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We did a pretty massive effort with three high power stations, two
legal limit and one near legal. We had a 40 meter beam, and 2 Steppir antennas as well as an 80 meter dipole and an 80 meter inverted V antenna. The Beams and Steppirs were on Surplus military masts. Power was via a generator. Amps were a Heathkit for near limit, and a big honkin' Ameritron for Voice 40, and a Tokyo Hi-Power for the CW station. Rigs were Mark 5 Field for 40 Phone and CW stations, and a venerable but still contest worthy IC-765 for 20 Phone. We use every bit of the allowable station circle, and have a receive antenna put as far away from the transmitters as possible. We set up on a Fire company fairground with two main areas. The 40 meter and 20 meter voice stations were under a pavilion, and the CW station was in a surplus military hut on a trailer. It was air conditioned for goodness sake. There's an enticement to work some CW. I brought my home office hi-back chairs to keep the operators comfortable. Saturday evening we had a little cookout for the operators and setup members. One of the setup guys is also a good cook, and I enjoyed an awesome steak and grilled kielbasi, watermelon and other treats. We all put away prodigious amounts of water and soda trying to keep hydrated. It's a lot of fun, although as you can imagine, putting up a station of that magnitude is a lot of work. I'm usually exhausted by the time we're finished. Thank goodness for the guys that come out to help setup and tear down. We have several who like to do that, but don't care for operating. They're every bit as important as the operators. I generally run home and get a couple hours sleep around 4 am Sunday morning, then another nap in the afternoon after teardown. Then I feel "jetlagged" for the next couple days. |
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