Hi everyone,
This was in the latest issue of the Ohio Section Journal.
*It would be great to work some of our friends from PA during this. I'll be
putting something together with the Alliance ARC, in stark County, OH. *
*You can read the entire OSJ at http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/
<http://n8sy2.blogspot.com/>*
*DE KD8MQ*
*---------*
*FROM THE SECTION EMERGENCY COORDINATOR*
By Stan Broadway, N8BHL
[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
<[log in to unmask]> *OHIO ARES NVIS Antenna Day – April 25..*
Get your antenna books out, get together with some friends and come up with
a winner! The Ohio ARES NVIS Antenna day has been scheduled for April 25,
2015. Operating hours 10AM – 2PM. Frequency: around the Ohio ARES 40 meter
frequency of 7.240 plus or minus, and around 3.850-3.870 plus or minus.
We have all been through several presentations of NVIS (Near vertical sky
wave, or “Cloud burner”) antennas. Sure, the concept is cool and it ought
to work. But it’s time to put away the antenna modelers, the calculators
and theory and get down with some wire and some coax! Have you actually
~tried~ one of these? If there was a wide-scale disaster requiring you to
communicate with nearby counties and Columbus (or other state capitals) do
you have confidence you could actually make this work? The best way to find
out is to try!
We’re taking the lead from Ashtabula, who has had several annual antenna
days that were a great success. The idea here is to actually ~build~
different NVIS antennas and try them out against each other. Come up with
different concepts: vertical, horizontal, semi-something, and try different
elevations from ground level all the way up to the towering height of, say,
20 feet. See which antenna does the best at working nearby counties,
Columbus, and neighboring locations as if we were in a large-scale
disaster.
This isn’t really a contest, in the sense that we’re not looking so much at
lots-o-q so’s as we are at comparing our various antennas. So it will be
more beneficial to keep track of HONEST signal reports from the same
station using our various antennas. We will want to have reports (including
pictures?) of your various antennas and how they stood up to each other.
From a simple grid or ranking of your best three or four performers, we can
compare these across the state and come up with overall suggestions as the
most desirable NVIS setup to have in your tool box. This information may
come in very handy for your spring Field Day efforts! But we all know that
Field Day, or any other similar contest, is NOT the time or place to be
testing antennas- we are in it for QSO numbers and rates! So this is a
great day to get some honest experimenting done!
*And there’s MORE!..*We are strongly suggesting additional equipment for
your field tests: a good grill, some hamburgers and side dishes! This
should be far enough into spring that it will be nice to be outside (even
with a jacket on) and it’s an excellent time to have a picnic, get some
fellowship in, and generally relax! So in your planning, include proximity
to somewhere to eat! Use a park, someone’s property, or be creative!
Remember we’re testing antennas, so next to a power plant might not be the
best idea. The food and fellowship makes this great fun! And, we’re not
limited strictly to “ARES People”. If your local radio club has some
experts, draft ‘em! It’s all about the fellowship, the fun, and the feuding
antennas!
More information will follow- but I would love to activate as many (or
all!) Ohio counties as possible to make this a benchmark test!
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