09/14/2006 | W1TKZ A couple Wellesley (MA) Amateur Radio Society members have second homes at Lake Winnipesaukee (NH) and they invited others to come up and join them September 9th and 10th. It was pointed out that weekend was also the September VHF QSO party so we decided to make a small effort using the club call W1TKZ. It really would be a small effort.

With zero planning, we assembled the clubs Yaesu FT-847 and one members Icom IC-706mkIIG and Alinco DR-235. We also had a 3-element 6 m beam, loops for 2 m and 70 cm, a 2 m/135 cm/70 cm 4 element log periodic, a 5 element channel 13 TV yagi for 135 cm, and a 135 cm Ringo. First issue what antennas to put up and how to mount them at WF1Vs place. With three 5 mast sections, an umbrella stand, and patio table (for guying!), we put up the 6 m beam with a short mast hose-clamped above to hold the tri-band log periodic. This was placed over the septic field for additional height to compensate for our low elevation near the lake. Oops, theres only enough coax for those two antennas why didnt we bring more coax? Then the first of 2 hail storms hit our part of NH.

So were on the air on 6 m, 2 m and 70 cm - or so we thought. Why cant we hear anyone on 2 m and up? Lets try a 2 m mag-mount antenna hey, there actually are folks on that band. Is it the antenna, the feed, or did WB2PID really put the diplexer in backwards? Of course, he only realized this while sleeping at 2 am Next morning the diplexer gets reconnected the right way. Hmmm, can we connect together a bunch of 3 long patch cables and get something on the air for 135 cm? Up goes the Ringo on a telescoping pole (that once held a pole saw) and lean it against the house well below the roof peak and we actually made 220 MHz contacts with that!

OK so our score for a multi-op effort is laughable, despite working 4 bands. But we did go out to dinner, take a boat ride, check out the local steam boat festival, and survive two hail storms among the other fun things we did during the weekend. Operators were WF1V (whose shack we used), W1DAN, and WB2PID with antenna assistance, moral support, and comic relief from KB1IBF, N1ICQ, and N1PYM. Wait til next year! -- WB2PID