September 2006 VHF QSO Party

Once again, a group of us went up to Contest Peak for the the ARRL September VHF QSO Party (http://www.arrl.org/contests/rules/2006/sepvhf.html).

On Sunday September 10, 2006, Shayne N6SPE, Kyle KB6OLL, Dave KC6YFG, and Robert KC6UDS left the Davis area a bit after 10am for the hour-long drive to Contest Peak, located in the Bureau of Land Management Cache Creek Natural Area in the far northwest corner of Yolo County, in Grid CM88uu. Unfortunately, the view wasn't up to the usual standard due to smoke from the Ralston fire in the Sierra.

We operated for about 6 hours, made over 80 contacts, with a score over 4000 points, much better than last year's 73 contacts and 2575 points. More importantly, we a good time playing with radio.

Here are some pictures taken by Robert KC6UDS:

Shayne N6SPE and Dave KC6YFG work on tuning up the 6m beam antenna:

Antenna masts - left: X200 VHF/UHF omni vertical above a a 5 element 440 MHz beam and a 4 element 220 MHz beam. Right - the 3 element 6m beam:

A new antenna to play with - 14 element loop yagi for 1.2 GHz:

Kyle KB6OLL makes contacts while Shayne logs:

Jon KF6ZIX stops by for a visit. Jon was out as a rover trying out the brand new Alinco 220 MHz radio he won in a raffle at the W6OMF Ham Swap:

Where the radio signals begin - at the club's brand new portable generator. We put the generator about 75 feet away and could barely hear it. A nice generator, indeed. Antennas from left to right - 6m vertical omni, the FM mast with the X200 2m/70cm vertical, 70cm beam, and 220 MHz beam, and also barely visible is the mast with the 2m and 70cm horizontal beams for SSB:

Picture taken by Shayne N6SPE:

Robert KC6UDS makes a 1.2 GHz contact. Well, no, not really. We did make several contacts while hand holding the loop yagi, but the HT was connected with a cable. It wasn't until later that we realized we had the right adaptors to connect the HT directly. By that time, we'd already worked everyone... Oh, and we found the U-bolt for the loop yagi when we were cleaning up to come home. Next year, it will be on a mast: