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WPX Contest 1998
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WPX, Multi-Operator, 28-29th March 1998.
We had a the use of Plextek's brand new Strumech M100 tower for this contest. It was delivered on the Friday evening before the contest. The 20m yagi was newly commissioned. Simon had just bought a Cushcraft 10m yagi, and we had use of Plextek's new A-frame EMC facility to use as a shack.
Also for this contest we used a 9m vertical antenna with a homebrew preamplifier and remotely-switched filter bank. A remote control at the spotter's operating position can select any one of the 6-contest bands. At the far end, at the foot of the 9m vertical, a bandpass filter is switched into circuit. By putting the 9m vertical about 60m from the main transmitting antennas, it was easy to continue receiving on other bands while the run station was transmitting.
At the start of the contest we had a heater on in the shack to keep warm. The heater was fed by an extension cable on a reel. After about an hour of operation the cable on the reel melted and fused our mains supply. It took about two hours to get the power restored.
Call G4KNO. Operators; Mark G4AXX, Andy G4KNO, Simon G3EAG and Graham G0UUS. We made 1155 QSOs and 513 multipliers to give us a final score of 1,345,086. 4th place in England.
Click on a thumbnail below to see a larger picture
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Simon, G4EAG, assembling the Cushcraft 10m 4-element yagi. |
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Julia (4), Mark's daughter, sitting on the Strumech M100 tower trailer. |
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Colin G4CWH securing the Range Rover's 40ft pneumatic mast, ready to put up the 10m yagi. |
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15/20m homebrew 3-element yagi at 85 ft with a 40m dipole above it at 90ft. |
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The 10m yagi with 15/20m & 40m antennas in the background. |
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Looking up at the antennas on the new M100 tower. |
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Putting up the 60ft mast for the 160/80m dipole. The mast is made of three 20 ft 2" diameter aluminium poles. The two bottom sections are thick-walled scaffold poles and the top section is a thin-walled 2" TV pole. |
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Up she goes, it takes 4 men to pull this up. |
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Half way up, all the guy ropes are prepared to pull tight when it reaches vertical. |
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Nearly there. |
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60ft high, what a beautiful sight, and yes we did remember the halyard, hi. |
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Andy & Graham operating. |
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Our shack was a storage container, it was bitterly cold. |