Gotta get the new address signed up....<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Rick Dougherty</b> <span dir="ltr">&lt;<a href="mailto:rick@nq4i.com">rick@nq4i.com</a>&gt;</span><br>
Date: Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 11:52 AM<br>Subject: Summer accomplishments<br>To: SECC &lt;<a href="mailto:secc@contesting.com">secc@contesting.com</a>&gt;<br><br><br><div>Hi all..I hope you are having a productive summer...we at the NQ4I station have been hard at work once again....this summer we deemed it necessary to get the new 80m 12 element</div>
<div>LPDA antenna up in the air...currently it is at 140 ft at the rear of the antenna and a tree at 65 ft holds the front...VE7ZO, K4NV, WI4R, W4DD, and KG4CUT dug another tower base for </div>
<div>a Rohn 45 tower that will be approx 175 or 185 ft tall...this will support the far end of the 80m LPDA at 145 ft front to rear....K2AV has calculated a 2 db or more improvement in the antennas performance since it will not be sloped down, but will now be level...this antenna has approx 205 ft boom length..is resonant from 3.4 mhz to 4.1 mhz without any need to be switched and has approx 25</div>

<div>to 30 db front to back....listening on this antenna shows how quiet a low band antenna can be.</div><div> </div><div>On another front, the station suffered another lightning strike some time back in May...with the help of the following individuals,  W4DD, K4WP, W4SVO we have designed a panel mounted MOV protection panel...every rotor and control switch and every coax cable will connect to this panel and the station grounding system has been heavily upgraded to support this improvement...many hours of </div>

<div>time are still to be spent to insure that each connection is MOV protected and commonly grounded. We had to run hundreds of feet of #2 copper wire between the house grounds system and to tie it into the shack and tower systems...still have 50% of the station to include in the plan...it&#39;s coming along slowly and surely.</div>

<div> </div><div>On the top of the new 185 ft tower will be a 5 element 20m Telrex antenna that will be paired up on the 20m MULT station...and 10 ft below that at 175 ft will be an 8 element Telrex 15m antenna that will be dedicated to the 15m MULT station.....</div>

<div> </div><div>The past contest season, the following was accomplished by the op&#39;s from NQ4I</div><div>1. CQWW SSB 2011...................#4 USA</div><div>2. CQWW CW 2011....................#4 USA ( and we beat the old existing CQWW CW record score giving us the 4th highest ever cw score in the US!)</div>

<div>3. ARRL CW 2012.......................#4 USA</div><div>5. CQ160 CW .............................#3 USA single op assisted (W4IX)</div><div>6. CQ WPX 2012 .......................TIED #1 USA w/NR4M and new USA Record!! Log checking will determine who will be number 1 and 2. Separated by 8 qso&#39;s.</div>

<div> </div><div>This year we welcome the following new Op&#39;s to NQ4I......Kevan Nason N4XL, and Jim Rogers N4DU...both participated in the GA QSO party at K4HYB ( NQ4I) and will be part of the new season contest team....and joining us from Central Fla is Glen WW4B....Glen is a CW op and does not care for ssb...hi</div>

<div> </div><div>Mark W4SVO has been dilegently adding ferrite cores to coax and control lines at the station over the past years and has ramped up his effort in that area...with the new grounding panel comingonline, Mark is making sure that Ferrite cores will be used to minimize rfi and other problems across the board..in fact we have so much Ferrite around that in order to use a compass and check the heading of ana antenna one must get 200 ft away from the shack to get a valid reading...hi</div>

<div> </div><div>I look forward to hearing from other SECC&#39;ers as to their progress and improvements thay have made to their stations this summer...off contest season is and has always been the time to re-build, and build something bigger andd better...</div>

<div> </div><div>This new tower has been a real experience so far...I am now 64 years old..still climbing...do not enjoy it as much as I did in earlier years....but still able...the old knees are not what they used to be either....might need new ones...hi</div>

<div> </div><div>Didn&#39;t make it to the Huntsville hamfest this year...heard that the hospitality suite was really good though...and I am sure I missed seeing some of you around the flea market or the other stands...</div>

<div> </div><div>As always the station is always open for visitors and friends to stop by...please phone first!...hi....I have an ample supply of antenna tubing if anyone needs some to make a repair...and if you are designing a yagi, I have a great software tool that makes it easy to design...</div>

<div> </div><div>Thanks to all who got on an made some points for the club this past season....</div><div> </div><div>Looking forward with lots of anticipation to contest season....</div><div> </div><div>de Rick NQ4I</div>

<div> </div><div> </div>
</div><br>