Monthly Archive for February, 2010

Fun In EA8

Published on February 23, 2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

Home from the trip to Gran Canaria….& what a trip it was! This is that oft-wished-for magical radio location—a mountain top surrounded by salt water!

The focus of our trip (W2GD & I) was to determine how to make this a world-class contest station. Pekka, OH1RY/EA8AH, who found the site, bought it, lives next door, has recently sold it to RD3AF, who wants to improve EVERYTHING. We planned the trip w/the ARRL DX Test in mind, so we could do a M-2 operation. We managed 7000 QSOs for a tad over 7M points, as EF8M, which is probably good for 3rd in the world. You can’t beat the Caribbean locations for the ARRL…we knew that going on, they are simply too close to the US. This was my 1st ARRL contest outside the US, & it was a treat to work so many friends, clients, & guys who I know personally. But the contest was not our primary focus so I’ll talk more about the site & the work….

The falloff to the ocean is simply amazing.
1500 feet straight down to salt water.
The soil is very rocky, making any excavation difficult. The local gov’t does not want any “permanent” installations, making portable towers necessary. Of course, since we do not need really tall towers, this hopefully will not be too problematic. Only 160/80 antennas will be truly hard, as of course we’re looking for gain on these bands too. We used a 3L wire Yagi on 80M this time, & even w/the elements at only 40-50 feet, I think we were loud! The other major factor is the wind. The island was struck by 121 KPH gusts the day before we arrived. But I believe F-12 beams can survive (I’ve had good luck installing them in the Caribbean, for example).

This was truly an International weekend. Valery (RD3AF) does not speak English; the EA8 locals speak mostly Spanish; we speak only English. Valery brought Mila, an interpreter, to our “serious” meetings. EA8CAC, Juan, the youngest team member, speaks good English, & Pekka speaks enough Finnish, Spanish & English, so that w/lots of sketching, hand waving, & that universal ham radio language of Q-signals, we got through the weekend, learned a lot, & had an absolutely great time.

Next job? Preparing our workplan for the station upgrades, & then hopefully going back to build & install everything.

stay tuned

That damn groundhog…

Published on February 14, 2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

…was right. There will be six more weeks of winter!
And we seemed to experience most of them this past week, where once again we found ourselves (W2GD & I) at the NR5M radio ranch, getting the station ready for the up-coming ARRL DX Test. There were two high priority items: fix the high 15M Yagi (which was not turning) & fix the high 80M Yagi (which was showing an erratic SWR).

Arriving on Monday, we ran into intermittent rain, so put off the climb to 185 ft & the 80M Yagi fix ’til Tuesday, when the winds were blowing a mere 30MPH (gusts had to hitting 40MPH). It was COLD up there! But I found the problem at once (I had predicted it, in fact). A stress fracture of the small aluminum bracket from the switchbox to the element. We patched in a couple of #12 wire leads & climbed down, cold but happy.

The remainder of the week found us over on the new 15M multiplier tower, which we’d prepped last month. It was now time to get the two old legacy KLM 6L Yagis up & on the tower. But we first installed the 6M beam at the very top of the tower. We did not dynamically balance the KLMs, just hauled ‘em up on a tram line & wiggled them into place. Not pretty, but fairly easy & efficient. We are using TIC Rings to turn each—they’re literally toys compared to the K0XG orbital ring rotators used everywhere else at the station, but since this is a 25G tower, they represent the only logical solution. They are, in a word, a pain to put together. They are not precision made, parts don’t fit exactly, etc. Sloppy assembly (loose bolts until everything’s assembled is the order of the day, & then you tighten everything together). The drift pin punch is your friend! But I digress…for the money, they are a real bargain.

I spent considerable time wrestling with the Rosenberger-Leoni hardline connectors–a first experience for me.
George had puchesed several shortend runs of their 7/8-inch Heliax, but the center pin is a different size from our normal LDF5 cable, so none of our existing Andrew connectors fit. We overnighted some Leioni N-connectors to the ranch &, as I say, I spent a bit of time figuring them out. All the dimensions are metric (I admit, I’m not a fan) & they require quite precise cutting. I used a Dremel tool quite a bit to get into their tolerance range. We finished the week yesterday by installing the 7/8-inch Heliax phasing lines on the tower, along with a run to the very top for the 6M Yagi. Everything checked out perfectly.

W0UN surprised us with a brief stopover visit—having been to Houston for a Doctor’s visit & a Toyota tuneup at George’s dealership. It’s always a treat (& a learning experience) to chat w/John. George was playing in the RTTY contest, & planning to do the Sprint SSB contest later that evening. His reported score is the highest (so far). Kudos…!

Wednesday, ‘GD & I are going to EA8 for a site survey, then hanging on to do the ARRL DX Test from there. It should be, shall we say, great fun! Look for EF8M, pse!

stay tuned…

CQ Test

Published on February 1, 2010 in Blog. 0 Comments

As a contester, I’ve been known to do some crazy stuff/things. This weekend’s trip to the Jersey shore, to join the W2GD multi-of effort in the CQ 160M DX Test, may qualify. Not that contesting, per se, nor the 2-land FRC guys, are unworthy or qualify as crazy, but just that CONDITIONS, from the weather & the distance traveled & the time of year & so forth….just might qualify me a someone a tad obsessed (crazy) or otherwise devoted to too much zaniness. But I digress, a swell time was had by all, to just over 1M in points when the dits ‘n dahs had faded away. Traipsing around in the muck Friday was a hoot, as was wandering among the woods to check the Beverages & the vertical RX antenna. The K3s in full diversity mode truly made a difference. I had fun, although catnaps on a couch are not my choice for rest & relaxation. The whole experience was the closest thing to something I miight have done (heck, actually DID) once upon a time when I was in my 20s in college! The sense of that was very strong. Yet, the conversations (among the crew, when NOT operating) was decidely different. I spent offtime w/N2OO & K2SG having swell conversations. W2GD & I are a good team operating, having as much fun at that as tower climbing. N2NT came up with a couple of good funny lines in the midst of pileups and problem-solving. All in all, wouldn’t have missed it!

Drove home in terrible NC conditions. All the overpasses on I-85 carried warnings: STAY HOME, etc. No Southbound traffic. Charlotte is still essentially closed. Having grown up in the Midwest, all I can say is: What a hoot~!

Tower work up in MD cancelled, of course. That’ll all get rescheduled sometime next month.

stay tuned