[VHFcontesting] W8ZN going MAD

[w8zn54 at verizon.net]

Well, as the saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men!" Was up at 5 AM, out of the house by 5:30, found gas for $3.09 in Front Royal, had a nice breakfast at the local Micky Dee's AND Skyline drive was open!!! From there it went down hill. Got everything set up and immediately was suspicious of 2m, not much noise and the WA1ZMS beacon was maybe S1-2. Barely heard KA1ZE and K1RZ was only s9+20, normally he is S9+50!!! Inbetween swapping connections inside, worked K1RZ and N3RG through 1296. Climbed up on the roof and was able to swap the feedline from the 6m MOXON with the 2m beam and presto!! Now had good band noise and the ZMS beacon was up to S9!!! The joy was short lived however, the first call to K1RZ just yielded a solid output indication on the meter of the IC7000. Either the amp was damaged by the defective cable or now that all the RF was getting to the antenna, RF was getting back into something causing the rig to oscillate.
 
Soooooooo, without 2m which as everyone knows is VERY important, I decided to bag it and head home.
 
Thanks to everyone who was on the band looking, I will be out next month and guarantee the 2m station will work better!!!

Terry Price
W8ZN - ex K8ISK/WD8ISK
1.8 MHZ - 47 GHz - FM18dv
Member of the K8GP Contest Group
FM19bb

On 02/26/14, w8zn54 at verizon.net wrote:


I had so much fun in January, I've decided to pick up where our friend Bill Seabreeze, W3IY(SK) left off and beginning this Saturday and the first Saturday of each month, I'll be hitting some of the peaks in Va and W.Va. wx permitting. This weekend I'll be at FM08US on 50MHz through 10GHz with decent power and modest antennas.

I'm going to try to be on by 8:00 AM EST and I'll monitor 144.205 so hopefully I can catch some of the 205 gang if they are on. I have a separate rig for 2m so even when I'm working the upper bands I should be able to hear folks calling. I will be on until 11:00 if activity warrants.

Please pass this on to anyone with VHF capability as I would like to work as many of you as I can. Even if it's not a new grid, get on and blow the dust out of your finals!!!

Terry Price
W8ZN - ex K8ISK/WD8ISK
1.8 MHZ - 47 GHz - FM18dv
Member of the K8GP Contest Group
FM19bb