2005 ARRL June VHF Contest
10/14/2005 |
WA4UF
Ok, better late than never... I'll always remember the June contest as "much sound and fury signifying nothing" for all the antenna work that I did vs. how very few contacts I made. To wit:
Friday night, while a friend babysat my kids and my wife was out of town, I got out the camping lantern and some tools, took down the VHF antenna mast, and removed the 6 element 2 meter yagi. Then I stuck another 5' of mast up and installed the new 10 element 2 meter yagi, and topped it all off with a 19 element 70 cm yagi. Got the feedlines all hooked up (running 60' of LMR400 into that tiny little passthru into the house was a CHORE let me tell you!) and started to hoist the mast up. That's when the trouble started.
In retrospect I'd have had a much easier time of it if I had waited until morning to do this, so I could have seen what I was doing. The mast went up and back down again three or four times as that long 2 meter beam kept snagging on branches. I finally got the bright idea to rotate the mast 90deg so the antennas would clear. Most of the way back to vertical, and hanging right on the edge of the roof, that's when I discovered that I did not as previously estimated have 30' of clear space - the 70cm beam slammed into a BIG branch and hung there. After much wiggling, turning, sliding and invective, I finally got the fool thing unstuck, laid the mast back down on the roof, and scooted the 70cm antenna down from 30' to 27', just above the 2m yagi. Back up it goes.... aw nuts the VHF beam snagged again... FINALLY it's up again.
And after all that work, my total for the QSO Party was ONE QSO. JUST ONE. Ah well... I consoled myself with "there's always September", but of course, come August we bought a new house and moved, so all those antennas had to come down. Isn't this a crazy fun hobby? -- WA4UF
Friday night, while a friend babysat my kids and my wife was out of town, I got out the camping lantern and some tools, took down the VHF antenna mast, and removed the 6 element 2 meter yagi. Then I stuck another 5' of mast up and installed the new 10 element 2 meter yagi, and topped it all off with a 19 element 70 cm yagi. Got the feedlines all hooked up (running 60' of LMR400 into that tiny little passthru into the house was a CHORE let me tell you!) and started to hoist the mast up. That's when the trouble started.
In retrospect I'd have had a much easier time of it if I had waited until morning to do this, so I could have seen what I was doing. The mast went up and back down again three or four times as that long 2 meter beam kept snagging on branches. I finally got the bright idea to rotate the mast 90deg so the antennas would clear. Most of the way back to vertical, and hanging right on the edge of the roof, that's when I discovered that I did not as previously estimated have 30' of clear space - the 70cm beam slammed into a BIG branch and hung there. After much wiggling, turning, sliding and invective, I finally got the fool thing unstuck, laid the mast back down on the roof, and scooted the 70cm antenna down from 30' to 27', just above the 2m yagi. Back up it goes.... aw nuts the VHF beam snagged again... FINALLY it's up again.
And after all that work, my total for the QSO Party was ONE QSO. JUST ONE. Ah well... I consoled myself with "there's always September", but of course, come August we bought a new house and moved, so all those antennas had to come down. Isn't this a crazy fun hobby? -- WA4UF
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