17 Jan 09, January VHF Sweepstakes
Ok, so after taking part in the weekend contest, I've come to learn some stuff about those 2 antennas. First off, 6m condx were terrible. Only 24 Q's and 10 grids. 2m though, made up for it with 50 Q's and 20 grids. Some of the farthest contacts on 2m were around the 500km range. Expected, given a single 7 element at 28ft. I now have an amp running for 2m. It's the older, brown faced Mirage amp, 10 in 160 out, and has a preamp in it. I know, I know...mast mount preamp...but since my cable run is only 25ft and I'm using 3/8" heliax, I figure loss to be around .5dB or less. Tolerable. Anyway, if I heard it, I worked it. It was quite amazing to me. 6m on the other hand, wasn't so good to me. Oh well. I had fun anyways. That's what matters, right? Wish I had the 432 beam up, maybe next time. Also an interesting lesson learned, since my southward direction is about 600 feet below a mountain, I found the only way to work stations to my south was to point the beam north and either use the other mountain to "bounce" signals off, or use the high elevation angle from the back lobe of the beam to "catch" those signals. Either way, it limits me pretty badly to a densely populated south area (Philly, MDC, VA). Now that's VHFing from a valley for you! Here are some grid maps with grids worked by band. Click on the maps to get a bigger map.
12 Oct 08, The Tower's Up!
With the help of my neighbor and fellow amateurs, I finally got my tower up. It's not a tall one though, only 25 feet. It holds my VHF antennas and so far has proven to work quite decent. ODX on 2m is 296 mi(476 km). That's with the 7 element beam at 28 feet and maybe very slight enhancement. Factor in my QTH conditions and I think it's working pretty well! More testing to come during the January contest.
15 Dec 06, Aurora for Everyone!
So what is all the excitement about? I have never heard such good aurora conditions that I was able to work my first aurora contact with only a set of stacked halos and 50 watts on 2m!! And that's just what I did! My first ever aurora contact was with VE3FGU in FN04, Ontario, Canada. Following was K1TEO in CT. After that the aurora faded out. There wasn't any visible aurora, but it's radio effect was strong.
The following table has some recordings I made from the event.
| Station | Location | Band | Time/Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| W4TAA/VE3 | Almonte, Ontario (FN15 ) |
6m |
2345 - 14 Dec 06 |
| W4TAA/VE3 | Almonte, Ontario (FN15) |
6m |
2345 - 14 Dec 06 |
| K1WHS | Lebanon, ME (FN43) |
2m |
0015 - 15 Dec 06 |
| K1WHS | Lebanon, ME (FN43) |
2m |
0017 - 15 Dec 06 |
| VE3FGU | Keswick, Ontario (FN04) |
2m |
0025 - 15 Dec 06 |
N3NKC/P
Since my home QTH is located at about 1100 ft (355 m) amsl, I sometimes go up to the club's repeater site in Freeland, PA FN21ba. The site is located at 2000 ft (610 m) amsl. At the repeater site we have a 35ft tower with 6m, 2m, and 70cm beams on it. The beams are a 5 element Cushcraft for 6m, 11 element Cushcraft for 2m, and 13 element DK7ZB design homebrew yagi for 70cm. 2 and 70cm are fed with 3/8" Heliax while 6m is fed with RG-8. Sometimes for the contests, I'll use our club call of W3SJI. Here is a picture of the tower and beams.
