Topband: Some photos and video from our KH6AQ portable operation in the December Stew Perry TBDC

[Rob Van Geen]

Dave and I (Rob, NH6V) have been enjoying experimenting with antenna setups
on the east coast of the "Big Island" of Hawai'i in several of the 160
contests since December 2022.

We run 1500W to a full-size 1/4λ wire sloping ~50° up to the top of a 150'
Cook pine tree across the road from the beach. It runs off of two 130'
elevated radials that run parallel to the coastline and perpendicular to
the direction of North America and Europe.. 35°. The feedpoint is back
about 25' from the ocean and it even gets occasionally hit by the large
crashing surf (!). A pretty ideal antenna, as it turns out.

For RX this year, it was necessary to deploy a single direction K9AY loop
in order to null out a new, S-3 (at 3 kHz bw) power line noise
emanating from the neighborhood about 1km to the northwest. We didn't
experience this noise for the ARRL 160. Unfortunately, the noise is also
coming from the same direction as Japan. So this ended up being our sole
receive antenna, and we must say that it was most beneficial and kudos go
out to K9AY for this especially innovative antenna design. Thank you, Gary!

Driving 4' ground rods into the lava rocks wasn't too easy. There was also
a good amount of seawater wetted sand to help lower the resistance - we're
guessing no better than about 100Ω.

Thanks for the QSOs! Your participation is greatly appreciated by all. We
hope to continue operating from this portable location in all future 160
contests.

Look for our report with additional details on www.3830scores.com - to be
updated within the next couple of days.

Album with photos and some video:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5LC1srprU1F9SsTW9

Rob - NH6V