Tiny Elephant's Contest Corner
The Latest Contest News -
A NARC Bulletin Exclusive
A monthly column by Ed Deichler, K2TE
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Throw Me a Line
One of the joys of having a contest station is
showing off the antenna farm like a proud
parent. Whether you’re a contester or not,
you have to admit to a feeling of pride at the
sight of the NARC Field Day towers decked
out in their array of beams. However,
nothing lasts forever when Mother Nature is
involved and this is really true for antennas.
The prospect of lowering an ailing antenna
for maintenance is nowhere near as exciting
as putting it up. The task becomes more
dismaying when the First Law of Antenna
Repair comes into play: For antennas on a
tower numbered from 1 to N starting at the
ground, the faulty one will be N. At first
glance, the straightforward way to get the
antenna down is to use a gin pole and walk it
down the tower. This only works of course if
the tower is empty of antennas.
Another approach is use the gin pole to lift
the antenna from its perch, turn it so that its
boom is parallel with the tower, and secure it
to the tower in a vertical position. It is then
possible to reach the element(s) and remove
it (them) for repair. This idea works as long
as there are no other nearby beams or guy
wires that could interfere with securing the
antenna to the tower. If a contester is
successful at securing the antenna to the
tower, he often ignores the Second Law of
Antenna Repair: Mark the centerline of the
element BEFORE removal from the boom.
So back to getting the antenna off the tower.
I remember one ham with a 170-foot
antenna tree who used a tram line method to
handle his antennas. The idea is to secure a
couple of guy wires above the antenna being
lowered and tying the other ends to trees,
truck bumpers, or Toyotas spaced a little less
than the boom length. With the antenna on
the gin pole, tie a couple of tag lines as far
out on either side of the boom as possible,
preferably without falling. Each line gets fed
down to the ground crew on the outside of
the aforementioned guy wires. It may be
faster to toss the line down but you will have
to climb down the tower to retrieve it from
the beam that it got tangled in when you
tossed it. If all goes well, the beam will slide
down gracefully along the tramline, being
held in check by the tag lines. If something
goes wrong, the beam will snag on the
tramline in which case fruitless invectives
will only succeed in dislodging the beam
from the tramline whereupon it will swing
gracefully into to tower to impale itself.
OK, so now what? The tram line approach is
going in the right direction because the
antenna is clear of the tower and other
beams. While applying my great analytical
mind to this problem, I thought about ski lift
cars and how they are pulled up and down a
mountain. I decided to try a variation of this
technique by using a single tramline and
pulleys. I secured a cable above the antenna
and to a tree some distance away from the
tower. I then undid the cable to insert a large
pulley with a hook on one end to be tied to
the boom to mast plate of the antenna.
(Note: the careful planner would do this step
first). A rope fed through a second pulley on
the tower is tied to the pulley on the cable.
The other end of the rope is lowered - not
tossed - to the ground to be run through a
third pulley. (Hardware stores love me).
Once everything is set, undo the beam and
start lowering it down. As the elements clear
the antenna mast or the tower, I rotate the
antenna slowly so that the boom is parallel
with the tramline. I found that this helps
keep the antenna from “porpoising” if the
weight balance is off or there is some wind. I
have since come up with a modification to
improve the antenna stability while lowering
it. I added - you guessed it - another pulley
at the end of the boom that also rolls along
the cable so that the boom is held parallel to
the cable and does not dance around.
Once the beam nears the ground, the ground
crew begins disassembling the elements as
they can reach them. While this may add a
bit of work, more often than not the beam
needs a general overhaul to clean out bug
condos from traps, tighten loose fittings, or
remove and straighten elements. Putting the
antenna back on the tower is just the reverse
process.
I’m in the process of installing one of my
tribanders on the short tower using this
technique. I hope to have everything in place
in time for the contest season that kicks off
with events like these:
PSK31 Rumble, October 2
In response to this month’s feature on the
new PSK31 mode, here is the first PSK31
contest sponsored by the Troy, NY ARA.
The contest is 24 hours long and is only
single operator/single transmitter. Contest
categories are Normal (100 watts), Great (20
watts), Super (5 watts), and Novice (no limit
other than class privilege). Operating
frequencies are on 80 through 6 meters just
ABOVE the RTTY portions and in the CW
part of the 10- and 15-meter Novice
allocations. Exchange is name &
state/province/DXCC prefix. Logs must be
submitted by 16 October 1999. A
submission form may be obtained from
http://www.qsl.net/wm2u/score.html. Any
questions contact WM2U at wm2u@qsl.net.
California QSO Party, 2-3 October
One of the premier state QSO parties starts
at 1600Z on Saturday and runs till 2200Z on
Sunday. The idea is to work all 58 CA
counties on 160 through 2 meters on phone
and CW. A phone QSO counts as 2 points
and CW contacts are worth 3 points.
Operating categories are almost as numerous
as a CQ Worldwide contest with single
operator, multi-single, multi-multi, and
Novice-Tech. Single operator classes are
limited to 24 hours operation while multi-
operator stations can operate the full 30
hours. Logs go to K6PU by 15 November.
Electronic mailing may be sent to cqp-
1995@kb.org using a CT version 8 or 9
format with the .BIN, .SUM, and .ALL files.
RSGB 21 & 28 MHz Contest, 3 October (SSB) & 10 October (CW)
Here is the British version of a DX contest
where the world works the British Isles. The
contest takes place 0700Z to 1900Z on each
day. Each mode counts 3 points/QSO and 1
multiplier/county/band. The exchange is
RST and a serial number for us while G
stations will add their county. Scoring for
SSB is the sum of QSO points x multipliers
for 10 meters and QSO points x multipliers
for 15 meters, and on CW, total QSO points
x total multipliers. Logs for SSB go to the
RSGB HF Contest Committee, c/o G3UFY,
by 1 November. CW logs due 15 November.
VK-ZL-Oceania Contest, 2-3 October (SSB) & 9-10 October (CW)
Each contest is 24 hours long beginning at
1000Z on the respective Saturdays. Stations
in VK, ZL, and Oceania (most of the
Pacific) try to work the rest of the world on
80 through 10 meters. The exchange is
simply a signal report and a serial number.
Scoring favors the more difficult bands: 10-
points/80 meter contact; 5 points/40 meters;
1 point/20 meters; 2 points/15 meters; and 3
points/10 meters. Multipliers are the
numbers of different prefixes worked on
each band. Final score: total points x total
number of prefixes. Logs go to contest
manager VK3APN by 14 November. He
wants a separate log for each band.
JARTS Worldwide RTTY, 16-17 October
The CQ Worldwide RTTY contest gets
repeated by its Far East counterpart as a 48-
hour worldwide contest sponsored by
JARTS. The contest covers 80 to 10 meters
in single operator and multi-multi operator
classes. Contest exchange is RST and
operator age with YLs and XYLs using “00”
for their age. Operating classes are just
single operator and multioperator with
multiple transmitters permitted for the
multioperator class. Multipliers are each
DXCC country and each call area in JA, W,
VE, and VK. Score 2 points/QSO with
North American stations and 3 points/QSO
for all others. Logs must be submitted by 31
December 99 to JH1BIH.
CQ Worldwide SSB DX, 30-31 October
Here it is folks! The season’s first all-out
operating frenzy! Ghosts, goblins, witches,
and XYLs don’t dare set foot in the shack
for the 48 hours of this weekend. The
challenge of one of the CQ Worldwide
contests is such that many serious operators
spend the whole year adding more aluminum
and wires to their stations. The contest has a
wide variety of categories to encourage as
much participation as possible. This is one
contest where a dipole and QRP rig on a
Caribbean island can work thousands of
stations. You can operate all bands, single
band, with or without packet assistance; high
power, low power (100 watts or less), and
QRP (less than 5 watts); multi-
operator/single transmitter, and multi-
operator/multi-transmitter. The contest
exchange is simply RST and CQ Zone, so
get on and holler “59 05” for our area. Each
QSO is 2 points for same-continent contacts
and 3 points for countries on different
continents. Multipliers are the numbers of
zones and countries worked on each band.
The team-contesting category is again
offered this year where 5 hams can operate
as any of the single operator categories.
Each team member can still submit his score
as part of a radio club. I have been
graciously invited back to operate again
from the KB1SO/W1GQ contest setup in
Londonderry. (they need another rig and
amplifier). Logs to CQ by 1 December 1999.
WOW! The month is packed with contests!
Good luck! 73, de K2TE
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