06/20/2003 | N3FTI This year I operated from a retired AT&T point to point microwave site now owned by Brian Aucker, W3JYD. The site is in grid FN10vh and is located west of Reading Pennsylvania. Sitting at 1320'ASL this private site provides excellent coverage in all directions.

The construction of my contest trailer has come along nicly and sure has made it easier to move, set up, and operate a portable single operator 10 band station from the mountain top. The 16' utility trailer has been fitted with an operating desk, two 19" equipment racks, an on board UPS sytem, and all my radio gear. The trailer is also large enough to transport two AB577 crank up portable towers, all my antennas and a 6.5KW Honda geneartor. Although not ready for this June, construction is underway on rack mounted 1.5KW GS35B amplifiers for 50, 144, 222, and 432 MHz. This year power on the lower four was limited to 160W.

As many have mentioned, 6 meters was a blast on Saturday adding many multpliers to the tally. In fact the conditions on 50Mhz - 432Mhz seemed above normal from my location for the entire weekend. The microwave bands (903 - 10368 MHz) provided many contacts, but were up and down as mother nature provided me with a mix of nasty rain and hot humid conditions all weekend. Another factor could have been that my microwave antennas may not have completely cleared the tree line in all directions. I'll work on getting the antennas higher and having antenna mounted preamplifiers for next year!

Thanks to all that worked me, especially for taking the time on the microwaves when 6M was so active this year! I'm already looking forward to next years contest, lets see only 358 more days to get ready...

73

Steven Kerns, N3FTI -- N3FTI