June VHF Contest 2015
NI6E, AF6RT, NT5I, KK6KPW, KI6VVN
Grid Square DM23, South of Joshua Tree National Park
The tents go up first to provide some shelter from the sun and wind
Extending the rotator cable to reach the tent
Two pulleys placed high on the mast improved the geometry of the boom support lines
Lines go from the boom ends, up to the pulleys, then down the side of the mast to the boom, where they can be adjusted easily and secured
The gin pole here will be the mast for the 2m/70cm station
The ladder made tower work much easier and safer than climbing the tower
The 6m beam was on the tower by sunset on Friday
leaving the 2m and 432 setup for Saturday morning
It was really hard to raise the mast and keep it vertical until it was guyed with two antennas and the rotator at the top
This year the rotator went at the bottom of the stack and turned the mast, minimizing the weight at the top
Now, the guy ropes had to allow the mast to rotate
Large Yaesu thrust bearing at the 10 foot level
Small Yaesu thrust bearing at the 20 foot level
2m beam at 20 feet, 70cm beam at 25 feet
The station looks about the same as last year
Dennis and Harry piling up contacts on 2m
Scott and Michele piling up contacts on 6m
With white tent sides, computer screen glare was a serious problem
The sun sets on a slow day
Up at 4:00 AM for meteor scatter schedules, we head for breakfast at sunrise
We aren't "Big Guns," but we brought some along
Our two tents are in the background
After another slow day on 6m, we decided to break down at 1:00 PM on Sunday
thus missing the 4-hour opening that ran from 4:00 PM until the end of the contest at 8:00 PM
Teardown always goes faster than assembly
The 2m mast is once again the gin pole for the 6m beam
It always takes two people to watch one worker
Grids Worked on 6m
The God of Sporadic-E did not smile on us this year.
Our total score was only 15% of last year's, with the same equipment
Grids Worked on 2m
Thanks to the K6ZH team for activating DM02 and W9RM for MS into DM58
We paid the price for quitting at noon, missing the afternoon opening