September 2005 was a very good contest since we traveled to Elk Garden, WV in FM09kj during good weather. Our main competition was K8GP who was on Spruce Knob about 50 miles from us. The bands used were 50, 144, 220, 432 and 1296 MHz using USB and CW. Sunday morning there was a terrific Aurora opening whereby everyone points their beams at the north pole and the signals actually reflect back from the aurora curtain. Only CW can be used because of the very rapid Doppler effect from the aurora ionization. We were able to work many stations in Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Canada on the 50 and 144 bands.
1296 on top with 220 and 144 MHz antennas
Bob WA3SWA devised his own voice keying method using a cell phone
Using CW is the easiest and fastest way to make contacts
Working stations during an Aurora is a fascinating way to make contacts with the antennas pointed north
Using surplus military crank-up lighting towers makes ideal portable antenna supports
Interstates 68 and 70 makes it easy to travel back and forth to West Virginia
The AERO radio club has always participated in the ARRL VHF/UHF contests but in recent years a satisfactory site with good elevation hasn't been available since they require substantial insurance coverage such as State parks and commercial properties. In 2005 however, the club decided to operate the January ARRL contest in grid section FM09kj in Elk Garden, WV. Only Bob WA3SWA and AL K3ROJ ventured out in the winter weather to drive the 200 miles to K3ROJ's property with a mobile home situated on 5 acres. The temperature remained in the low teens while there and on Monday morning when we had to break things down it was 10 degrees F. It was so cold and windy that we could only remain outside about 10 minutes at a time to lower the towers and dismantle the antennas It had snowed that Saturday night with a total of around 2 feet which seemed to help considerably with propogation since we did win the Southeastern district for limited operator class. Sunday morning we had to take a 10 mile drive for more kerosene for our heater. West Virginia doesn't plow roads as they do near cities making it easier to drive. West Virginia has a ban on using salt and use cinders instead if conditions are bad. Only one video clip shows us operating at the kitchen table since it was too cold outside for the older VHS video camera to function properly.
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It was too cold and windy to take videos outside with 2 feet of snow January 2005
