2006 ARRL January VHF Sweepstakes
01/29/2006 |
W4SHG
Well it was time again for the January VHF Sweepstakes. Its now 2006 and I have things ready a week in advance for a change. I just received some nice new HEMT preamps for my 3.456 and 5.760 microwave gear as I found myself in the basement with the soldering iron just going to town. I have added some 12 to 26volt up converters for some better Transco T/R relays switching and things appeared to be ready and looking good.
That was until my son came lumbering down the stairs (16 Years Old) and informs me, Hey um Dad, did you know all the antennas just fell down?
WHAT!!!!
Well unlike the many times in my life when my 16 year old was WRONG this time he was right. The howling wind with gusts to 65mph got the stack. All the 2 Meter, 222 and 432 antennas were atop the roof in a mangled mess. At first glance I thought the tower gave way but after a rooftop inspection I found a snapped in half center mast.
The phased 2 Meter antennas were mangled and the fiberglass cross arm used to phase them in the H Plane was reduced to toothpick size parts. The 222 and 432 phased antennas were also beat up badly but looked somewhat salvageable. I spent two (2) hours cutting and twisting the wreckage away from the tower and around 5:00pm on January 14, 2006 I had nothing but a broken piece of mast in the top section of a piece of Rohn 25 tower.
I looked up thinking I am out of next weeks contest for sure and in despair retreated to the shack to find my Crown Royal and Cigar stash. After a couple of pops and a good Cohiba I thought that maybe if a planed carefully I might be able to get some of this back in the air before next weeks contest.
So then the raw stupidity and complete lack of reality set in and I laid out a plan to get it all back up and running before Saturday 1/21/2006.
Monday AM 6:00: I cut cables for the antennas after spending Sunday night and graph paper designing the layout. I made a few cables late Sunday and the rest Monday Morning as it was 20 degrees outside.
Monday Night: Got the halogen lamps and power cables in position and got the wiring laid out and on the antennas and power dividers. Finished at 9:30pm
Tuesday 5:00am up and out with the halogen lamp and climbing gear, the plan is to get that broken mast out of the tower, the rotor out of the tower before work. Done by 7:00am - down the tower - lights off - to work I go.
Tuesday Night 7:30pm after dinner and with the work lights on, up the tower I went to install the 20 foot tempered aluminum mast purchased during lunch. This was to be installed through the top of the Rohn 25 top section. Would I need a gin pole to manage this 20 footer? Probably, but considering the plan, there was no time. To the top of the tower, belted as high as possible and up over the tower the 20 mast went and with some hair raising balancing, in it went. The lack of Gin pole saved me at least one evening of work. I even went down and got a 222 antenna and a muffler clamp. I mounted the 222 antenna after carefully measuring the coax length to the power divider one antenna up and a muffler clamp to hold the mast in its position. Then down the tower at 9:45pm.
Wednesday AM 5:30am Rain in the AM couldnt doing anything but whine and complain. And that I did as well as anything in this project.
Wednesday Night 8:00pm Up I went lights on and the 432 antenna went on, up goes the mast the 222 and 432 power dividers added and a 432 antenna added for a total of three antennas. The 432 and 222 power dividers were cabled and waterproofed and the mast went up again for the evening. Came down at 9:00am.
Thursday Morning 5:00am Out of bed, the muscles are hurting now and my attitude was waning a bit. Up I go to get the cable in place for the 5.7 G dish to be put in the middle of the 432 antennas spaced 4 feet apart. With the cable in place, I must wait for the dish which was to arrive during the Day. Off the tower at 7:45am and off to work.
Thursday Night 7:00pm - Slapped the 26dbi grid dish together and up I went to add this to the middle of the stack. Then I raised the mast again put the 432 lower antenna in play raised and added the last 222 antenna being very careful to keep them all in line.
Raising the mast is becoming more difficult now. Off the tower at 10:15pm.
Friday Morning: 600am I get my 2 Meter antenna from the Field Day storage. This is a custom built long Yagi by Gulf Alpha and is 32 feet long with 20 elements. I lost my phased 2m9s so I will need the forward gain so I will add this last antenna to the bottom.
Lots of fun here balancing the climb and antenna as I go up. Got it near the top and ran out of gas in the am. Tied it off to the tower and came down at 7:45am
Friday Night 7:00pm. Up again under the lights and the support brace added to the mast and then the support arms used to hold the mast, then the mast bracket and finally the antenna was added. Then I needed to lift the whole mess to get the rotor in. Uh OH.
too heavy. Came down got back into the Crown Royal and then back up and with brute force manually lifted this mess enough to get the G-1000 in the slot. Down I came at 11:15pm
Saturday Morning 7:30am No lights for a change and up to tie the LMR-400 around the rotor to the 1 5/8ths hard line main feeds, re-connectorize the mess and get the 5.7 G transverter up and connected to the new antenna. Wired it up looked at the SWR and found the 2 Meter antenna was a mess. Luckily enough the 222 and 432 looked really quite good electrically. Fixed the 2 Meter by whacking it with a lay-up stick adjusting the T match enough to get it to 1.4:1 and then went back down got the 3.456 wired and added to the back tower as it was now getting on to 1:00pm. I sat down on the couch and fell asleep until about 2:45pm 45 minutes after the contest started. Great
Got on the air and worked straight thru finding all the antennas a little noisier than the H phased units and maybe not quite as efficient but pretty good considering the abyss I operate from.
So the final result was a reasonable score considering I had nothing on three (3) of the lower four bands. I also made some more neighborhood enemies as it appears I was wearing out a few baby monitors and one old RCA television on rabit ears on 6 Meters. These folks came knocking and threatened me. I turned the power down on 6 Meters to 50 watts and kept on getting it. I also gave them the dates in June and September that their TV and baby monitors will again mess up.
Always great to hear the activity however as Sunday afternoon approached I found myself on 144.247 listening for a specific rover. The really bad part is that I didnt hear him this contest for very obvious reasons and that, my fellow amateur friends, is the saddest part of my January 2006 VHF Contest.
Respectfully submitted
Steve Gilmore -- W4SHG
That was until my son came lumbering down the stairs (16 Years Old) and informs me, Hey um Dad, did you know all the antennas just fell down?
WHAT!!!!
Well unlike the many times in my life when my 16 year old was WRONG this time he was right. The howling wind with gusts to 65mph got the stack. All the 2 Meter, 222 and 432 antennas were atop the roof in a mangled mess. At first glance I thought the tower gave way but after a rooftop inspection I found a snapped in half center mast.
The phased 2 Meter antennas were mangled and the fiberglass cross arm used to phase them in the H Plane was reduced to toothpick size parts. The 222 and 432 phased antennas were also beat up badly but looked somewhat salvageable. I spent two (2) hours cutting and twisting the wreckage away from the tower and around 5:00pm on January 14, 2006 I had nothing but a broken piece of mast in the top section of a piece of Rohn 25 tower.
I looked up thinking I am out of next weeks contest for sure and in despair retreated to the shack to find my Crown Royal and Cigar stash. After a couple of pops and a good Cohiba I thought that maybe if a planed carefully I might be able to get some of this back in the air before next weeks contest.
So then the raw stupidity and complete lack of reality set in and I laid out a plan to get it all back up and running before Saturday 1/21/2006.
Monday AM 6:00: I cut cables for the antennas after spending Sunday night and graph paper designing the layout. I made a few cables late Sunday and the rest Monday Morning as it was 20 degrees outside.
Monday Night: Got the halogen lamps and power cables in position and got the wiring laid out and on the antennas and power dividers. Finished at 9:30pm
Tuesday 5:00am up and out with the halogen lamp and climbing gear, the plan is to get that broken mast out of the tower, the rotor out of the tower before work. Done by 7:00am - down the tower - lights off - to work I go.
Tuesday Night 7:30pm after dinner and with the work lights on, up the tower I went to install the 20 foot tempered aluminum mast purchased during lunch. This was to be installed through the top of the Rohn 25 top section. Would I need a gin pole to manage this 20 footer? Probably, but considering the plan, there was no time. To the top of the tower, belted as high as possible and up over the tower the 20 mast went and with some hair raising balancing, in it went. The lack of Gin pole saved me at least one evening of work. I even went down and got a 222 antenna and a muffler clamp. I mounted the 222 antenna after carefully measuring the coax length to the power divider one antenna up and a muffler clamp to hold the mast in its position. Then down the tower at 9:45pm.
Wednesday AM 5:30am Rain in the AM couldnt doing anything but whine and complain. And that I did as well as anything in this project.
Wednesday Night 8:00pm Up I went lights on and the 432 antenna went on, up goes the mast the 222 and 432 power dividers added and a 432 antenna added for a total of three antennas. The 432 and 222 power dividers were cabled and waterproofed and the mast went up again for the evening. Came down at 9:00am.
Thursday Morning 5:00am Out of bed, the muscles are hurting now and my attitude was waning a bit. Up I go to get the cable in place for the 5.7 G dish to be put in the middle of the 432 antennas spaced 4 feet apart. With the cable in place, I must wait for the dish which was to arrive during the Day. Off the tower at 7:45am and off to work.
Thursday Night 7:00pm - Slapped the 26dbi grid dish together and up I went to add this to the middle of the stack. Then I raised the mast again put the 432 lower antenna in play raised and added the last 222 antenna being very careful to keep them all in line.
Raising the mast is becoming more difficult now. Off the tower at 10:15pm.
Friday Morning: 600am I get my 2 Meter antenna from the Field Day storage. This is a custom built long Yagi by Gulf Alpha and is 32 feet long with 20 elements. I lost my phased 2m9s so I will need the forward gain so I will add this last antenna to the bottom.
Lots of fun here balancing the climb and antenna as I go up. Got it near the top and ran out of gas in the am. Tied it off to the tower and came down at 7:45am
Friday Night 7:00pm. Up again under the lights and the support brace added to the mast and then the support arms used to hold the mast, then the mast bracket and finally the antenna was added. Then I needed to lift the whole mess to get the rotor in. Uh OH.
too heavy. Came down got back into the Crown Royal and then back up and with brute force manually lifted this mess enough to get the G-1000 in the slot. Down I came at 11:15pm
Saturday Morning 7:30am No lights for a change and up to tie the LMR-400 around the rotor to the 1 5/8ths hard line main feeds, re-connectorize the mess and get the 5.7 G transverter up and connected to the new antenna. Wired it up looked at the SWR and found the 2 Meter antenna was a mess. Luckily enough the 222 and 432 looked really quite good electrically. Fixed the 2 Meter by whacking it with a lay-up stick adjusting the T match enough to get it to 1.4:1 and then went back down got the 3.456 wired and added to the back tower as it was now getting on to 1:00pm. I sat down on the couch and fell asleep until about 2:45pm 45 minutes after the contest started. Great
Got on the air and worked straight thru finding all the antennas a little noisier than the H phased units and maybe not quite as efficient but pretty good considering the abyss I operate from.
So the final result was a reasonable score considering I had nothing on three (3) of the lower four bands. I also made some more neighborhood enemies as it appears I was wearing out a few baby monitors and one old RCA television on rabit ears on 6 Meters. These folks came knocking and threatened me. I turned the power down on 6 Meters to 50 watts and kept on getting it. I also gave them the dates in June and September that their TV and baby monitors will again mess up.
Always great to hear the activity however as Sunday afternoon approached I found myself on 144.247 listening for a specific rover. The really bad part is that I didnt hear him this contest for very obvious reasons and that, my fellow amateur friends, is the saddest part of my January 2006 VHF Contest.
Respectfully submitted
Steve Gilmore -- W4SHG
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