Tiny Elephant's Contest CornerThe Latest Contest News -
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Tiny Elephant's Contest CornerThe Latest Contest News -
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The next available target was Sunday of the following week. The day dawned cool and clear with a building wind - a little rain would have made it perfect for antenna work. I busied myself moving the gin-pole out to the tower along with the spools of wire and coils of rope. I was a little concerned as the wind continued to build, but I've been on the tower in windy weather before. My ground crew of Ken, KE1GI, and Ron, NU1U, eventually arrived and we got down to business.
A two element quad is easy to visualize; however, it is not so easy to describe building it one leg at a time. Each quad element looks like a baseball diamond except first base and third base do not connect to home plate. Rather, it like the ground crew detoured toward the pitcher's mound with the white line just before reaching home plate. This explanation seems simple enough in print, but it was another matter describing it "real-time". I tried explaining to Ron how we were going to put up the antenna. My arms moved in a disjointed rendition of YMCA as I explained how each leg would be pulled up separately. From the puzzled look on Ron's face, I knew it was not going to be easy. (And you thought he always looked that way.) (Editor’s note: He does)
Pulling the long boom up went smoothly enough in spite of the wind. Pulling up each leg was not difficult although we had to do it carefully to avoid accidentally hanging Ken in all the rope. The hard part was soldering the ends together as the winds gusted. I have enough trouble bringing solder, heat, and wire together in the shack let alone while shivering on a tower.
As each leg went up, I tried pulling it up further out from the tower to clear the lower beams. On the last leg, Murphy's Law of Antenna Work #3 asserted itself: The degree of difficulty of raising any wire antenna will be directly proportional to the density of trees and the fatigue of the installer. Ron verified this principle by informing me that I was going to have to cut down the tree to free the wire. At this point, I could barely hear him over the wind and my chattering teeth; after 3 hours I needed to get DOWN.
I spent the ensuing weekends lofting lines over trees and pulling the center insulators out and away from the tower to form the quad. I have ugly shins and forearms from 6 trips up the antenna-eating tree to do trimming. The relay box and power supply are not built yet. Oh yeah; I have to put up my 160-meter inverted L, too.
My self-imposed sprint mode trying to get all this done is for good reason: the month of November is crammed with all sorts of operating events. There are contests ranging from global (CQ Worldwide CW DX contest), to national (ARRL Sweepstakes), to simple local events (Amoskeag Radio Club 10 meter CW/SSB Sprint). There are also several "country" contests taking place in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Germany, Britain, and even the lady amateurs of Australia. I can't cover all of them here, but I don't need to. All you need to do to get in one of these laid-back contests is observe the First Commandment of DX from the Right Reverend of DX, "Billy" Graham (a.k.a., NE1V): LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN.
The goal is to have fun by getting local hams on the air and perhaps making a few contest converts. The emphasis is on beginners, meaning a maximum CW speed of 10 WPM, single operator only, and 150 W maximum power. Contest exchange is callsign, name of at least 3 letters (how do I make 3 letters out of "Ed"? - Editor’s note: Edd, the second D is silent), RST, and state. Three points go to each CW contact and 1 point for SSB. Total sprint score is total points x number of different states worked. Score reporting and post-registration will be held on 28450 KHz starting ten minutes after the contest ends, 8:10 PM local time.
The contest exchange is 5 fields that, in order, are (1) QSO #, (2) a precedence letter based on power level ("A" for < 150 W; "B" for > 150 W; or "Q" for QRP), (3) your call, (4) the two digits of the year you were first licensed, and (5) your ARRL section. As an example, if I worked W1AW, I would send "W1AW, 185 A, K2TE, 63, NH". Total score is total QSO points (2/QSO) x total sections worked (77 maximum). Logs must be sent snail mail or electronically to the ARRL by 16 December 97 for both contests.
Logs go to Five-Nine Magazine, attn.: JIDX contest, by 31 December 97. To encourage participation, the top USA single will get a free round trip ticket to Japan. This is a good reason to tackle the West Coast Wall!