After arriving home at 10:30pm Monday night following a 14 hour drive from
Iowa, I figured I would have a nice simple week to relax before doing a 6m
and 2m effort in the June contest. Of course we all know about the best
laid plans:
Tuesday
Went outside to find the miniquad I was using on 6m was damaged beyond
repair while I was out of town. Had to quickly find a replacement antenna
or use the G5RV on 6 (not a good option). Luckily there was a Texas Towers
catalog in the mail that I picked up at the post office. The new M2 6m3SS
looks good and has a nice price. A call to Texas Towers determines that
they only have the M2 antennas dropped shipped from CA, which wouldn't get
it here in time for the contest. After some more looking and another call
to Texas Towers, I end up ordering the Cushcraft A50-3S, which was the last
one they have in stock. Spend the rest of the day thinking about different
ways to set up the antenas at the QTH.
Wednesday
Up on the roof to remove the miniquad. Decide to put a 70cm 16 element
antenna in its place, which goes up easily. Really didn't plan on being on
70cm for the contest, so this will be a bonus. Put up the second rotor and
coax lines on the second roof tripod to mount the 6m antenna on when it
comes. The Icom 706MKII which was bought as a second shack radio shows up a
day early (thanks FEDEX!) but it comes with a 6 inch long power cord, so I
just check it out very briefly and put it aside.
Thursday
Up on the roof in the morning to slightly change the rotor and antenna mount
on the 6 meter antenna tripod. 6 meter antenna shows up mid afternoon so
start assembling it around other life duties. Have it ready to go by
evening, so get it mounted and luckily there is an Es opening to try it out
on. Looks good, so almost ready to go for the contest. Run around town
trying to find extra zip cord for the Icom 706MKII power cord. Black and
red zip cord is not easy to find.
Friday
Determine that the power cord on the FT100D has a problem with the fuse
holder which is causing it to cut out at time, so have to cut and splice it
with a second short power cord that came with the 706MKII. Finally get some
zip cord for the 706MKII power cord (Thanks to WD5USA) so get the 706 cord
lengthened and finally get the rig hooked up and placed into the shack
position.
Saturday
Contest time almost here! Do some final wiring and such in the shack to get
the 2 rigs hooked up and in their place. 5 hours into the contest the
VHF/UHF antenna rotor gets stuck going North (away from most of the
population centers around here)! Back up on the roof to lube and unstick
it.
So much for the nice relaxing week! Was it all worth it? You bet! Best
VHF contest score ever! 3 new grids on 6m, 1 new grid on 2m, and 1 new grid
on 70cm. Best of all, I had a lot of fun in the contest. Definitely
realize the benefit of having separate radios for 6m and 2m as I caught
quite a few 2m stations (including 2m Es) while working the 6m openings
because I could listen to both.
73s John AA5JG
EM04to-Lawton, OK
73s John AA5JG
(ex: W5TD, NE0P)
6M WAS #1275, 6m VUCC #1260
2m VUCC #615, Satellite VUCC #129
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