[VHFcontesting] Better vhf contests

[Art]

>I'n my club we have tried 2 meters but have been
>hampered by the use of poor equipment.I remember one FD that I wasn't very
>involved in the set-up because I was going to a different FD,they thought a
>DIPOLE would work well on 2 meters!!Needless to say they didn't make one q
>and most thought I was nuts for enjoying the vhf bands so much.I'm not sure
>how to inform "Joe 706" about tha equipment side of what is needed for a
>reasonable station but we need to.


We moved to Maine in 1995 and wanted to participate in Field Day at the 
(now local) Maine Amateur Radio Club we just joined. We were both hardened 
Field Day ops and knew what it takes to make a decent score. But, we were 
also new to the club, so we volunteered to go there as ops and run the 
graveyard shift on cw, which the club needed badly, there were very few ops 
there who knew cw and none of them were 'fluent'.

During the setup, we could see the disaster in progress and realize that 
the effort was doomed within an hour after the setup started. They had 80 
and 40 meter dipoles fed with the same coax with the center at 20 feet and 
the ends tied off at 5 feet. It was fed with rg-58, a LONG 120 foot run of 
it in order to get the 80/40 antenna away from the triband beam (in order 
to avoid co-station interference).

The triband beam was at 25 feet and had a horrible swr on 15 and 10 meters. 
We knew that was not right, but no one wanted to tear the beam down and 
investigate the problem.

Field day started, I sat there and listened to them call cq on 40, with an 
hourly rate of 5. They called CQ because no one replied when they answered 
cq's.

We operated all night for them on cw, and did just a little better. But, 
mainly because cw got through a little better than ssb. But, our rate was 
less than stellar.

It was damn frustrating!

At the post Field Day meeting, the filed day effort was discussed. No one 
brought up the antenna situation at all, and the bad score was blamed on 
band conditions.

Honestly, they had top of the line transceivers with more buttons than my 
grandmother's sewing box. But, lack of trained operators and poor antennas 
doomed them before they even started. Today, little has changed. I heard 
them on the club repeater discussing a Field Day site on the Friday before 
FD started this year! The club still has the same president and the same 
problem it had in 1995 and I wouldn't be surprised to hear they only made 
200 Q's for a 3A effort this year also.

Now, I NEVER expect to win Field Day, it isn't about winning and only one 
team in each class can 'win' anyway.

We do hope to put in a good effort and to score in the upper third of the 
pack though:>:

Good Luck to all.

Art