FD2011
Not every antenna was as cool as the satellite trailerFor Field Day 2011, the Vienna Wireless Society fielded four HF stations, plus a GOTA, a VHF and a satellite station. As mentioned previously on the blog, planning for the event had started months before, and picked up speed in May. Somewhere along the way, I ended up as captain for the 80/20 cw station, which was quite a learning experience, never having participated in a VWS field day prior to this one.
We had a pow-wow about antennas and rigs a couple nights before the event, but the plan continued to evolve until spud guns started puffing around 2 pm on field day (when antennas were allowed to be erected). The centerpiece in our antenna arrangement was a 40-foot galvanized pole. To the west, an alpha-delta DX-EE was hung between a tree and the pole. To the east, an 80m OCF dipole was hung, with the long end crossing the road and suspended from a high tree. We were able to adjust the tension so those two antennas more or less balanced each other. To the north, we hung a home-made 40/20/15/10 antenna, and about 12 feet behind it on separate lines, we suspended a 20m reflector. Having no antenna to the south, the pole bent a bit towards the north once we got it up.
Our overburdened mast
Raising the pole was an interesting affair, never having done this before. A stake was driven in at the base of the pole. Guy ropes were attached to the next-to-top-most ring. Two to the side of the antenna were set up as pivot points, with a forward and aft halyard as well. Carabiners were looped through the upper most ring to serve as pulleys for the antennas. The 20m reflector was drawn up through a large toroid knotted into the rope suspending the OCF. Consequently, when the whole thing was pulled up, it had about ten ropes hanging off it. Note to self: make sure that all the ends of every rope are either being held or are tied off. As soon as the mast went up, one rope went whizzing through the carabiner and the mast had to be lowered again to rethread it.
We checked each antenna with an analyzer and had to tweak the homebrew multiband, but once we got going, the antennas all worked really well. Mike K3MT started us off with some solar-powered contacts, powering Byron’s Ten Tec Omni VII from a lead acid battery that he had charged earlier. We then ran for quite a while on the Kenwood B2000.
I’m probably leaving out of a few people, but as I recall, quite a few people tried their hands either calling or running on 20m including Sheila and Mel, Hap, Dave, Deapesh, Ray (Albers), Kevin and a ham who was new to the area, Leon.
Hap logs and Sheila works the straight key on a cw QSOPage 1 of 2 | Next page