[3830] TBDC K4LY Single Op HP

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                    Stew Perry Topband Challenge

Call: K4LY
Operator(s): K4LY
Station: K4LY

Class: Single Op HP
QTH: EM85
Operating Time (hrs): ~ 4

Summary:
Total:  QSOs = 107  Total Score = 505

Club: Carolina DX Assn

Comments:

I have fond memories of working the man himself back in the 50's and 60's when,
as a teen, I was on 160M with a Viking II, SX-99, and a 100' hunk of wire (no
coax connection and no ground) snaked around a small yard.  I have his card and
a few of his mimeographed 160M newsletters.  Fast forward 50+ years.  My sloping
inverted L starts at my Hygain Hytower and runs to the 64' level of a tower
about 50' away.  With a little trig, you can figure out that it slopes at an
angle a little more than 50 degrees.  It's a so so performer, but once a year I
improve it.  First I cut down a ~22' bamboo tree about 2 miles from my house. 
After cutting the limbs and top 2' off the bamboo tree, it's a bamboo pole that
I walk the 2 miles up the hill to my house.  On a day that's not too rainy or
too windy, I climb one 65' tower and release the flat top end of my inverted L.
 Then I climb the other 65' tower and unthread the inverted L wire from the
insulator on the other, lower bamboo pole and and bring the wire and and the
newly cut 20' bamboo pole up on top of the 65' tower where, harnessed to the
mast where two VHF yagis with 32' booms and some other antennas live, I thread
the inverted L through the insolator on the new bamboo pole and struggle to get
the top of the antenna up above the Christmas tree of VHF yagis to about the 84'
level. By strapping the 20' pole to the mast with bungee cords it's a
semipermanet fixture.  Then I climb down the tower, climb on my house roof and
find the end of the cord connected to the end of the inverted L and climb the
other tower to the 65' level where I secure cord connected to the flat top part
of the inverted L.  All of that takes a lot more time than I was able to operate
Saturday night, but when the top of the inverted L is at about 84' and more
vertical than before (you do the trig), it's actually a pretty good 160M DX
antenna though not as good as my 100' top loaded Rohn 25 vertical all those
years in Colorado.  I always forget that, with a longer more vertical
component, the antenna needs to be longer. Whereas, it was resonnant at 1835
with the top at the 64' level, it's resonnant at 1860 with the top at about 84'
and I couldn't use my amp below 1820.  Oh well, I need to take it back down to
the 64' level before the January VHF contest so that I can turn the 6M and 432
yagis again.

With some important responsibilities Sunday morning, I dared only to stay up
until 10:30 PM, running stations for about 30 minutes and then chasing DX for
parts of the next 4 hours.  Conditions to Europe were pretty good, and eastern
European stations came back to me, often on the first call, that may not have
heard me with the lower 64' high version of the slopping inv L.  With my two
superKaz receive antennas-no room for beverages like I had as W0AH in
Colorado-I hear pretty well, and worked almost everything I heard.  The problem
was stateside QRM- even in the DX window, can you belive that!  Best DX were two
Ukraine stations, UW2M and UU4JMG, worth 18 and 19 points.  Wish I had been able
to be on for the Pacific opening and those 20 pointers!  SP is definitely one of
my favorite contests because of the grid exchange- the a format that all VHF
contests should use, but don't.  Thanks to the Boring ARS for another great
event and for all the Qs. This is a wonderful memorial for- the man.
Doug K4LY  ex-W0AH W2CRS


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