A radio, a spool of wire, a measuring tape and a pair of wire cutters along with perfect weather; what more does one need? Despite strong winds the day before, Jan 1st brought a sunny calm day, so an early start for Fun in the Park day was on. With 6 HF stations being set up on the West lawn, there was potential for problems. In reality, it wasn’t a hard out competition and there was plenty of time for everyone.
A selection of antenna types provided interesting comparisons in signals and the antenna footprints, along with a selection of shady spots provided a natural separation of the individual operating setups.
Band conditions weren’t great – the sun was throwing a few curveballs. With operation mostly on 40m, a couple of South Island contacts were made, but most contacts were fairly local ( a few were very local, as in less than a park length…). Generally the horizontal antennas outperformed the vertical variants – at least in the prevailing conditions.
So not a hectic day in terms of pileups, but a good fun day and great practice for rolling out a field station and encouraging portable operation. Not surprisingly the day finished with the usual coffee and Mensa level conversation around the kitchen table!
The hammer isn’t for tuning the ZC1 it’s to make it go!