Delightful weather. We only know how to picnic or contest in rain, fog and cold. By 10 am we had the station ready to go. Mike, W3MBC, has a portable station in a bag so this was easy. We used an Icom IC-7200, Icom AH-4 and a 55 foot wire. Logging was with N3FJP and CAT to the transceiver. Bobbie, N3XTP, arrived with the food about 11 am. The chili was an immediate hit. By noon we were fire breathing contesters and ready to go.
We heard nothing on 20 meters and higher. Everybody was on 40 meters. We could not hold a run frequency so everything was search and pounce. Later 80 meters worked well also.
We stayed later than planned. About 8 pm we packed up in the dark and went home.
The pavilion kept us dry. The antenna ran from the right hand corner to the tree in the foreground. | |
Mike, W3MBC logs and Brian, N3VN, operates. Remains of the picnic are in the background. | |
We set up a portable wifi hot spot and were able to get spots. That helped a lot since we could only work search and pounce. | |
Contesting by candlelight. The pavilion had excellent lighting. Fluorescent lights. They made so much noise that the entire HF band was unusable. |
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The certificate. |
will be published in a few months. Watch for it here.
Will be October 14 - 15, 2017.
Sounds like a good time for a picnic too.