[Elecraft] VHF Contest station

[Neill Taylor]

With comments on this list recently about a good transceiver for a portable VHF contest station, I'd like to add my -17 dB$.

After 30 years of VHF contest operation, I have no doubt what is the best 144MHz receiving station I have had the pleasure to use in a contest.  It was this last weekend in the RSGB 144MHz Backpackers Contest.  My single-operator station consisted of my K2 and Down East Microwave 144/28 MHz transverter.  To eliminate feeder loss, I had the transverter mounted at the masthead just below the 13 element yagi.  Only RG58/U carrying 28MHz, plus a DC power and control cable, went up the mast.

The receive performance of this combination was phenomenal.  This despite the huge local signals from other contest stations on adjacent hill-tops to mine.  There were several cases of distant stations I could easily copy, but they could not hear me, even though running the same TX output power.

I actually built my K2 with this application in mind, although I've had a lot of fun with it on the HF bands, too, which is a bonus.

Neill
G4HLX
K2 #2425