Bob WA3SWA and Al K3ROJ made the trip to West Virginia again this September to operate in the ARRL VHF/UHF Contest. Four bands were used: 50, 144, 220 and 432 MHz which kept us in the Limited Operator Multiband category. By using 2 military surplus crankup towers, antennas were easily mounted and raised. The six metre beam was a Cushcraft 5 element, on 2 metres we used a 15 element K1FO design, on 1.4 metres a 16 element K1FO design and on 70 centimetres a 25 element yagi. We don't work enough stations on 1296 to make it worth our trouble but are planning on bringing 10 GHz gear along and operate on a hill top nearby. Every station we heard was worked and thanks to Ron W3JEH letting the club borrow his 150 watt amplifier on the 1.4 metre band we were able to work many stations there. Below are some video clips that will give you an idea of how we work the contests.
VHF Stations in Auto Mode while operators eat lunch
The surplus military crank up towers make it easy to set up contesting
The crank up towers are just over 6 feet when folded up
The Elecraft transverter gives us 220 MHz capability using a 100 watt amplifier
Working KB3MLD on the 144 MHz band
Military crank up towers in truck after a great VHF contest September, 2006
