Location
I set up my inverted vee antenna in the Rideau Falls park, next to the grounds of the Canada and the World Pavillion, parallel to Sussex drive, part of the Confederation Boulevard.
Satellite View (Click on picture for full size image)
You can see the location on google maps by clicking here or by saving this file and opening it in google earth.
Station
The station was an Elecraft KX1, with optional 30m module and KXAT1 internal tuner, powered by 8 duracell recgargeable batteries, producing 2 Watts. I used Sony Fontopia earbuds and a Russian military field mini straight key.
I also had along a camp light and a notepad and pen, plus my Yaesu FT-51R handheld to monitor the local repeaters. I checked into the Ottawa Valley Mobile Radio Club's News & History Net on the way over to my operating position.
Antenna
The antenna was a 20m full wave or 40m half wave (64 feet) inverted vee dipole made from #26AWG teflon coated wire and fed in the center (32 feet) with 22 feet of Radio Shack 300 ohm TV twinlead. The apex of the antenna was at 18 feet, attached to a Shakespeare Wonderpole TPS-20 20ft fishing pole which was held vertical by a four foot length of PVC pipe with 3 steel rods attached to the outside by jubilee clips, and sunk into the ground. The ends of the dipole were supported at 6 feet above the ground by fiberglass driveway markers.
The EZNEC model for this antenna is here.
Looking at the 20m azimuth and elevation plots, this antenna produces maximum useful gain broadside to the dipole, from ~4dBi gain at a 30 degree elevation, through ~6dBi gain at 60 degrees to ~7dBi gain at 90 degrees elevation. There is a ~3dBi gain difference in the 60 degree azimuth plot for the broadside direction compared to off the end of the antenna.
The 40m pattern is also shown on the plots. There is less gain on 40m (~2dBi at 30 degrees, ~3dBi at 60 degrees and ~4dBi at 90 degrees) and the gain lobes have flattened out more in the azimuth plot compared to 20m, there is only about 1dBi difference. This is because I had the apex of the antenna mounted well below a quarter wave at 40m.
20m Azimuth & Elevation Plots
I oriented the dipole ends North-West to South-East to give me one of the gain lobes to the South-West covering most of the US states.
The modelled impedance at the feed point:
SWR Sweep
...indicates that the antenna is almost resonant on 40m, 30m, 15m and 10m, and should be easily matched to 20m. In practice I actually found that I could achieve a 1.0:1 match on 20m and 40m, but only 2.1:1 on 30m, but there were buildings and trees nearby which probably affected the SWR.
Log
I operated the whole contest on 40m because I don't have 80m. Scanning the band I noted two strong stations in the contest, W9NX and N9NE. I also noticed a couple of really strong non-ham single letter morse beacons, one sending 'A... A...' on 7039kHz and one sending 'D... D...' on 7038kHz. These made listening around 7039-7040 very difficult.
Contest Contacts & Radiation Pattern (Click on picture for full size image)
My first contact was with W9NX after about 10 minutes of trying, on 7041.3kHz. I then started calling CQ on 7041kHz and after awhile I got a call from VA3RKM, although Bob was surprisingly weak, given we are both in Ottawa. I guess it must have been ground wave attenuation. I called N9NE next as he was still quite strong.
I then entered a period of doldrums. Despite scanning up and down the band I only heard two other stations in the contest, but very weak (QSB, peaking RST 119). I did try calling but without any luck. I therefore ended up having a 20 minute QSO with Roger, KI0F before returning to search & pounce mode.
I completed the contest by working K4BAI but it was hard going. I think he was hearing me better than I was hearing him, he was deep QSB peaking at RST 229 with me. We had to exchange numbers about 8 times! Anyway we managed it.
Log:
| My Call | Band | Nr | Time | Call | SPC | Nr/Pwr | Mul | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VA3SIE | 40 | 1 | 0044 | W9NX | IL | 0927 | 1 | 1 |
| VA3SIE | 40 | 2 | 0058 | VA3RKM | ON | 0982 | 2 | 2 |
| VA3SIE | 40 | 3 | 0113 | N9NE | WI | 0748 | 3 | 3 |
| VA3SIE | 40 | 4 | 0200 | K4BAI | GA | 0644 | 4 | 4 |
Summary:
| Call | QSOs | Members | QSO Pts | Mults | Score | Bonus | Final Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VA3SIE | 4 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 32 | x2 | 64 | |
Version: 1.0 (October 14, 2005)
