[Corkradioclub] An important lesson... never give up

Sat Jan 5 13:25:29 EST 2013

Cormac,

What a great story.  Just the sort of story we need for the depths of
winter (OK--mild, but I hate the grey days).  Your 8-year-old daughter
obviously has that 'get off your duff and do it' attitude, and I think she
will go far in life.  But the truth is that it's easier to say it than do
it, and you did it--so good on you.  We will be watching for the results of
the Stew Perry contest.

Now to diverge somewhat from the story, I can tell you that that wind did
not destroy any antennas in this western part of the county.  Maybe it's
just that we make them tougher out west.  Also, I need to inform you that
the Salem witch trials occurred in Salem, Massachusetts--not Salem, Oregon.

So Cormac, nine out of ten is your score. Happy new year to you and all.
As others have observed, activity is up so let's make 2013 a banner year
for Cork Radio Club.

73 de Tim Ei2KA

On 5 January 2013 10:52, John Tait <bravo at iol.ie> wrote:

> *That's a great story Cormac, and well done OM. If you win a plaque,
> you'll have to give it to your daughter! {:o)**
> **Unfortunately, I didn't get on for the Stew, as petticoat government
> decreed that I be elsewhere.**
> **  Anyway, now I know what the glow in the North-western sky was!**
> **BTW.. That "windy weather" peaked 55MPH here, and flattened my pair of
> 40m phased verticals. {:o(**
> **    A Healthy, Happy, and DX filled New Year to all CRC people.**
> **                      de**
> **                  John EI7BadApples*
>
>
> On 05/01/2013 09:58, Cormac Gebruers wrote:
>
>> I just thought I'd share...
>>
>> It's good to have goals, they keep life interesting. Each year in radio I
>> try and set myself a few goals. They're usually very modest and only for
>> my
>> own benefit but I find them a good way to keep focussed and they help to
>> get more out of the hobby.
>>
>> One goal I set myself for 2012 was was to put in a good showing in the
>> Stew
>> Perry Tobpand Challenge. This is a really fun event held on topband CW in
>> December of each year. It's organised by a fantastic group of hams in the
>> Boring Amateur Radio Club (N7RAT) in Boring Oregon (near Salem, made
>> famous
>> by the witch trials), USA. It's a 14 hour contest with a strong American
>> flavour and participation but it also attracts a great many topband
>> afficianados from all over the World. It's all about working distance; the
>> further away the station you work, the more points you get. The banter
>> around the event is great fun, including the (in)famous Stew Perry plaques
>> sponsored by various particpants. I've sponsored a plaque for the past few
>> years and even managed to win one last year for the "top score using a
>> base
>> loaded vertical less than 60' high". It all adds to the fun. You can read
>> all about the Stew here: http://www.kkn.net/stew/ . I also wanted to use
>> the Stew as the last hurrah for the Titanic Commemoration call EI100T. It
>> seemed fitting to end the call's time on air (it was licensed only for
>> 2012) by giving it a good airing on topband, the closest band we have to
>> the MF frequencies used by shipping.
>>
>> Anyway, as this year's Stew approached, I set about improving my topband
>> antenna. While I'm luckier than most in being able to put up a topband
>> antenna at all, what I had used - the "award winning" 60' base loaded
>> vertical ;-) in truth wasn't a good antenna and I had other options.
>> Previously I'd had a quite good inverted L for topband and 80m and I
>> thought I'd revert to that approach as it seemed to have done the business
>> in the past.
>>
>> So, once Xmas holidays rolled around, out came the antenna engineering
>> toolbox and over 3 days, up went an inverted L for topband. As I wanted to
>> maximise the vertical portion of the antenna, the entire exercise was
>> tricky and time consuming. The result however was very satisfying - an
>> inverted L with a 62' vertical section and a horizontal wire that at the
>> far end was still 60' high. At the antenna feedpoint I matched the antenna
>> using a coax cable capacitor, something I'd never done before - it works
>> really well.
>>
>> I finished the antenna on December 28th, the contest was on December 29th.
>> Overnight on December 28th/29th some windy weather hit. I woke on the
>> morning of the event to wreckage. The antenna was destroyed :-( Basically
>> I
>> was back to square one, in fact it was worse because I now had no antenna
>> at all for topband. Gloomily I resigned myself to missing my favourite
>> event of the year. That was, until my 8 year old daughter came out to see
>> what was wrong with Daddy. She looked at me, looked at the wreckage and
>> then, as she nonchalantly wandered away quoted a line from one of her
>> favourite movies Galaxy Quest (she has a quirky sense of humour this kid)
>> "Never give up, never surrender!"... I stared after her as she wandered
>> off. A voice inside my head began echoing here words "Never give up..." I
>> spent the bulk of the 4 remaining hours before the contest rebuilding the
>> antenna and finished it with about 40 minutes to go. I'd made it.
>>
>> And then the tree branch supporting the horizontal end broke... I couldn't
>> believe it. By then however I was in such a bloody-minded state of being
>> that I set about fixing it again. By sheer force of will and lots of luck
>> I
>> did and just in time...
>>
>> I went straight from yard to shack and put in a 14 hour effort. It was
>> tough going (it always is on topband) but I was just happy to have been
>> able to take part at all. Amazingly, the jury rigged version 3 of the
>> antenna worked... it really worked.
>>
>> The preliminary results for the Stew are now rolling in (you can see them
>> on the site mentioned above). Out of the 700+ logs submitted so far,
>> EI100T
>> is currently the highest scoring low power station worldwide outside
>> US/VE!
>> It's early days yet but if that remains the case, what a reward it'll be
>> for having stuck at it :-)
>>
>> The lesson? "Never give up, never surrender!"
>>
>>
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-- 
from Tim McKnight, Ei2KA