VHF/UHF Contest - Jan 2002
Who is this Murphy guy - And when did he take an interest in VHF/UHF radio?
The Sweepstakes were coming up. HUM had often thought of doing something
close to town. Maybe we could interest a few more people in showing up that
wouldn't normally do the trek up to Hawk Mountain. Don't get me wrong. Hawk
is a great place but what some people consider nice others consider
barbaric. The last of running water or even one of those water saving
outhouse privies turns away those that consider a black & white TV at a
Motel 6 "ruffing it."
Field Day went great. Waller Park is a good location. Paved roads, lots of
parking, flush toilets, large field, covered pavilion. Hey, there are even
lights and an outlet there now. Good - we'll do the January contest there.
Lot's of folks will show up to see what this VHF contesting stuff is about.
Now I don't know when this guy Murphy started hanging out on the 547. Maybe
it was back when that wrecker service started their spur on 144.87. I
really don't know for sure but he obviously took an interest in the Dynamo
Hum effort to put on a station. Granted, January isn't really the best time
for a "field" effort but this is the sunny south and shouldn't be too bad.
Maybe it was the fault of WX4PTC. They started the prior Monday talking
about some possible atmospheric conditions to enhance 2 meter propagation
with ducting along something they called a front.
That PTC station turned out to be a bit off with their order. The
enhancement showed up Friday night. One of the problems with these
propagation enhancements is the weather that often follows them. There was
a severe microwave attenuation problem experienced directly afterward. Now
W1GHZ does do some stuff he calls rain scatter but the density we
experienced on Saturday would have precluded any contacts beyond a few
meters. As I pulled up in the parking area, the soccer field more resembled
a pond than grass. Looking across it reminded me of a pond on a very foggy
morning with dew falling from a tree where a bear happened to have fallen
from a top limb. There wasn't really any fog on the field. I think the
effect was caused by too many pieces of water arguing for the same cubic
millimeter of space. This was somewhat similar to I-75 on a Friday before
Labor Day. Everything collides and smaller fragments of each scatter off
into other directions.
And we're putting what up in this??? Yes, somehow there needed to be
antennas hanging somewhere above that first layer of clouds. (That means
that the antennas really shouldn't be lying on the ground.) The AB/577
towers are nice. I've put them up several times now and actually feel I'm
getting good at it. In about an hour I can have one up at 60'. That's a
good height and usually gets above most stuff. With an extension kit, you
can have something over 70' and one guy that used them in the military and
claimed to have had one aver 150' in the air. That's great but this liquid
sunshine is about to give us a sunburn! The wind is blowing about 15+ knots
and causing dry land anywhere to cease. Even the grass in the operating
tent is starting to squish and it's not from the water flowing out of our
shoes.
The 6M7JHV got assembled under the pavilion and the liquid sunshine finally
subsided a bit. This might be the only chance we have. The AB/577 gets drug
onto the playing field and the layout rope determines the locations for the
guy points. The launcher is set and the screw anchors are driven into the
turf. The rain poncho stops at knee level and we now squish with each step.
Keep in mind that this was a "break" in the rain! The fingers are cold and
require trips to the operating tent and the propane heaters for
remobilization. I sure am grateful for the tent getting set up the night
before. The tent is actually the only semi-warm location other than the
men's restroom. The 6M7 got on the tower and pushed up to about the 40'
level. The feed line was hooked up and a radio attached. Why can't we get
CT to start on this PC? A piece of cardboard was ripped off a propane tank
for a log sheet. It's 2 hours into the contest and we are finally on the
air with one of the 5 bands we planned months before. OK. Now what? I can't
seem to get this thing to turn. After some more trouble shooting it was
determined that the rotation will have to be done by rotating the tower.
Thank goodness the AB/577 does that nicely even though that does mean a
trip outside, in the rain, to twist the tower tubes. Scratch one rotator
and/or controller. A sheet of real paper is found for logging while work
continues on the PC for logging. Success at last. All contacts are
transferred to the PC from the paper and cardboard. Steam rises from our
clothes while we take turns in front of the propane heaters.
It's dark now and we are all cold, tired and hungry. Somehow we actually
feel jubilation over being able to say we got 6 meters on the air! The
lights on the field were turned on by the park ranger and enable us to see
the direction the beam is pointing. Most of us are now back at the pavilion
where Lenny has fired up the grill and starts some brats. The rain and 15
knot breeze quits. The breeze is now along the lines of 40 knots! The tarps
hung around the pavilion are loosing their grommets and we are almost
shouting at each other to make ourselves heard. Keith takes the opportunity
to steam up the operations tent by dry his socks and pants in front of the
heaters. The smoker for the ribs isn't doing well as the wind is blowing
air the wrong way through the system. Brats are having a slow time also
with the wind sucking all heat away at a rapid pace. The wind is howling by
this time. At least the rain is gone.
"The K9 station - uh - hang on. I'll be right back. I have to tend to
something." Keith has his socks and shoes back on and is trying to work 9's
off the side of the beam since it is strictly Armstrong rotation now. The
wind was pushing the end of the tent in and Keith though it might need some
immediate attention. The tent legs are starting to float above the ground.
Actually it was described as vibrating. Keith grabs the horizontal rail and
tries to hold the corner down as he calls for help. We can hardly hear each
other in the pavilion and we sure can't hear Keith pleading for help in the
tent. The 40 knot breeze is now going faster than I-285 on a Saturday
afternoon. The tent is not vibrating anymore. It has achieved lift and is
going aeronautical mobile with Keith as passenger. Somewhere above the 8'
level Keith deliberates on the situation and realizes that Aero Mobile
isn't our category of operation and releases his grip on the tent. As he
looks for the parachute a table gets between him and the approaching ground
to slow his decent. The tent, now unoccupied, continues its trek and, we
think, actually travels between the upper and lower guy lines of the
AB/577. Divots missing from the ground indicate some locations of landings.
The excitement level is now at an all time contest high as the call goes
out that brats on the grill are now secondary priority.
The tent, now inverted and hanging on one guy wire, requires 2 people
standing on it to keep it from making a second attempt at aero mobile. All
attention is focused on the clean up task. Thank goodness the rain has
stopped but 2 trees are heard loosing their battle with the gale force
winds racing across the area. Windows will doubtless state that it was not
shut down properly and Scan Disk should be run. The radios, power supplies,
headsets, mikes and anything with wire is rapidly relocated to the
pavilion, trailer, or van, The tent is disassembled and allowed to continue
to the fence. Pieces and parts were scattered as the tables overturned or
had crew dropped on them. I sure hope that K9 station wasn't still waiting.
Somehow the fun had blown out of contesting. We were still wet, cold and
now our only station was off the air. Morning will come, clean up will
continue but the tired and hungry were still with us. Counting our
blessings that no one was hurt badly and damage to equipment was less than
it might have been, we wolf down some brats and look for places to be
horizontal. Most opt for warmer locations like home. A couple visitors come
by to see how we're doing. Fred & Todd question our sanity. I think they
left with their suspicions confirmed.
Sunday morning comes bright and clear and 31F. My feet are still wet. Phil
& Ralph stop by to check out the array of antennas that aren't up. They
also start questioning our sanity. The smoker is restarted in an attempt to
salvage the ribs. An unspoken decision is made that tear down will be
today. We sort through the debris where the operating tent should have been
searching for pieces and parts to go back in boxes or maybe just the trash.
There are reports of Europeans coming in on 6. It figures.
Wait until next time. We'll be back!
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