03/06/2005 | N2OT Just one weekend before the contest, Gary and I firmed up our plans to operate from Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Out came the ICOM 706MkIIg, the trusty old laptop, Garys homebrew N2OT interfaces, and an old Hunter Bandit 2000C amplifier. A bit of design work, a quick trip to the local merchant, and a few hours of labor produced the pictured 45 foot plastic drain pipe portable ground plane for 40, 20, 15, and 10. Then off to a few days at the salt mine. The next weekend everything was re-assembled and after passing the initial smoke test and some last minute antenna tuning, we were on the air. We had a great time and somehow even squeezed some 80 meter contacts out of that ground plane. Yes, thats Gary (N2OT) posing under the antenna just 24 hours before a snowstorm changed everything into a winter wonderland. Our thanks to everyone who participated and made the contest so enjoyable! -- WB2EPQ