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.