2004 ARRL June VHF Contest
06/20/2004 |
W4SHG
Well after a couple of weeks of preparation, one bucket truck, a nice set of ruts in the front yard and 2 inch hole in the back deck we were again ready for this year June QSO Party (2004) from Virginia FM18GK.
The above is the result of some changes on the microwave tower as living in a subdivision on acre lots leaves no room for guy wires. Therefore the tower being mounted to the house via house brackets becomes un-climbable at the 60 foot mark with near 40 foot above the house. After making a little challenge with AA2UK (Bill) in the January VHF Sweepstakes I decided to install a 3.456 ghz system on the already loaded tower. I told Bill if we could work on 2.304 ghz I would put up 3.456 ghz. Since we were unsuccessful in two previous contests I thought I was safe and would not have to go to the added expense for a band that would yield mostly CW qsos in probably only contests. Well Bill promptly worked me on 2.304 CW in the January contest so I fell on my sword and got 3.456G for the Microwave Tower.
By the way where was Bill (AA2UK) this contest. I hope all is OK there.
The 3.456 ghz system consists of a dish found in Ireland which is some business band in that country. I found a representative in Florida and proceeded to get the 66.00 dish as a test. I was going to get a large looper but decided the dish may work better. I am still unsure as to whether I am correct, as 3 contacts on 3.456 certainly didnt light up the world. Nonetheless we added some 7/8ths hard line drilled a hole in the back deck, installed the transverter on the deck minimizing the feed line loss to the dish and then brought the IF back on some LMR-400 into the microwave switcher. I also extended the PTT line out to the transverter.
The ruts in the yard were donated by the 65foot JLG lift I rented to drive into the back yard and get to the tower. I installed the 3.456 grid dish and decided that 16 elements on 903 was a bit light for 10 watts so I replaced the looper with an M2 14wl on 903. This antenna is much more difficult to get pointed but I think it performed quite a bit better. Not surprising, as they are quite different in length. I suspect similar performance from a looper the same size. So that being fed with 1 1/4 inch hard line no changes in the feed line were required however the yagi is far more susceptible to other metal objects in its near field. I took a day trying to figure out why SWRs were high on the tower and perfect on the ground. I found it just too close to the cross arm. Once that was corrected we were good to go.
As with every contest you try to ensure that all your bands work but in my case I hadnt made a contact on anything higher than 432mhz since the January contest. So at contest start I pointed to FM15 looking for Mr. Rover Extraordinaire (W3IY/R) in the early warning system van and got him up to 903mhz. Nothing on 2.3G or 3.456. OK, lets keep rolling Ill catch him in the next grid and I got to 2.3G on CW but 3.456 nothing. Well its clear to me now that I did something wrong. Being at 67ft ASL doesnt help but CW and the gain ought to work. Then Bill (W3IY) got on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in FM16. To my amazement we worked SSB on all bands and he was 30+ on 3.456G. What was that all about. Now I know all the Mirowave stuff worked. Lucky
About that time 6 Meters opened up and the plan I had to follow a couple of rovers went in the toilet. I knew that if I did not get the multipliers while they were there I would again be trounced by the guys in the South as 6 Meters opens for them usually wider that it does here in Virginia. I had lots of fun catching Cuba (T49C) and the Cayman Islands (ZF1DC). I stupidly asked for his grid twice not usually logging an EK grid. The band stayed open for a couple of hours and went down on Day 1, so I went back to the rover follow plan and hollering on 6 and working those through the bands when I could.
Finished Day 1 with a better that last years score at about 2:00am and took a bit of a nap until 6:00am Day 2 Sunday morning. All was quiet and I worked a few new stations, which I suspect, just turned on the rig and found a contest on the air. Then the band flew wide open into Florida. I worked every one in Florida and they worked the Eastern Half of the US. I had some success but some of the guns in Florida were just cranking off 6 meter contacts certainly in excess of 100 per hour. Some of the guys were in my transceiver at 20+ with the attenuator on. Certainly a terrific opening for our contest and will certainly play a major factor in the scoring this year. I suspect some really good scores from the Southeast.
The band died around 4:00pm for me as it lasted about 6 hours from what I could tell. I went to working guys as best I could but by this time the back and mind were starting to falter. I again tried to pick up some rovers but never got another contact above 2.3ghz. Bill and Christophe, the best CW whistling expert known to man, went in to FM08 on the mountain and I worked them SSB on all bands except 3.4G while he was driving up the hill. Wow, 2.3 with the antenna pointing who knows where. I love it but 3.4G was a bust. I surely busted something or so I thought. I tried twice to get to them and finally the pile of guys trying to get to them terminated the attempt. Bill later told me he lost 60db somewhere in his system. So this time it may not be me. But dont bet on it.
The last 6 hours of the contest were really a bust as the folks left on the air had mostly been worked. I caught AD4DG late and worked thru what he had running and found the Lone Rover ND2X/R rolling literally right past the house. I worked him on all the bands as he was maybe 500 yards from my QTH at the time. He was trying to activate another grid FM17 and did so and I worked him on everything he had there except 1.2G. The slot antenna on his vehicle and my bad location squelched that.
All in all it was my best effort, and quite honestly I dont think I will be able to do much better from this location. Thanks to the single op guns, K1TEO, K1RZ, K4QI, K3DNE, KE2N and the Mutil Op Stations K8GP, W3SZ, K3EAR, W3CCX who took the extra time to work this little pistol here in FM18gk.
I suspect this may be the last June QSO Party with the current rule structure. This is sad as there will be many guys who elect not to participate because of the changes. For those guys I will miss you all as we need more folks operating on these bands. I think it important to use all these bands or certainly they will be lost very much like the portion of 220mhz to UPS.
See you all from the mountain FM08us for the Fall Sprints and in the September QSO Party from FM18gk
Respectfully Submitted by:
Steve Gilmore -- W4SHG
The above is the result of some changes on the microwave tower as living in a subdivision on acre lots leaves no room for guy wires. Therefore the tower being mounted to the house via house brackets becomes un-climbable at the 60 foot mark with near 40 foot above the house. After making a little challenge with AA2UK (Bill) in the January VHF Sweepstakes I decided to install a 3.456 ghz system on the already loaded tower. I told Bill if we could work on 2.304 ghz I would put up 3.456 ghz. Since we were unsuccessful in two previous contests I thought I was safe and would not have to go to the added expense for a band that would yield mostly CW qsos in probably only contests. Well Bill promptly worked me on 2.304 CW in the January contest so I fell on my sword and got 3.456G for the Microwave Tower.
By the way where was Bill (AA2UK) this contest. I hope all is OK there.
The 3.456 ghz system consists of a dish found in Ireland which is some business band in that country. I found a representative in Florida and proceeded to get the 66.00 dish as a test. I was going to get a large looper but decided the dish may work better. I am still unsure as to whether I am correct, as 3 contacts on 3.456 certainly didnt light up the world. Nonetheless we added some 7/8ths hard line drilled a hole in the back deck, installed the transverter on the deck minimizing the feed line loss to the dish and then brought the IF back on some LMR-400 into the microwave switcher. I also extended the PTT line out to the transverter.
The ruts in the yard were donated by the 65foot JLG lift I rented to drive into the back yard and get to the tower. I installed the 3.456 grid dish and decided that 16 elements on 903 was a bit light for 10 watts so I replaced the looper with an M2 14wl on 903. This antenna is much more difficult to get pointed but I think it performed quite a bit better. Not surprising, as they are quite different in length. I suspect similar performance from a looper the same size. So that being fed with 1 1/4 inch hard line no changes in the feed line were required however the yagi is far more susceptible to other metal objects in its near field. I took a day trying to figure out why SWRs were high on the tower and perfect on the ground. I found it just too close to the cross arm. Once that was corrected we were good to go.
As with every contest you try to ensure that all your bands work but in my case I hadnt made a contact on anything higher than 432mhz since the January contest. So at contest start I pointed to FM15 looking for Mr. Rover Extraordinaire (W3IY/R) in the early warning system van and got him up to 903mhz. Nothing on 2.3G or 3.456. OK, lets keep rolling Ill catch him in the next grid and I got to 2.3G on CW but 3.456 nothing. Well its clear to me now that I did something wrong. Being at 67ft ASL doesnt help but CW and the gain ought to work. Then Bill (W3IY) got on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in FM16. To my amazement we worked SSB on all bands and he was 30+ on 3.456G. What was that all about. Now I know all the Mirowave stuff worked. Lucky
About that time 6 Meters opened up and the plan I had to follow a couple of rovers went in the toilet. I knew that if I did not get the multipliers while they were there I would again be trounced by the guys in the South as 6 Meters opens for them usually wider that it does here in Virginia. I had lots of fun catching Cuba (T49C) and the Cayman Islands (ZF1DC). I stupidly asked for his grid twice not usually logging an EK grid. The band stayed open for a couple of hours and went down on Day 1, so I went back to the rover follow plan and hollering on 6 and working those through the bands when I could.
Finished Day 1 with a better that last years score at about 2:00am and took a bit of a nap until 6:00am Day 2 Sunday morning. All was quiet and I worked a few new stations, which I suspect, just turned on the rig and found a contest on the air. Then the band flew wide open into Florida. I worked every one in Florida and they worked the Eastern Half of the US. I had some success but some of the guns in Florida were just cranking off 6 meter contacts certainly in excess of 100 per hour. Some of the guys were in my transceiver at 20+ with the attenuator on. Certainly a terrific opening for our contest and will certainly play a major factor in the scoring this year. I suspect some really good scores from the Southeast.
The band died around 4:00pm for me as it lasted about 6 hours from what I could tell. I went to working guys as best I could but by this time the back and mind were starting to falter. I again tried to pick up some rovers but never got another contact above 2.3ghz. Bill and Christophe, the best CW whistling expert known to man, went in to FM08 on the mountain and I worked them SSB on all bands except 3.4G while he was driving up the hill. Wow, 2.3 with the antenna pointing who knows where. I love it but 3.4G was a bust. I surely busted something or so I thought. I tried twice to get to them and finally the pile of guys trying to get to them terminated the attempt. Bill later told me he lost 60db somewhere in his system. So this time it may not be me. But dont bet on it.
The last 6 hours of the contest were really a bust as the folks left on the air had mostly been worked. I caught AD4DG late and worked thru what he had running and found the Lone Rover ND2X/R rolling literally right past the house. I worked him on all the bands as he was maybe 500 yards from my QTH at the time. He was trying to activate another grid FM17 and did so and I worked him on everything he had there except 1.2G. The slot antenna on his vehicle and my bad location squelched that.
All in all it was my best effort, and quite honestly I dont think I will be able to do much better from this location. Thanks to the single op guns, K1TEO, K1RZ, K4QI, K3DNE, KE2N and the Mutil Op Stations K8GP, W3SZ, K3EAR, W3CCX who took the extra time to work this little pistol here in FM18gk.
I suspect this may be the last June QSO Party with the current rule structure. This is sad as there will be many guys who elect not to participate because of the changes. For those guys I will miss you all as we need more folks operating on these bands. I think it important to use all these bands or certainly they will be lost very much like the portion of 220mhz to UPS.
See you all from the mountain FM08us for the Fall Sprints and in the September QSO Party from FM18gk
Respectfully Submitted by:
Steve Gilmore -- W4SHG
Photo Gallery
-
The W4SHG Contest...
-
The W4SHG Microwa...
-
The W4SHG shack, ...
-
All is fed with h...
Back
