06/21/2006 | W9ZRX This Odyssey (in my Odyssey) began a year ago. We rent a house in Maggie valley, NC in June. I'd sold my IC-781 (dumb move) and bought a new IC706MKIIG. With the ability to operate 6M, a 3-element Yagi, and a fiberglass "Wonderpole", running the June VHF Contest from our Maggie Valley QTH seemed like a fun idea.

First off, I found being high above the valley doesn't count if you are surrounded by mountains 1000 feet higher. Also the W4NH team operates Multi-High Power in the VHF Contests from Soco Bald - only 6 miles from our Maggie Valley QTH. The IC706 front end was paralyzed! Even worse, I couldn't even hear MOST of the close-in stations they were working. It turned out to be the dullest Contest experience I'd ever had. Only 50 QSO's and I operated the entire Contest. Clearly, major improvements were needed if I were going to try a repeat operation.

First off I sold the IC706 and found another IC-781 (higher serial number). No additional equipment was purchased until I obtained permission to operate from a site selected after a lot of driving and map research. With that in hand, the next problem was to locate a 32-foot Aluminum tower that could be transported on top of the Minivan, and which my xyl and I could erect complete with antennas and rotator. ND8L offered a used 40-foot Heights Aluminum tower which was perfect for the task.

K3LR had his welder/machinist made a tilt-up base that could start with two sizes of base section. We ended up going with 32-foot of tower because 40-feet seemed more that we could "walk-up." The base was anchored at the corners with 4 - 18" "Penetrator" earth anchors from American Screw Anchors. 3 additional "Penertators" were purchased for guy anchors.

The next task was to build an Electaft XV-50 Transverter. The build and alignment of the XV-50 went very smoothly. I left the XV-50 running with the IC781 for several weeks - just to make sure. When N9NS stopped by one night, I proudly showed him the XV-50 and he immediately noted that a ceramic bypass capacitor had shorted and "fried." Unfortunately it also "burned" the Glass-Epoxy PC Board and part of +12V trace it bypassed. While a replacement capacitor was quickly shipped, I'm left with a permanently charred and damaged PC Board.

Finally, after a long chat with W3ZZ, I bought a used (Pre-MFJ) Mirage 6M brick off of eHam. On W3ZZ and W4VHF's recommendation, I also purchased a pair of PAR Loops. A M-Squared 6M5X 5-element Yagi was also found on eHam, and a used Alliance HD-73 was located on eBay. A MFJ-434 Voice Keyer and an Astron SS-30 Switching Power Supply were used to power the XV-50 and Mirage.

My long suffering xyl, Diane, and I rehearsed tilting up the tower in our back yard. It was obvious that 32-feet was a the limit of our strength, so I bought enough 1/2" Polypropylene rope to rig a 4:1 Block & Tackle, and a pair of Polystyrene Slings. That was the best money spent. We also transported one of those 4-foot collapsible ladders could be used use as both a 13-foot straight ladder, and a 6-foot stepladder.

We set up on Thursday - beginning with renting a car so my xyl could ferry supplies. The site was only 14 miles from a 4-lane highway, but the drive up the twists and switchbacks took about 40 minutes one-way. When we got to the site, the first task was picking a convenient Oak tree to anchor the Block & Tackle. Then a weed whip had to be used to clear tall TOUGH grass. That stuff just didn't want to cut! We spent a lot of effort with a shovel leveling a spot for the tilt-up base only to find that one or more of the screw anchors would hit rock! After 4 tries, and a lot of sweat, we finally found a "magic location." Assembling the tower and Yagis, and running the feedlines was easy. We left Thursday night ready to raise the tower.

On Friday the first job was to raise the tower. Both of us had spent a somewhat sleepless night wondering if we could do this without loosing the whole assembly. The grass was tall, and moving the stepladder to walk-up the tower was very difficult. However with the 4:1 Block & Tackle, it proved to be a snap. We just walked the tower up to a convenient and safe angle, and then used the Block & Tackle to raise the tower with very little effort. We had dreaded lowering the tower, and that proved to be even easier with the Block & Tackle.

The equipment was set up in my Odyssey minivan with the middle seats removed. A friend had loaned me a on an adjustable table which just fit inside, and which was low enough to sit on the rear seat. Long-term, the seat got more and more uncomfortable.

I hid two, full 5-gallon plastic gasoline cans at the site so that they would not have to be stored in the car overnight. However Saturday morning I found that they had (apparently) been "investigated" by a bear. They were turned on their sides and leaking through claw-type punctures on the can. I don't think it was vandalism because the cans were hidden, and the tower and coax were untouched! Two replacements were obtained, but this was a waste of money because the rented Honda EU2000i generator ran the whole Contest on the less than 10 gallons I salvaged.

Conditions were just fabulous Friday. CO8LY, XE2AT, XE2YWB were worked, and Saturday morning IW5DHN was worked. Before the Contest, signals on 6M were coming from every direction. 222 QSOs were made the first 2 hours of the Contest and then the Propagation Gods frowned. There was a western opening in the late afternoon, but it didnt extend much further west than Colorado. There was no late-night opening. On Sunday the opening to the East Coast was virtually non-existent. K1TOL who had been S9+40 on Saturday, was S2 on Sunday. Several un-worked East Coast stations were heard Sunday, but I couldnt work any of them. There was an even weaker western opening Sunday afternoon. Very few stations in Texas and New Mexico were worked. By contrast, I was surprised at the amount of stations worked in MN, ND, SD, and CO. The only West Coast station worked was VE7AV in CO83 although I heard the W4NH crew work someone in a CN Grid Square on Sunday.

After a 1 QSOs hour between 2100 and 2200z Sunday, I decided to bag it. On Sunday night we had to return the Rental Car that my xyl used to ferry supplies. Given the propagation, It seemed futile to try and tear-down and pack everything back in the Odyssey in the dark at 11:00PM. Tear-down of the tower on Monday took only 2 hours - accompanied by sounds of nearby thunderstorms that fortunately skirted us.

Next year Ive got to find a trailer-mounted tower, multiple directive antennas, and some way to be a lot more comfortable!

Thanks to Tim, K3LR for encouraging an old contester to try something new, and to Gene, W3ZZ and Ted, W4VHF for their valuable advice.


73 ---> Dave, W9ZRX -- W9ZRX