The 2024 ARRL June VHF Contest is quickly approaching and I’ve been working hard to get my station ready to deploy. So far, it appears I’ll be on the air on 6m through 23cm (except 1.25m and 33cm) using a Kenwood TS-2000X. I’ll be trying out …
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VHF+ Weak Signal Plans
Years ago I lived in a house that was forty feet above the Chesapeake Bay. Three yagi antennas, covering 2m, 70cm, and 23cm, pointed towards New England. At a height of ten to twenty feet above the ground, there were no obstructions for the first several miles. Stations in New …
2015 August UHF Contest Results
Opened the mailbox today and was surprised to see an envelope from Newington waiting for me. Looks like I placed third in the Atlantic Division (SOLP) and first (out of two) in the MDC section!
Missed all the VHF+ contest this year but I'm hoping to get my antennas back …
read moreMore tropo ducting today
This morning around 9AM I got mixed up with a crowd on 144 MHz. Since I'm the new guy I ended up with a pileup on my hands! I picked up KA3QWO, KG4KWW, K1PXE, WB2SIH, K3GNC, WV2H, N2FKF, W1AN, and WB2QEG in very quick succession. We then ventured up to …
read moreThe difference a few miles will make.
Tonight I worked several station with two in particular being W1AN and WZ1V. Both of those stations I worked on three bands: 144, 432, and 1296 MHz. W1AN is a little further away than WZ1V but both are fairly close to each other in Connecticut with WZ1V being a bit …
read more2015 ARRL August UHF Contest results
read moreWhew, it's been interesting last couple of days around here. On Friday the only antenna I had in the sky was my OCF dipole for HF. Saturday morning found myself, Bob N3PPH, and Dave W3PQS erecting a pole with antennas for 2m, 70cm, and 23cm. With the ARRL August UHF …
Antenna maintenance
The weather was nice enough for me to get some of my antenna maintenance done that I couldn't do during the cold winter months. First on the list was to completely remove the 23cm (1.2GHz) antenna from the top of the tower. While I've had good luck working stations …
read moreNew antennas up in the air.
It was hot this afternoon but I was able to get two of the three planned antennas up. Tomorrow is the ARRL UHF Contest so hopefully I'll be ready (still have to trim a limb or two out of a tree).
Top antenna is 23cm (1278MHz) and the lower one …
read moreReceived 23cm antenna
Came home to find a long box on the doorstep. Opened it up to find my new 23cm (1.2GHz) antenna ready for assembly. In less than an hour I had my twenty-four element loop yagi put together and ready for talking. Now I just need to get some N …
read moreVHF/UHF Update
Well, things took a slight turn for the worst last night. After receiving the UT-10 and the coax, N-connectors, and rotator control wire I realized that the pole I have stuck up in the air isn't wide enough to support the rotator. Apparently the pole is 1" in diameter and …
read moreNew toys...
I haven't posted anything lately but that doesn't mean that nothing has been happening.
First, a couple of weeks ago I found a Kenwood UT-10 1.2GHz module for my TS-790A. I've been looking for one of these for going on two years. Finally my eBay alert came through and …
read moreFound a UT-10
Last night eBay sent me an e-mail saying it had located a UT-10 for me. I jumped on it! I've been looking for one of these for about two years. The price was right, too, so now I'll have 1.2GHz in the TS-790A in a couple of weeks! Oh …
read moreProposed Rover Operation for ARRL UHF Contest
I'm considering doing a rover operation for the ARRL UHF Contest this August. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to operate (Shenandoah comes to mind) but I should have my 1.2GHz (23cm) transceiver up and working in addition to the 432MHz (70cm) so it should be …
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