SOME CONTEST PHOTOS

It is always fun to look at pictures! Most of these pictures are of a general nature and will show what else is going on before, during, and after a typical contest operation at the K1WHS Hilltop location.

Why is it that water always gets into the antennas that are the hardest to get at? That must be some sort of corollary to Murphy's law. The lefthand picture shows us on Friday before the 2006 September Contest, and you can see N2CEI in the light green shirt standing on the 120 ft tower top. K1WHS has climbed up the mast and is working on the 3456 harness. The UT-141 cables and connectors had water in them from the previous winter. We removed two antennas and their cables and dried them out, then hauled them back up again. The ground crew consists of K9PW and W1MRQ. They are seen in the righthand photo.

It looks like Pete is thinking " How the heck is this thing supposed to work?" It is a simple task, by the way, to dry out UT-141 cables. We removed the N fittings, dried them with air and paper towels, and re soldered them for perfect VSWR again. Water does not wick through the actual cable itself, and teflon does not absorb water at all.

A group picture of K0DI and KA2LIM sitting at the picnic table repairing a motor driven coaxial switch. The guy standing is K1WHS. WA1T and W1MRQ are sitting at the rear picnic table eating sandwiches for Saturday lunch before the contest activity gets underway. You can see Leika, the new DEMI mascot, sitting in the Sun, behind Al, WA1T. We were trying to get our auxiliary microwave station going, and the motor driven switch was giving us fits. Dave, K0DI managed to eventually tame the beast!

CHEF MONTE

Chef Monte hard at work in the kitchen. He was very happy with his new propane fired cooking grill. Other conveniences included a barbeque grill, toaster oven, microwave oven, assorted lights, coffee brewing center, and a big tarp to keep the kitchen dry. We needed it in 2006 as a wicked weather front passed through Saturday late in the afternoon with high winds and some rain. Chef Monte's call is N1LBI.

KU2A running a sked on 3456 MHz no doubt. He is operating a K2 which tunes 900 thru 3456 MHz. The higher bands of 5, 10 and 24 GHz run on a second K2 just visible to the left. All bandswitching is automatic on every microwave band. All that is needed is to type the frequency on the keyboard, and then start sending CW or yell into the microphone. It makes the microwave bands very easy to use.

THE ROGUE'S GALLERY

N2CEI in the background on 222 MHz. K1DY is running the 432 station, and WA1T is patiently awaiting a sked on 2304.

Here is W1SD twiddling and fussing with the network, serial port adaptors, .wav files, and all that stuff needed for contesting these days. We have an "IT Team" consisting of W1SD, N1JEZ, and K1CA. They are responsible for having the computers working properly, and thay do a wonderful job with it. Ron, WZ1V seems to be tasked with finding all the weak links in the system. His ability to turn silk purses into sow's ears is legendary!

THE MORNING AFTER!...... SEPTEMBER 11TH, 2006

We all headed out for a good breakfast on Monday morning to the local diner in Rochester, NH. . Seated L to R are Sandra, Steve N2CEI, Bill K1DY, Pete K9PW, Ron WZ1V, Fred N1DPM, and Ernie W1MRQ. We all look happy posing for our mugshots. All except Pete, K9PW. He was seriously studying the menu and making some serious breakfast decisions. He finally ended up ordering the full stack of pancakes and then added whipped cream topping with strawberries, followed by a side order of bacon. We all noted the surprised look the waitress gave him when he actually placed the order.

PANCAKE PETE!

I don't think you can expend that much whipped cream from just one can of Reddi Whip! I suspect that the diner had a gas turbine fired whipped cream spreader out back that they fired up just for Pete. The strawberries must have been hauled in with a bucket loader. Those three pancakes were about 1/2" thick and the diameter approached that of a motorcycle tire. Even the side order of bacon seemed large. Pete dug right in and did some serious damage to those pancakes. A great end to a fantastic weekend.

2008 Contest Pictures

Gee, I hope the car roof does not rip off!

A shot of the WW1M/R rover-mobile on Friday before the big dance. Bruce has enlarged the antennas for 903 thru 3456 MHz, and the boys are taking a look at his handywork. In the past Bruce was covering the adjacent grids, but now he is traveling a bit farther and needed more performance than the shorties would offer. This was the first time that the new longer loop yagis were positioned on the vehicle. The six meter loop is knocked down for travel! Bruce uses horns on 5 and 10 GHz.

Road Repairs just before the September VHF Contest.

This has been one of the wettest Summers on record. (2008) This picture was taken in late August about a week after we received 5 inches of rain in 2 hours. Most of the road washed out. You can see some new stone that has been dumped up above the 100 ft long mud hole. There is a back hoe barely visible back there too. We filled in the bottom of the road with unsorted gravel and lowered the culvert there by several feet to improve the drainage. Without these repairs, the contest site would not be accessible to 4WD vehicles!! Normally, August and September are very dry months, and this spot is dry and dusty. This year it has been a quagmire all Summer. The mosquitos are quite active too. Anytime I get in around the mud hole, I end up with scads of mosquito bites. I wonder why? This road had to be repaired and improved so that the 20 KW generator that we bought and did not work at all, could be removed for repair. The repairs were cut short when the crushed stone laden dump truck sank to it's axles at the base of the road, just off the pavement! The truck had to be pulled out with a tracked vehicle. We gave up and patched things as best we could to make things semi-passable. More roadwork is needed next year.

Pancake Pete, 2008

This Monday morning breakfast has turned into a tradition. We go to a 50's style diner in Rochester, NH. after the contest is all done. From left to right, W1MRQ, N2CEI, N1DPM, Sandra (KD4HGF), K0DI, WA1T, K1WHS, W2PED, WW1M, and K9PW with his small plate of pancakes. They don't call him Pancake Pete for nothing! Ron, WZ1V took the photo. Bruce, WW1M, had been roving over the weekend and made it back home for Monday morning and the pancake feast. The rest of the crew had stayed overnite at the station after a strong finish the night before.

One of the six meter yagis got messed up during the contest, as the drive teeth on the motor hit a worn spot on the big ring gear. That required a climb and some choice words and a few wrenches to persuade the errant yagi to aim where it was supposed to. Other than that, the six meter antenna worked flawlessly. K1BX did not miss much on the band this time around. He had about 470 Qs in 82 grids, all with a seemingly dead band.