Posts Tagged arrl
June ARRL VHF Contest
Posted by jeff in Contesting on June 14th, 2010
I just got finished up participating in the June ARRL VHF contest, a first for me. With my Field Day expedition only 2 weeks away, this contest was a perfect chance to shake out the portability of my gear.
Initially I started off the contest in a field very close to my QTH with my Icom 706 and an Arrow dual-band satellite antenna. I needed to fabricate a mount where I could easily rotate the yagi as well as adjust azimuth and elevation. I ended up cutting a 1 inch piece of SCH40 PVC at 15 inches long and a piece of SCH40 1 1/4 inch PVC at 6 inches long. I used a hose clamp to secure it down to a photography light stand adapter, as I didn’t have access to a tripod. As you can see in the photos, it seemed to workout just fine for the contest.
Since I was operating the 2nd day of the contest from home, I needed to change the polarity of my Cubex 2m quad antenna to be horizontally polarized. Granted I’ve only made 20 contacts in my first VHF contest, but I ended up having a blast and learning alot.
Field Day Announcement
Posted by jeff in Contesting, Special Events on June 7th, 2010
The 1900 Group is planning a Field Day Expedition to Assateague Island, Maryland on June 25th-27th 2010.
Assateague is a desirable operating location for 2 reasons. The first, it’s an IOTA (island on the air), NA-139 is it’s identification. Secondly, it’s in grid square FM-28 which will be a demanded locator if the 6 meter band opens up.
Eric, WG3J has spent countless hours/days working to acquire the necessary permits for operation on the site. Most of that time was spent working with the Park Service for authorization to operate. We plan to be located approximately 100 yards North of the Virginia / Maryland border along the shore.
The website for the operation is finally online. Check it out here!
2009 W3OK Field Day
Posted by jeff in Contesting, Radio Club Related on August 25th, 2009
I finally got the field day photos up on flickr.
