A 20-meter Yagi under Lomnický štít
“Small stars form a great constellation” is a fitting motto for any team competition, including the CQ WPX Contest in the Multi-2 category. Amateur radio contests are an unconventional sporting discipline—contestants may never meet in person, and there are no spectators cheering for their success. Nevertheless, there is something about them that inspires amateur radio operators to compete from all corners of the globe.
The OM0A contest team is no exception. Setting up antennas in the snow, cold, or wind, and then intently listening for signals from various corners of the world amid interference is demanding. Not everyone can stick with it. OM0A persevered and even achieved an excellent result.
The first operational antenna was an inverted V for 80 meters. Viliam installed and tuned it himself in less than two hours on Thursday morning, since a wire had already been strung across a tree branch beforehand to serve as a makeshift pulley. Initial measurements showed that the antenna resonated at 3.44 MHz. This meant lowering the antenna, shortening it, and raising it back up again. Subsequent measurements with an antenna analyzer showed resonance at 3.76 MHz with a SWR below 1.05.
Raising the Yagi to 15 m
After Igor and Peťo arrived, we set up a quarter-wave vertical antenna at 40 m together. That one also needed fine-tuning. We transported additional materials from Viliam by car and on foot and began building a 160-meter inverted L antenna. Measurements with the analyzer indicated some kind of error. After replacing the coaxial cable, the analyzer malfunctioned. Since the antenna had been tested and the SWR was acceptable, we accepted the situation as is. Viliam later tried to troubleshoot the analyzer, but for some reason he couldn’t figure out where the problem lay.
In the evening, we began setting up workstations in two rooms. While connecting the RF section was straightforward, establishing communication between the IC-756PROIII and the computer proved to be a major challenge. Later that evening, when Martin and Števo arrived, we swapped out a few laptops and managed to get the network between the workstations up and running, with internet access (DX cluster) and the computers communicating with the transceivers.
Station No. 1 – 80m, 20m, 10m
Friday morning brought warmer weather, but the wind also picked up. Mišo lent a helping hand (or two), and so after a few hours we had both Yagis firmly secured to the masts. Števo skillfully set up a vertical on 10m, which meant we had at least one antenna on every band. The icing on the cake was the seventh antenna—a beverage antenna on 80m. The Tatra windbreak and marsh are not an easy place to set up such an antenna. By sunset, however, the beverage was strung up, and all that remained was to connect the cables. Thanks to the support of our sponsors, GM Electronic Slovakia and the City of Vysoké Tatry, we had plenty of cables and materials for the antennas. Thank you!
Everything seemed to be working when, an hour before midnight, the small transistor PA failed. Viliam ran home and replaced the output relay in forty minutes, but the PA still wasn’t working. So Martin and Števo started the contest while Viliam kept tinkering with the PA.
N1MM occasionally crashed on the laptop throughout the weekend, but most of the outages were brief. The cause is unknown. The computer with the serial port worked flawlessly, but the other one, with a virtual serial port (USB-to-COM adapter), gave us a bit of trouble.
We took turns every two hours, trying to make the most of each operator’s strengths. For example, Miška (YL) was transmitting on 80m in the morning. The gentlemen didn’t disappoint, and she certainly transmitted better than her male colleagues—HI.
We listened exclusively through headphones. We also used the futuristic-looking Ganymeds from www.progamingshop.sk, as well as a few other models.
Miška OM4AQW
At that time, we “missed” the transition to the 20-meter band. There wasn’t much we could do in response to the call, but scanning yielded plenty of multipliers. Apparently, higher power is needed here as well. We also periodically attempted contacts on 15m, but with a few exceptions, it was difficult. Some signals had strong QSB—a very weak signal would strengthen for a second and then weaken again.
The 20-meter band was a pleasant surprise, remaining open until the evening hours. A few guests also came to visit the team—OM8LA, OM0AAB, Filip, and Baška. The event also attracted media interest. Reports on the ham radio activity were featured on Radio Express, ČTK, SITA, Podtatranské noviny, and Tatranský dvojtýždenník. The idea of club T-shirts was excellent, and it was promptly brought to life by www.pracovneodevy.com
A long night shift awaited Viliam, though he didn’t know it yet. However, it was an opportunity to thoroughly test the beverage antenna and (as it turned out later) to watch hockey on TV. The beverage antenna performed fabulously; the signals from American stations were exceptionally clear. The effort put into this antenna really paid off.
In the morning, we didn’t repeat Saturday’s mistake, so we managed to get more multipliers on 20m. Daytime operation—that was mainly on 40 meters, where Peťo, in particular, patiently searched for stations.
Mrs. Majerská’s goulash was excellent. The usual canned goods and cookies were in greater supply this time after the contest, HI.
In the evening, the group from Partizánce left early due to work obligations, so the remaining four took care of the contest’s conclusion. The pile-up on 80m brought Števo over 60 contacts in an hour, so the final hour became a battle to break the two-million-point barrier. They succeeded about 30 minutes before the end. Final result: 1,476 contacts and 2,064,517 points.
From left: Martin OM4AAS, Števo OM7KW, Miška OM4AQW, Viliam OM0AAO, Peťo OM6PR, and Igor OM6ACI
Immediately after the WPX ended, everyone went to sleep, since we had to quickly take down all the antennas in the morning and return home and to work. Rain or shine, we took down the antennas and packed up our stations.
Maybe the result was lower than we expected; maybe we had technical problems. But everyone worked hard to achieve this result, and we had fun doing it. The time when “Little stars form a big constellation” hasn’t come yet, but they certainly twinkled, and they’ll surely shine like comets one day, HI. And even the real ones bring joy to people. TNX for WPX!
