Anyway, on site by 09:35 and set up on 70,23 and 13cms plus 2m talkback by around 11:30. It was windy and I dared not set up the two larger dishes I had for 9,6 &3cms.
Russ G4SAQ called up on Zello, but possibly because I had too strong mobile signals, copy was very difficult with 30-50% of audio chopped out. We did try on 23cms, but the wind noise and difficult copy did not lead to any contact.
Noel called me up on 2m, reasonable copy on 2m FM but it soon became apparent that my assessment of direction was wrong and that I was probably sending most of my RF into a nearby fully-clothed beech tree. That and the wind....yes my tripod has a brake, but using it meant the wind blew the tripod very close to falling over. I just needed to be 100m down the field.....but the mast was already up.
With microwave contacts out of the question and no workable sations on, I decided to call it a day and pack everything away. I was home and unloaded by about 5pm.
It was my 'ambition' to run all bands, something I managed last year, but over 2 1/2 days. Doing the same for 8 hours was exhausting, and I did not have time to put up my H/V talkback beam (which would have been useful talking to Noel) nor the even biger 12element ZL special.
Maybe activity days would work better for me (1 or 2 bands) but at £50 a go for field access, I'm faced with either driving somewhere between 90 and 120 mins each way or working from home....once I can fix my not-pumping-up pump-up mast......
Pics show 'the tree' and the setup I managed.
Gareth (68 today
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- That tree.jpg (96.13 KiB) Viewed 122 times
- G4XAT_P_2025.jpg (142.86 KiB) Viewed 122 times
- Desk-time.jpg (432.41 KiB) Viewed 122 times
- Visiting skyhook.jpg (69.33 KiB) Viewed 122 times
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