2006 ARRL 10 Meter Contest
12/29/2006 |
VK8AA
Hi all,
Having been #1 Phone in Oceania for the past 3 consecutive years from Sydney (VK2), the intention was to attempt to secure #1 Phone again in 2006. Still having around 100kg of spare aluminium tubing sitting in Darwin (VK8) from the CQWW SSB event, most of this material could be effectively recyclable into a reasonable sort of 10m yagi.
The design used was an 8 element wide spaced yagi to occupy the available 18m long boom. I did have a 9 element design that came out at 21m long, but was very conscious of the debilitating heat and high humidity in the wet season in northern Australia in December. How does this affect the size of the yagi ?.. well it comes down to basic human stamina in building a yagi structure, especially when it is only really sensible to work in the cooler weather between 5:30am and 9:30am. None the less the mind still plays tricks in the heat a term referred to in the Northern Territory(VK8) as going troppo.
I operated from the Darwin Surf Lifesaving Club workshop.
Day 1 of the contest started at 0530am for me, as the very final assembly to the antenna was done before 6:30am. The lifting equipment (tower) arrived at 7am, and got the yagi off the ground about 5. Did a final adjustment to the hairpin match to give a flat VSWR from 28.300 to 28.500 (no intention or ability to use CW). Raising the antenna to about 30m above ground moved the VSWR band up about 40kHz no issue. The 0000z contest start kicked off at 09:30am local, and the only station I could hear was an FK8.. whom I never did get to work :-{ Only 25 stations in the log after 3 hours.
Very odd propagation to the USA was experienced, with what seemed an invisible wall between us. Not even W0SD or K2PS was heard, and those that were worked, were beaming around 300 degrees !
Day 2 of the event had me raise the antenna from 30m to 35m above ground, [compromising my ability to beam due East] it opened my footprint into JA, EU and AF significantly.
Only managed 8 US states [HI,TX,CA,AZ,CO,OK,UT and AK ], no Canadians and 55 countries for a total of about 460 QSOs. This effectively doubled my 2005 score, but was very disappointed not to work more of the north American multipliers.
Major issues with a +50dB over 9 radar occupying 28.460 to 28.490, but unable to get a beam heading, as I could not watch the S meter and turn the yagi (manually) at the same time.
Another interesting statistic... 410 of the 460 qso's made were over the 6,500km (4,000 miles) mark !!
Seasons greetings from VK,
David VK8AA (VK2CZ) -- K3HZ
Having been #1 Phone in Oceania for the past 3 consecutive years from Sydney (VK2), the intention was to attempt to secure #1 Phone again in 2006. Still having around 100kg of spare aluminium tubing sitting in Darwin (VK8) from the CQWW SSB event, most of this material could be effectively recyclable into a reasonable sort of 10m yagi.
The design used was an 8 element wide spaced yagi to occupy the available 18m long boom. I did have a 9 element design that came out at 21m long, but was very conscious of the debilitating heat and high humidity in the wet season in northern Australia in December. How does this affect the size of the yagi ?.. well it comes down to basic human stamina in building a yagi structure, especially when it is only really sensible to work in the cooler weather between 5:30am and 9:30am. None the less the mind still plays tricks in the heat a term referred to in the Northern Territory(VK8) as going troppo.
I operated from the Darwin Surf Lifesaving Club workshop.
Day 1 of the contest started at 0530am for me, as the very final assembly to the antenna was done before 6:30am. The lifting equipment (tower) arrived at 7am, and got the yagi off the ground about 5. Did a final adjustment to the hairpin match to give a flat VSWR from 28.300 to 28.500 (no intention or ability to use CW). Raising the antenna to about 30m above ground moved the VSWR band up about 40kHz no issue. The 0000z contest start kicked off at 09:30am local, and the only station I could hear was an FK8.. whom I never did get to work :-{ Only 25 stations in the log after 3 hours.
Very odd propagation to the USA was experienced, with what seemed an invisible wall between us. Not even W0SD or K2PS was heard, and those that were worked, were beaming around 300 degrees !
Day 2 of the event had me raise the antenna from 30m to 35m above ground, [compromising my ability to beam due East] it opened my footprint into JA, EU and AF significantly.
Only managed 8 US states [HI,TX,CA,AZ,CO,OK,UT and AK ], no Canadians and 55 countries for a total of about 460 QSOs. This effectively doubled my 2005 score, but was very disappointed not to work more of the north American multipliers.
Major issues with a +50dB over 9 radar occupying 28.460 to 28.490, but unable to get a beam heading, as I could not watch the S meter and turn the yagi (manually) at the same time.
Another interesting statistic... 410 of the 460 qso's made were over the 6,500km (4,000 miles) mark !!
Seasons greetings from VK,
David VK8AA (VK2CZ) -- K3HZ
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