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

[W7TMT - Patrick]

You guys rocked!

S9 up to +20 here in the Seattle area for hours. Only signal from KH6/7 like that, for that long,  came from the legendary Jack Wheeler, KH6CC. Big shoes to fill. I'm guessing your toes should be feeling a little bit pinched by now. Great job!

Looking for you in the CQ WW 160.

73
Patrick, W7TMT

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband <topband-bounces+w7tmt=outlook.com at contesting.com> On Behalf Of Rob Van Geen
Sent: Monday, January 1, 2024 16:37
To: topband at contesting.com
Subject: Topband: Some photos and video from our KH6AQ portable operation in the December Stew Perry TBDC

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
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