piątek, 26 lutego 2010

IARU HF World Championship 2010... considerations

Motivated by good result in 2009 I started to plan setup for this year contest. My weak points were definitely lower bands - almost no antenna (I had superantenna 3 el yagi (shortened) for 20m and above, shortened vertical Buddipole for 40m, AMPRO 80 for 80 meters (but this antenna has 2m height...) and absolutely nothing for 160m).

This year due to new solar cycle it may be expected much higher activity on upper bands but still I should not ignore lower as source of multipliers. From 2009 contest I remember that changing of bands for superantenna is not easy and takes some time.

So this year plan is as follow:
1. have new antenna for upper bands on possibly higher mast - probably Spiderbeam with 18m alu mast (how to erect this with only 2 hands ??) I would use superantenna set to 20m on 10m mast and spiderbeam on 18m mast. If higher bands will be more active I can always change superantenna configuration. Spiderbeam requires only one feeding cable..
2. have additional two antennas - probably separate dipoles for 80 and 160m.
3. I have no idea what to use for 40m - again buddipole? Maybe I could use somehow that 18m mast as some kind of vertical
4. consider new place. Felsenegg is super place, people who own this place are super friendly and helpfull but is not open to all directions. The minimal requirements are:
a. accessible by car
b. 230V available for all 24h
c. enough space to setup two masts and some wire antennas
d. far from urban areas
e. open view to all directions
f. safe

Further considerations will follow...

wtorek, 16 lutego 2010

IARU HF World Championship results

Many hours of preparations, a lot of equipment and efforts - all for participating in IARU HF World Championship in July 2009. The goal was to be listed at least in official results. After submitting logs with score around 19000 points I lost hope.. Too less... and ...too early :)

And - just an hour ago I found results from IARU 2009 and .. I'm there !!!! As the only swiss station (except HB9HQ and HB9JOE - R1 station). Just was going to open champagne but is 2a.m so maybe tomorrow :)) Honestly I'm on ninth position but this is World Top Ten !!

Many thanks for all who was supporting me in this great event ! Please support me in 2010 as going to start again :)