Portable Ops Using The Museum's
BIG Discone Antenna
I attended the Ft. Tuthill gathering again this year, and then travelled to Tucson
to operate using the Titan Missile Museum's BIG discone antenna. As we did last year, Thomas Keuhl, AC7A, and I met for dinner at his favorite restaurant. The next day I toured the well known
Sabino Canyon in the morning and visited the museum in the afternoon.
Click here for last year's visit and log.
Tucson is very hot in August and when I arrived at the museum in the afternoon
the temperature was 109 deg F !! I operated on 20M for 2 hours with the car idling and the A/C running
full blast the whole time. I considered it time and fuel well spent. 20 was in better shape this year. I was quite surprised to have an eyeball with M6CJA who was admiring the discone as I was using it.
It is a real charge to use this big antenna. If you're in Tucson area, drive a few miles south to Sahuarita on Hwy 19 and plug in, you'll be glad you did. Here's this year's log.
2030z W3BBQ Bob Spotsylvania, VA
2037z W4FOA Tony Chicamauga, GA
2046z K4ZLE Jay Lebanon, OH
2053z WA9KZY Warren Richardson, TX
2101z NĜAZN Scotty Lincoln, NE
2104z K4ZLE/qrp Jay Lebanon, OH 2nd contact
2105z M6CJA Eyeball QSO
2114 K4AXF/QRP Jim Grottoes, VA
2125z WA5DBU Nick Russellville, AR
2134z KA8LLE Ben Gnadenhutten, OH
2142z W7CNL John Boise, ID
2151z W8KJ Kevin Hamilton, OH
2158z K4PQW/qrp Baker, FL
2200z W5VYN Ron Whitesboro, TX
2231z NĜEVH John Independence, MO
2234z K5UNY Alex Farmers Branch, TX
15 RF Contacts and one eyeball, two eyeballs actually, including Chuck Penson, WA7ZZE in the museum. .
It was nice to hear so many good QRP friends listening for me, many thanx to all of you.
There were more of you out there, but I couldn't quite pull your signals out of the noise.
I consistantly received better signal reports than I could give, which makes me think the discone might be a better transmitting antenna than a receiving one.
Portable ops deserve to be commemorated with a special QSl Card, and I'll use this one again this year.
It was produced with the K7LS web site tool at www.radioqth.net/qsl.aspx
Scroll down for pictures.
View out the windshield.
Coax with PL-259
Flat on 20 (tuner not used)
The whole station.
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