shack |
Well another January event has passed. This year the weather conditions were no where near as bad as the previous two years for us but all the surrounding areas seemed to have had it bad. Of course those would be where we were trying to work. After dominating the last two years with record breaking efforts in the Unlimited catagory we decided to try something a little different this year. For the first time for us we tried a limited operation. As is often the case the people from the furthest distance showed up early. Pete, K9PW from Chicago actually beat the locals up the hill. John, N2YHK who drove from Worcester, Mass. (some 8+ hours) also arrived promptly despite encountering weather problems. These fellows anchored our two primary bands with their exceptional skills. I picked up Russ, N3EMF on my way and then later that evening went and got Robert, K3RDA our 432 op. Our other operators arrived in between. My rover van developed a major leak in the radiator seam causing me to skuttle my Rover plans and put me on the overnight shift. It was a fun drive home, thank goodness for that industrial stop leak they sell at truck stops. George, N3GH gave me an extra bottle for the long ride home. Things went very well the first day with good rates and multipliers despite the snow storms raging around us but the second day was a different story. Even though conditions actually improved over night, as soon as the previously scheduled football games began, the Q rates dropped down the crapper. I guess contest or not the sports events win out. Another weekend later might have been better for all. Maybe some thought could go into this next year.
Despite people not showing due to the storm, despite the storm itself and despite the Sunday games we still did well from looking at the initial posted scores. From what we have seen we scored at least 2X our nearest competitor in the same category and higher than the two leading entries in the Unlimited category. Hopefully more people will join us for a June effort (the door is always open, 'apply within') but for now the forced excursion into the other category was not too shabby.....73---Walt, WA1HHN--
Pete K9PW |
John N2YHK |
Robert K3RDA & Walt WA1HHN |
George N3GH |
Walt WA1HHN |
Russ N3EMF |
George N3WV |
Here is WB2AMU's single operator VHF setup at a hill in Suffolk County, just hours after a major blizzard. The three element Two Meter Yagi is mounted in an umbrella stand in front of the car and a two element Six Meter Yagi is hanging in the trees at the side of the car. |
For every VHF or UHF Contester (and Contest), there is a reference standard definition for "the Best of Times" and also for "the Worst of Times". Some might even go so far as to as to use the Murphy Scale in these references - I know I did, this was my personal "Murphy of all Contests".
The original plan for January 2005 was to work from Black Mountain, 2100' elevation, in DM23. Plans for that went sideways when my vehicle decided to fire off the "Check Engine Soon" light about 180 miles in to the 200 mile leg there to pre-inspect the proposed site earlier in the week. After checking out the location and making a quick list of materials needed to set up equipment, I made the 200 mile drive home. My car dealer took an appointment request for Thursday and I dropped the vehicle off as scheduled - only to get the ominous and foreboding call about two hours later informing me that the part needed (one of the onboard computers for emission control) was not in stock and would have to be special ordered - with a best estimate of time about 2 weeks out from Japan. I asked about driving the vehicle in the time while waiting, got the official "Not any further than needed, short trips only" message from the Service Manager.... Oh well, DM23 will have to be another trip ....
Packed up the Nissan "MCV" (Multi-Purpose Contest Vehicle) Friday evening, drove only 51 miles to my usual contesting spot in DM12(rr) Saturday morning, arriving about 0700 local time. The usual routine is to unpack the vehicle, assemble antennas, lay out feed and rotor cables and get the support masts ready - all while waiting for the usual morning winds on the mountain to die down. This was not going to be the case today however as the winds persisted at a minimum of 30 mph, with sustained peaks of 60 to 75 mph (handheld anemometer used for "sanity checking" when in doubt during antenna erections). The winds continued to build during the day, peaking Saturday night and Sunday morning. This resulted in many failed attempts to put up the long yagi's typically used from this site, with only a single M2 6M7JHV successfully erected at 1800 local time. (Pictures are worth a look)
Started the contest seven hours late, with the single M2 6 meter yagi on an Icom 746Pro and using the 706 MkIIG usually in the vehicle to work 50/144/432 using the magmount FM cut vertical antennas. At least I'm on the air at this point ...
Winds continued to build Saturday night, which resulted in the mast above the Ham IV rotor breaking loose, allowing the 'JHV to orient itself as it pleased. If I worked you on the 6 meter yagi, it's only because the wind was blowing in your direction at the time ...
By Sunday morning, what hadn't been relocated by winds was rounded up to make another attempt to put up antennas for the final day. I managed to get a single 432 antenna (Cushcraft 719b) up with an M2 23CM35 for 1.2, at a significantly reduced height than normally run .. however any yagi is better than no yagi at all. Also managed to wrangle the M2 220 5WL up on a 20' push up mast, with a 2 meter M2 Loop on the very top. Used a magmount and 13 element Cushcraft for 902 this time around with fair results. Was able to work stations between 30 to 50 miles out on nothing more than a 220 handheld and the rubber duck (with several of those using the same on the other side). At some point I notice that the mast above the rotor holding the 'JHV is now bent, in addition to spinning freely like a weather vane (but why should that matter, each end of the boom is bending anywhere from two to five feet past the centerline where the boom is attached to the upper mast above the rotor with the wind ...)
Lessons learned (and reaffirmed); it was worth taking the smaller yagi's along for the ride, I wasn't planning on using them, in fact they were packed for the trip in case a couple of other folks from San Diego wanted to come up the hill and spend a bit more serious time testing the waters on VHF and UHF. It certainly helped to have a couple of loops for the same reason ...
It was worth taking a couple of handhelds along, I was planning on using them to monitor the FM Simplex frequencies, but they were pressed in to use in lieu of having the larger supporting antennas up on 220 and 902.
Lesson reaffirmed; There can never be enough coax or rope to help compensate for those unforgiving times when you have to change all of your old tried and true methods for setting up antennas, especially when you least expect there to be an issue with wind or weather.
Most memorable contacts were in DM43 and CM95 on the M2 Loop on 2 meters, as well as all of the 902 contacts at only 3 watts, many to others using the same handhelds. FM came in handy once again and about 30 % of my total score came from FM contacts all the way up to 1296 (wind profiling radar noise was really bad this time around, FM rescued many of the otherwise unusable SSB contact attempts). There's also the contacts that were made in to DM03 and DM04 using the Alinco 220 Handheld, with the rubber duck antenna "quasi-coupled" in between the reflector and driven element on the M2 220 yagi... sorry no pictures of me precariously perched on the top step of the 8 foot step ladder, maybe next time around ...
End result - a pretty good contest overall. Participation was WAY up over the past few years, especially with the locals at an all time collective high. Many thanks to all who spent many extra miles on the road not to contest, but to help us that were by adding extra points and grids we wouldn't have had otherwise. Many thanks to those who climbed up ladders and sat on the peaks of their roofs with handheld radios to work me on 220 and 902 in my hours of need (sorry, no extra points or multipliers for the effort, but a big "Woo Hoo" from me :).
Looking forward to June 2005 with hope for a smile and nod in the direction of Southern California from the Propagation God's.
'73
Using the "secret" 6 meter "downtilt" trick to generate more "groundwave" signals |
Okay, more downtilt with a "twist" |
Overall site view |
This is NOT how all of your M2 Antennas (144/220/432) are supposed to look on contest day, unless you know something about propagation that I don't. |
Wind ? What Wind ? No optical tricks here folks and only about a 30 MPH breeze at the time .... imagine what the radiation pattern must look like .... |
 Antennas in the snow |
I put in a pile of work getting ready for this one - built and installed a new 11 element 2 meter beam, installed a 15 element 70 cm beam, ran new feedlines, etc. I was all set. Unfortunately, the propogation took a vacation! You giving a certificate for FEWEST QSOs logged? Ah well, it was fun trying, and all the new antennas'll still be there come Summer.
This is my DN70 location at Legion Park in Boulder, about 5 miles from my home. |
Guess you could say I operated the first third of the contest and Murphy operated the rest. At 1000' elevation in FN31, the 60+ mph wind driven snow yanked a coax relay box loose from the tower Saturday night, disconnecting my transverters and leaving only the lower 3 bands intact. Had to use the 2M yagi on 432. Almost got used to the S7-S9 snow static Saturday but Sundays' wind and cold made the power lines sing so bad you could barely hear anyone. Thanks to everyone that stuck this one out, whew! -73, Ron
KC9ETU, Mike, background, N9TF, Gene in foreground looking a little beat towards the end of the contest. |
The consolidated "SHORT STACK" contest station at N9TF. |
What a difference a year makes, especially when you add just one more mode to a four-band operation. Even though band conditions this year were much worse than last year, especially Saturday, we were able to improve on last years score by almost 70%! By adding 222 SSB back into the arsenal, and my son Mike, KC9ETU being a bit more seasoned at contesting this time around, we made the best out of poor band conditions. There was a little added incentive for us, as just 4 days before the contest we received in the mail, our contest award from last years VHF SWEEPSTAKES for FIRST PLACE LIMITED MULTIOPERATOR ILLINOIS SECTION. We definitely had to do better!!
As always, the curse was in again, as Friday night there was a short “teaser” of a 6-meter band opening to the SE into the EL grids. I knew we were doomed! Six remained closed after that opening faded!
By the time the contest began Saturday afternoon, we were in the middle of the backside of a major snowstorm, with winds of 35 mph and heavy lake effect snows off of Lake Michigan. The noise level on six and two was annoyingly high, and signals were way down from normal. I didn’t really know how bad things were until I worked Bob, K2DRH in EN41, and had NO signal strength on him. Bob usually puts in a S9 minimum signal on two meters at all times. I worked Bob later on six meters and that was just as bad as two. We QSYed to 222 SSB, and I was surprised to hear him much louder than on two or six. I only have 4 elements on 222, which is tucked in between my low band tribander below and the 6 meter 3 element above, with only 15” of total separation, compared to 13 elements on 2 meters. Then we QSYed to 432, where I had the best signal strength of all the bands. (19 elements) I noticed throughout the contest, signals were much better on 222 and 432, and the noise seemed less on those two bands. This was very evident when N9DG, Duane up in the western end of EN53, called me on two meters. Once again I thought there was something wrong with one of our stations, as the copy was so week. Once we moved up to 222 and 432, Duane was much stronger, almost enhanced stronger on the higher frequencies. By Sunday afternoon, Duane’s signal on two meters had recovered nicely.
Saturday night the snow ended, but the wind and blowing snow continued, so we made an early night of it. The Rx noise was giving me a headache.
Sunday morning, around 1300-1400 UTC, started out hopeful as I was hearing signals from the east on 6 meters via what appeared to be some sporadic E. For at least 5 minutes continuous, I heard K3EAR calling CQ and working stations west in the EN82 area and out to DM98, and at one time, I heard a station sign DM98 back to K3EAR. I tried until I could no longer hear him, but no luck on my end.
It wasn’t until Sunday before I finally heard stations in the east grids of EN71, W9THD and EN73, K8EB on two meters. K8EB is usually a no problem contact on any band. We had to work each other CW on 222 and 432. Although, I could have worked him on SSB, he was having a difficult time with his noise level.
By Sunday afternoon, I had lost my sidekick KC9ETU to a local football game in 12” of snow, and then to a church group “snow days games”. Mike did miss the better conditions of the contest, as Sunday propagation consistently improved throughout the day. Although, Mike did return just in time to help me with the last half hour of the contest. Not much of rush at the end though. Usually there are several rovers in this area for the last couple of hours, roving around the EN52-EN62-EN61 and EN51 grids to help everyone fill in needed multipliers. Not so this year. Tim, K0PG and Pat, K9ILT had a must go to event Saturday night which kept them from roving, and I guess the weather played a major roll in the rest of the rover activity. N9UM, Mark was out and about roving in the local area between EN52 and and EN62 on FM, as well as WB8BZK/R on a much limited rover operation from past rover outings, on only two SSB and 223 FM.
It was hard to work K0PG and not sign rover at the end. It is so automatic.
As I mentioned in the beginning, we improved our score by almost 70% over last year with less activity, especially by rovers, and poor band conditions. For the past few contests, I have operated without 222 SSB, only 223 FM. FM had been OK for working local rovers, but there were a lot of missed Q’s and multipliers on SSB. After a quick search in November, I found a good friend, N9EMC Joe, looking to part with his FT-736R, which happen to have a 222mhz module in it. ( XYL not happy) On a chilly day in December, I made my way up the tower to mount a 224WB 4 element. I am glad I made the investment (although I am still making it up to my XYL!) as it made the difference. Improvements for next year ( once my XYL is smiling again), is to put up a longer boom 222 beam, and add 160 watt bricks on 222 and 432.
I was blessed again this year to have my oldest son Mike, KC9ETU operate with me. His plans changed drastically from last year, as we thought he would be signing up for military service. He decided to pursue a different direction in his life, and I hope we will have many more operating times together.
CU all in the June contest!
73’s Gene, N9TF 73’s Mike, KC9ETU
Operating conditions:
50 MHZ SSB Kenwood TS-2000 100 watts, 3 elements at 38’
144mhz SSB, Kenwood TS-2000 100watts, 13 elements at 41’
146MHZ FM, Icom IC-228A 25 watts, triband vertical at 46’
222MHZ SSB/FM FT-736R 25 watts, 224WB at 37’, triband vertical at 46’
432MHZ SSB FT-736R 25 watts, 19 elements at 43’
440MHZ FM Kenwood TS-2000, 50 watts, triband vertical at 46’
here in vermont,fn34, I am limited to six meters. worked me,n.h.,and vt. Heard mass and ny, but condx were so poor. Heard k1tol all day on sunday and that was the ounly station!. Seems that my mfj 949E and caroline 160 windom tunes up to six meters with very low swr! See you next spring!
|
Responsibility for content of all posted material rests exclusively with the item author. ARRL staff assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, and accuracy of items appearing on this page. All questions and comments should be directed to the item author. |