Month: July 2013

ZL2GT and the TRANS TASMAN COMPETITION

Some weeks back the build-up banter began between contestants and some “stretching of the truth” was embarked upon. Prior arrangements came together on a great weather weekend and off went the ZL2GT Team to Moore Rd, Haumoana to be active in the
ZL – VK competition on 80m CW and 160m phone.

Our crane……….yes crane, arrived early and soon after we had our Inverted Vee ant’s up and going. The 30m high hook provided the support for our rope halyard and we were easily able to pull up the two aerials. The 80m aerial was suspended about 6m below the 160m aerial and was at right angles to it, we had little or no interaction between the two bands. RG213 coax fed both aerials. We were well ready with plenty of spare time.

We also erected 40/20 m dipole for Randall to enjoy a brief guided tour around a band not often used (yet). Lots of time too for a cuppa and a catch-up.

A bulk package of Fish and Chips arrived and duly enjoyed before “the business” began.

Not so many participants on 160m this year and sadly we had a “standing crash” level of about S9 so this put paid to some contacts that might otherwise have been easily made.

This year we introduced computer logging (N1MM), were shown the deep end and got on with it. As usual, something put off for some time turns into something we wish we’d done years ago. Thanks to Peter ZL2LF for his persistence, encouragement, PC’s and wry smile.

We logged 42 contacts on 160m SSB and 69 contacts on 80m CW. Last year we logged 62 contacts on 160m and 79 contacts on 80 m CW.

The event adds to the experience level and we can now embark upon plans for next year.

Happy punters at Moore Road were: David ZL2DW, Peter ZL2LF, Peter ZL2MS, Graham ZL2BCK, Randall ZL1NW, Rob ZL2US, Sue, ZL2DC, Bill ZL2UBG and me, ZL2VM. Not all stayed overnight.

(Right) Peter, ZL2LF operating

73, Mike Bull ZL2VM

The Trans Tasman contest is a unique test dreamed up by the VKs to test how well each country can perform against the other. The rules and scoring are interesting and have many hooks. Michael ZL2MY and I decided to do the six hour Saturday night contest a few months ago. Saturday 20th July at 9Am saw us gather at the club rooms to repair the existing 80M antenna and erect a new inverted “L” antenna for 160M. Our Prez Laurie, ZL2TC showed up to help us with the antennas. Thanks Laurie! He discovered that vandals had made off with one of the 80/40M traps and most of the wire element. We decided to ignore the trap and add enough wire to make it work on 80 and replace the trap at a later date. A couple of spuds and a bit of pumping by Laurie and the spud gun fired a line over the treetops. The 80M was up and working, resonant on 3600 Khz.

Suspect Antenna
The 160M inverted L element was raised to height with a few more spud gun shots and the 3 radials were strung out around the clubhouse and surrounding park. A quick check showed that the antenna showed a very high SWR with a minor resonance at 1900 Khz. We added 6 feet to the upright “L” and it came down to 1.805 Mhz where we wanted it. The impedance was around 200 ohms with an SWR of over 5 to 1. Quite ridiculous! I made the decision to cut our losses and tune the beast with the antenna tuner and hope for the best. We really wouldn’t know how well it worked until we were well into the contest.

Contest Start
Last minute checks were made and the contest started at 8 Pm local time. We very soon found we were leading the pack with our serial numbers. That was quite surprising as our urban noise levels were high and that combined with some mediocre antennas should have seen us at the end of the pack.

Hour two from 9 Pm to 10 Pm was the most productive and by midnight, only a few hardy ZLs were still around. It was great catching old contest friends and meeting new ones. Michael and I have never done the Trans Tasman previously. Pulling the VKs out of the noise was a bit a of a trial at times but we did manage to work a fair number on SSB and CW. We used an adaptation of the N1MM logging program set up in the JWFD mode and simply ignored branch numbers. The VKCL program was not used as there was no CW message interface written.

Our club secretary Karl, ZL1TJ dropped in for a natter around 9.30 Pm and watched the proceedings while doing some video of the station in operation.

And suddenly it was all over at 2 Am Sunday morning. Michael was into it and pulled down the 160M antenna from the trees and rolled up the radials and considerable lengths of rope. I wonder if the neighbours were watching the crazies in the park in the middle of the night?

Summary
I looked at our QSO totals and it appears we are definitely in with a chance. Our last S/N was 109 (with 1 DUPE) and the highest S/N we encountered was 79. There are many categories of the contest a team can enter and the scoring is rather bizarre so we really won’t know how well we have actually done until the contest organizer declares the winners of the categories.

Statistics:
65 x 80M CW QSOs
5 x 160M CW QSOs
38 x 160M SSB QSOs
68 x ZLs worked
39 x VKs worked
TOTAL QSOs = 108
1 x 5W DX station worked in Samoa
Groupings? – Many but haven’t worked them out yet
Radio: FT1000MP Mk5
Logging: N1MM with K1EL Keyer, Heil Headset
Antennas: 80M single trap dipole and 160M Inverted L up about 15M

Michael and I really enjoyed the contest. It was great fun and highly recommended for next year.

73, Lee ZL2AL and Michael ZL2MY