[VHFcontesting] Fwd: RE: Requested Information from John Young KM4KMU for September VHF UHF Contest. - NRQZ ID 11549

[nosigma at aol.com]

Hooyah
Cleared hot for Reddish Knob in the NRQZ.  Four Thousand Four Hundred Feet of FM Nirvana where the squelch is zero, the noise is zero, the take off angle is zero, the blockage is zero for 360 degrees and the EM & EN grids are line of sight.  September is going to be KATG, Kick Azz Take Grids.

More to follow.

73
John
KM4KMU

Sent from AOL Mobile Mail


From: Paulette Woody <pwoody at nrao.edu>
Date: Thursday, August 9, 2018
Subject: RE: Requested Information from John Young KM4KMU for September VHF UHF Contest. - NRQZ ID 11549
To: nosigma <nosigma at aol.com>

John,

 

The following have been approved.

 

11549 Reddish Knob 52

11549 Reddish Knob 146

11549 Reddish Knob 223

11549 Reddish Knob 446

11549 Flagpole Knob 52

11549 Flagpole Knob 146

11549 Flagpole Knob 223

11549 Flagpole Knob 446

 

Paulette

 

 

 

From: Paulette Woody 
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2018 11:33 AM
To: 'nosigma at aol.com' <nosigma at aol.com>
Subject: RE: Requested Information from John Young KM4KMU for September VHF UHF Contest. - NRQZ ID 11549 

 

John,

 

Thanks for the additional information.

 

I will be back in touch soon.

 

Paulette

 

 

 

From: nosigma at aol.com <nosigma at aol.com> 
Sent: Sunday, July 29, 2018 8:52 AM
To: Paulette Woody <pwoody at nrao.edu>
Subject: Requested Information from John Young KM4KMU for September VHF UHF Contest.

 

Paulette,

 

I hope the attached power point slides (beam widths and operating bearings) along with the frequency and band width information below is what you were looking for.  Let me know if I missed something.  

 

Antenna Height  & Beam Tilt Angle

The booms of the Yagi antenna's are 23 feet above ground level.  The booms are angled upwards approximately 3 degrees.  I find that I get flatter take off angle by getting as close to a sharp drop off as possible to avoid knife edge diffraction (scatters energy downwards) from local terrain.  A slight upward angle also seems to help with propagation over near by ridge lines.  The last picture in the attachment shows the system set up on Reddish Knob from last year when Sugar Grove didnt respond before the contest.

 

Frequencies & Band Width 

Amateur Radio FM band width is 16KHz.

Frequency ranges (in MHz) to be used

6M:  52.525 center frequency.  Covering 52.517 to 52.533

2M Primary:  146.520 center frequency.  Covering 146.512 to 146.528

2M Secondary: 146.535 center frequency. Covering 146.527 to 146.543

1.25M: 223.500 center frequency.  Covering 223.492 to 223.508

70cm: 446.000 center frequency.  Covering 445.992 to 446.008

 

Beam Patterns

The attached power point shows the beam patterns for 3 of the 4 antenna's.  Source of beam pattern plot is provided. M2 did not have a pattern for the 440-18 70cm antenna and I could not find one modeled on the web.  I could spend a day modeling it up on ENZEC4 but its the same exact design as the M2 222-10EZ and should have close to the same side and back lobe patterns as teh 10-EZ  just lower levels as is the main beam gain.  

 

Maps of Beam Pointing During Contest

Two maps are provided.  The first is a detail showing Reddish Knob.  It has an overlay of the 30 and 60 degree beam widths centered on Sugar Grove.  The second map shows Reddish Knob, Flagpole Knob, Sugar Grove and Green Bank Observatory along with the beam pattern overlays AND all contacts made from either Reddish Knob or Flagpole Knob.  Note that only 5 of the 200+ contacts are inside the 60 degree beam width overlay centered on Sugar Grove.  The same 60 degree overlay centered on Green Bank has only 3 contacts in it.

 

I spend very little time with the antenna's pointed towards either Green Bank or Sugar Grove.  The 8 stations that lie inside a 60 degree cone over both sites are all scheduled contacts.  They are so hard to reach due to terrain that we arrange a time in advance to make a contest exchange (Grid Squares and Call Signs, not a rag chew).  In other words I dont sit on those bearings calling CQ.  Its not productive when I could be working up and down the Shenandoah Valley along I-81 where there is a much bigger population or up into eastern PA, DC and Philly. 

 

If there is any additional information I can provide I will be happy to do so.

 

73

John Young

KM4KMU