MY WRTC-2018 Operations
Down by the River
City life was getting us down . . .
So we took a ride outside of town . . .
Set up our rig on a piece of ground . . .
Down by the river:
Location: Coswig Ferry Crossing
Just before the contest began, I drove about 7 miles west of Wittenberg, to a riverside location that I had found using googlemaps. (51.877541 , 12.451246)
I was accompanied by two good friends:
- Scott, W4PA . . . owner of Vibroplex, INRAD, and Spderbeam-US
- Carl, N4PY . . . owner of N4PY Radio Control Software
While we were operating on Saturday, Dan (N3ND) aslo visited us and made a few QSO's.
WHY "THIS" QTH?
- Not far from the WRTC-2018 Main Tent (Luther Hotel, Wittenberg)
- 30km away from the first station in the cluster of WRTC stations
- (we did not want to QRM the participantes)
- QTH on the water
- Easy access to: Beer, Food, and of course WC
OPERATION OBJECTIVES:
- Get on the Air
- Have some FUN
Scott (W4PA) and I had been planning this for 3 years. When I heard that Carl (N4PY) was also accompanying his son Nate, N4YDY (Y87M), I invited him to join us.
The antenna was erected in less than 15 minutes. No tools were required. The station also took about 15 minutes to assemble.
Since the station was powered by a LiFePo battery, no generator was required.
We pre-ordered nice weather and it was delivered to us on time. It was about 26c (80f), blue skies with puffy-white clouds, and a slight breeze was blowing. Dream-WX for a Field Day operation!
The Big Question:
Were we too far away from
the cluster of WRTC stations
for ground wave communications?
STATION DETAILS:
Transceivers:
- TEN-TEC Scout, running about 30 Watts
- Details (in German): http://www.qth.at/dm3da/Filter/Scout/index.html
- Aerial-51 SKY-SDR (QRP) running 5 Watts
Antenna:
- Aerial-51 Model 404-UL (assymetrical Inverted-V)
- Ultra lightweight Assymetric Inv.-V antenna, covering 40/20/15/10m without a tuner
- Details: https://www.aerial-51.com/model-404-ul/
- Spiderbeam 12m (40 ft.) lightweight telescoping fiberglass pole
- Height is Might and this is how you get it
- Details: www.spiderbeam.us/product_info.php?info=p3
- UKW-Bericht Wheel-Mount for the fiberglass pole
- Details: MMF KMS Mastfuss
Power:
- 2x LiFePo Batteries, 13v @ 12 AH
- The same battery was used on both days; the second battery was not required.
Horseless Carriage:
- Volkswagen Caddy
- License Tag: MSP DX 160
The other three operators operated the Ten-Tec Scout at 30w, mostly CW.
I chose to run the little SKY-SDR QRP transceiver.
Most likely I was the only participant in the IARU contese during WRTC-2018 running a commercial transceiver and a commercial antenna that were his own brand: "Aerial-51". www.aerial-51.com
RESULTS:
Scott did 90% of the operating.
Carl and Dan each made a handful of QSO's.
I was on the air for about 45 minutes each day while Scott took a break.
Scott was only working S&P, looking for the Y8xx WRTC stations.
He worked 54 of the 63 stations, with a total of about 140 Y8xx contacts made.
I was running QRP and also looking for Y8xx stations; worked about 20 of them, but I was also looking for IARU HQ stations. Worked 4 or 5 of them.
As I said, our goal was "fun", not die-hard contesting.
SEVERAL of the WRTC Site Crew Members who constructed the site infrastructure, also moved off-site and worked the contest. I know of at least two who worked the IARU contest using Aerial-51 OCFD antennas. They were very pleased with their results.
The weather was Picture-Perfect, which contributed big-time to the fun!
Photo Gallery:
(All Photos: by DJ0IP)
In the picture looking up the mast from the ground up, note that you can hardly even see the 404-UL antenna. This is a nice feature when you have nosey neighbors! If you re-paint the top half of the pole, alternating the sections light-gray and sky-blue, and the pole is in your back yard, people walking by the front of the house won't even see the pole!
WRTC-2018 Opening Ceremony
Being the only Platinum Sponsor of the Championship Games,
- Scott (W4PA) from Vibroplex/Spiderbeam-US,
and
- Con (DF4SA), Rick (DJ0IP) and Andreas (DL9USA) from Spiderbeam Germany
were seated in the the second row of seats, just behind the WRTC-2018 president, Chris (DL1MGB):
WRTC-2018 Closing Ceremony
Being the only Platinum Sponsor of the Championship Games,
- Scott (W4PA) from Vibroplex/Spiderbeam-US,
and
- Rick (DJ0IP) and Andreas (DL9USA) from Spiderbeam Germany
were seated in the middle of the second row of seats:
This was really great becasue otherwise we would have been sitting somewhere in the back:
Prior to commencement, sitting all by himself in the front row . . . practicing his speech, is Paul Bigwood, G3WYW from Yaesu. Yaesu was the primary sponsor of the event. Paul's speech was brilliant; it was short and crisp, but also interesting and informative. PERFECT!
WRTC-2022 will be held in Balogna, Italy in 2023.
DJ0IP's Prediction for the 2022 Games:
Alexa, run the WRTC Contest