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2020 Station Improvements

Added two new beverage receive antenna – southeast and southwest.

  • Southeast is 580 feet long.
  • Southwest is 480 feet long.

Installed them both 2 feet above the existing beverages for NE and NW using PVC pipe as a vertical standoff.

Improved beverage transformer and terminations by having printed circuit boards made, and placing inside enclosures, rather than leaving exposed to the weather. Gas discharge tubes to help protect from surges due to lightning strikes. DC blocking capacitor also included on feed point. Thanks to Steve, VE6WZ for the inspiring YouTube video, along with the KiCad files to get started!

Built a home-brew EZ-Way Wonder Post to ground-mount the EZ-Way Tower that had been on my utility trailer as a portable tower. This 50 foot tower will be used for 6 meters, 2 meters and 70 centimeters. I rebuilt a Ham-II rotator for this project.

From the EZ Way brochure
Home-brew EZ Way Wonder Post, using 6-inch diameter Schedule 40 galvanized pipe. Five feet of pipe is in the ground, with vanes at bottom and just below ground level.
  • 6-meter antenna is a Hygain VB-66DX – 6 elements on a 24-foot boom.
  • Don’t yet know what will go up for 2m and 70cm.
Freshly installed EZ-Way tower on the left. On the right is home-brew tilt-over tower, 45-feet tall with 5-elements on 30-foot boom for 17 meters. At the center, 225 feet way from the camera is Tower #1.
Building 80-meter 4-square around Tower #1
The big project of 2020 was building the 80-meter 4-square.

Implemented an EA4TX INTERLOCK to keep us honest in M/S and M/2 contesting.

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2020 July NAQP RTTY – An apparent 1st place M/2

                North American QSO Party, RTTY - July

Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H
Station: W5WZ

Class: M/2 LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 12

Summary:

Band QSOs Mults

80: 151 38
40: 312 53
20: 429 53*
15: 178 38

10: 11 8

Total: 1081 190 Total Score = 205,390

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Team:

Comments:

And a good time was had by all. 12 hours B.I.C. We had trouble with the
SixPack with 15, 20, and 40 meters. Had to coax jump around the SixPack to use
15 and 40 on the right radio. No time to fix during the contest!

Thanks to all for the QSOs, and especially all the >3 band QSOs.

73, Scott

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2020 IARU HF Championship

IARU HF World Championship – 2020

Call: W5EA
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H K5UZ
Station: W5WZ

Class: M/S HP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 19

Summary:

Band CW Qs Ph Qs Zones HQ Mults

160: 12 0 5 2
80: 65 0 14 10
40: 418 0 32 39
20: 474 722 36 39
15: 185 0 15 18

10: 0 0 0 0

Total: 1154 722 102 108 Total Score = 1,219,260

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

With high anticipation, regular ops W5WZ and WM5H had prepared the W5WZ station
for a serious Multi-Single effort for this contest, with full ability for
in-band S&P at full power using EA4TX interlock. A portable tower set up
700 feet west of the main tower, with KT-34XA at 60 feet, an 80-meter dipole at
55 feet, and 40-meter dipole at 45 feet provided sufficient antenna separation.
First-time guest Dave K5UZ joined the team for the effort.

As always the food was excellent, the station performed well – except the air
conditioning – in the 100 degree heat and Louisiana humiditiy it couldn’t keep
up with the ops and 3 amplifiers.

Thanks to all for the QSOs!
–Scott, W5WZ

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ARRL Field Day – 2020

Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H
Station: W5WZ

Class: 2E LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 19:37

Summary:

Band CW Qs Ph Qs

80: 94 0
40: 318 15
20: 791 3
15: 711 172
10: 172 125

Total: 2086 315 2401 Total Score = 8,974

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CQWW WPX Contest, SSB – 2020

Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ
Station: W5WZ

Class: SO(A)SB20 HP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 6

Summary:
 Band  QSOs
————
  160:
   80:
   40:
   20: 764
   15:
   10:
————
Total:  764  Prefixes = 353  Total Score = 386,182

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

Weather was so nice, spent as much time outside as possible.  Made good progress
on preparations for my new 80 meter 4-square, soon to be installed.

With the stay-at-home order in place, I felt guilty spending time away from my
family in the evenings, so went inside with them.

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2020 ARRL DX SSB

Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H K5OF K1DW KA5M
Station: W5WZ

Class: M/2 HP
QTH: LA – Louisiana
Operating Time (hrs): 45:42

Summary:

Band QSOs Mults

160: 35 32
80: 163 70
40: 298 84
20: 753 107
15: 214 55

10: 4 4

Total: 1467 352 Total Score = 1,500,576

Club: Louisiana Contest Club

Comments:

Several “firsts” for the W5WZ station and team for this contest.

First time for Ed, K5OF to join the W5WZ team, flying in from North Carolina.
It was good to have him on the team.

K5OF at Run1, and W5WZ at Run2

First time for Dallas, K1DW to guest op at W5WZ; he operated from his home in
Texas, by remote controlling one of the K3’s at W5WZ.

First DX contest since expanding the beverage receive antenna farm.

First contest since moving the 80-meter dipole from 77 to 105 feet.
First contest with the EA4TX interlock installed, allowing easy Run/S&P on a
single band.

Marsh KA5M also drove in from Shreveport (100 miles) on Sunday.

Special thanks to Sharon KW5MOM for the pot of gumbo and the pot of chili; Bobby
for the usual spread of deli meats and breads; Ed for pre-contest dinner on
Thursday night.

WM5H at Run1

As usual, too much food AND lots of fun!

–73, Scott W5WZ

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January 2020 NAQP SSB

Band QSOs Mults
160: 104 36
80: 320 50
40: 573 55
20: 658 52
15: 106 25
10: 0 0
Total: 1761 218 Total Score 383,898

Since last weekend\’s NAQP CW, all the shack Window 7 computers were replaced with Window 10 computers. Added a single Logitech wireless keyboard/mouse – discovered that RF causes problems with – putting both computers in a F1 voice keyer loop. During the 15 meter run in the 2nd hour of the contest, something in the RF path failed, sending the SWR very high, prematurely ending our work on 15 meters. No other problems. Me and Bobby both stayed in the seat.

Our best performance to date in an NAQP!

Thanks for the QSOs, and thanks for those that accepted our invite to move to other bands.

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2020 Jan NAQP CW M/2

Call: W5WZ
Operator(s): W5WZ WM5H
Station: W5WZ

Class: M/2 LP
QTH: LA
Operating Time (hrs): 12
Location: LA

Summary:
Band    QSOs    Mults
160:    181    43
80:    289    53
40:    301    56
20:    311    57
15:    72    22
10:    0    0
Total:    1154    231    Total Score    266,574

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2019-CQ WW SSB @ K8AZ

I made my 7th trip to Chesterland, Ohio to the fantastic station of Tom, K8AZ for the 2019-CQ WW SSB contest. Yes, it is a long drive – 16 hours or so. But the camaraderie with the gang makes it all the better!

As usual, I spend some time on Friday helping Tom with various maintenance, repairs, or installations of new items. This trip was no exception. Many hands do indeed make light work!

Tom takes a pre-contest walk around the antenna farm. This time, we found the rope supporting the SW element of the 80-meter transmit 4-square had broken, and the result was a rope tangled up in the elements of several yagis on a rotating tower.

In waning day light, we worked to free the rope from the tower such that the 80-m antenna would be usable. The rotating tower is 15 and 20 meters, so we parked it toward Africa for the night. Once the rope was free, we managed to get it positioned such that the 80-m antenna functioned for the overnight operating period.

The next morning, it was raining. The forecast called for increasing winds throughout the day and into the night. K8AZ and I ventured with bow and arrow to get a string over the appropriate tree. First challenge was using a sling blade to clear walking paths and work areas in the raspberry thicket, then cross a creek to find the loose end of the rope. Second challenge was to place the string. First shot success! Then pulled a larger string, and at last the final rope. With the antenna repaired, back to the house for shower and then operating time again.

Near sunset on Sunday night, suddenly 80-meter 4-square SWR went really high. Upon inspection, we found the NE element had broken loose from the feed point. Hauled a ladder out and worked beyond sunset to complete the repair with 20 minutes left in the contest.

Highlights of this contest: seeing my friends K8AZ, K8NZ, W8CAR, WT8C, AA8OY, K8RR, W8WWV, K8BL; riding in and driving a dual motor Tesla Model 3; meeting KE3X and talking contest strategy; and working CN3A on 160m with my own call!

CQ Magazine included this blog post in their official post-contest writeup!

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Station Maintenance Oct 11 & 12, 2019

Over time, things up in the air change! I’d put together an ambitious to-do list!

Towable 55-foot reach aerial lift. Electric, runs on self-contained batteries. Cost $375 for the weekend.

Bobby WM5H and I rented a 55-foot aerial lift, because the 40-meter feed point is 12 feet away from the tower. With Bobby as ground crew and Scott in the bucket, we were able to complete:

  • Repair 40-meter Yagi at 52-feet above ground. Problem was a fried balun connector.
  • Repair 15-meter Yagi at 52-feet above ground. Problem was loose hardware connecting hairpin to driven element.
  • Use lift to rework 17-meter tower
    -Add back stay.
    -Secure new hard line and control cable to tower, leaving loop for tilt-over.
    -Replace rotator loop feed line.
  • Use lift to cut down storm-damaged ash tree in sections. This was more of a chore than expected.
  • Trim a large pine tree behind shop, strategically leaving limbs for easy wire antenna support. Installed a pulley at 55 feet above ground on a limb.
  • Install new 580-foot beverage wire for SW direction
  • Install new 580-foot beverage wire for SE direction
W5WZ accessing 40-meter feed point. The 15-meter feed point is first element on the left side of the tower along the same boom
Fried female UHF connector for the input of the 40-meter 1:1 balun at the feedpoint. The balun was a CAL-AV LABS high power bead balun.
Post-repair sweep of the antenna from the main run radio. This is how it is supposed to be!

At the end of the second day, some items remain to be completed:

  • Move 80-meter Inverted-Vee from 77-feet to 105-feet. Extend feed line as required. Tie out ends as required. Modeling by KA5M shows 1-dB gain increase at 20 degrees elevation; should be a worthwhile change.
  • Build new 160-meter ground plane vertical with elevated radials in new location. Tie top support rope off near top of tower. Run hard line as feed line to new feed point.
  • Re-arrange several wire antennas supported by trees. Replace string with new antenna rope.
  • For the two new beverage antennas, run feed line on the ground. Drive 2 ground rods, install transformer and feed point termination.