*Calling all: GENERAL, ADVANCED and EXTRA License holders.*

ANNOUNCEMENT
"The Great NVIS Antenna Challenge"

CT ARES - Region 2 is pleased to sponsor this NVIS Antenna communications event. It is open to all CT ARES TEAM members in each of the 5 Regions.

With the change in weather and warming temperatures, AND BEFORE THE NEXT HURRICANE SEASON begins, NOW is a great time to build and test your "field portable/deployable" HF NVIS Antenna for 75m and 40m Phone.

PRE-REGISTRATION REQUESTED
In order to know who to listen for, please send an email to [email protected]
to advise of your entry in this event.
- Registrations due by: Thursday, June 13, 2013


EVENT FORMAT
We will run a "Directed Net" on each of the two frequencies beginning at the specified times.

EXCHANGE
Upon the request of Net Control each station will give the following exchange at a slow regulated pace for all hear and write down a Signal Report for your station in the Log:

Net Control,
This is your Callsign / First Name / Town / State / # Watts
Back to Net Control,
This is your Callsign.

Please notice the INTENTIONAL LACK of ANTENNA information during the exchange.
This is done so as not to bias signal reports.
This information will be submitted with each station's Signal Report Log via email.

DATE:
Saturday, June 15, 2013.

TIMES: (Max Time Blocks)
The Competition times are scheduled to simulate the average Daytime and Nighttime operating that we would expect during an event.

40m NVIS - Round 1: 100 watts (max.)
1600 (Local)

40m NVIS - Round 2: 25 watts (max.)
1630 (Local)

40m NVIS - Round 3: 5 watts (max.)
1700 (Local)

40m NVIS - Round 4: 1 watt (max)
1730 (Local)

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DINNER BREAK - 3 HOURS

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75m NVIS - Round 1: 100 watts (max.)
2100 (Local)

75m NVIS - Round 2: 25 watts (max.)
2130 (Local)

75m NVIS - Round 3: 5 watts (max.)
2200 (Local)

75m NVIS - Round 4: 1 watt (max.)
2230(Local)

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CRITERIA
1) Must be easily field PORTABLE.
2) Must be easily field DEPLOYABLE.
3) Must be HORIZONTALLY Polarized
4) Antenna Height NOT GREATER than 15 feet AGL (Above Ground Level)
5) Must be able to transmit on: 3.965 and 7.280 MHz. (+/- 10 kHz)
6) Antenna Tuners MAY be used.


LOGGING
We need accurate information.
Each station will keep and Signal Log (Excel spreadsheet to be provided) of other stations signal Readablity (1-5) and Strength (1-9).

- Signal Reports given are to be REAL and conservative (think somewhat stingy).

- Only BOOMING, "Where did that come from?", BLOW YOU OUT OF YOUR CHAIR signals qualify for a 5-9 report.

- The ubiquitous and improperly used "5-9 Timbuctoo, CT" won't help us in our post contest evaluations.

- Signal Logs are to be submitted at the end of the event (not later than Sunday, midnight). No stamps required.
Please send them to: [email protected]


PHOTOGRAPHS
We would be pleased to post digital pictures of your NVIS Challenge Antenna here at the website.
Please submit 3 photos of your NVIS Antenna :
- Set-up
- Pre-packed layout display of components
- Packed and ready to carry.


AWARDS
In addition to "bragging rights", there will be a special prize for the person with the best judged signal in each of the power categories for each band (8 awards).

- You are on Your Honor to only run the specified power in each category. Using more power in any category defeats the purpose of this event to gather empirical data, etc., etc.

- Judge's Decision is Final... but can be bought. (LOL!)


ANTENNAS
Whether it be the generic "Hamstick" dipole on a 12 foot mast, a Buddipole (Commercial or Homebrewed), one of the several antenna types mentioned below, or something else...THE CHOICE is yours.

Links:
"Hamstick" Dipole
Background Info
"Hamstick" is now a generic term for any monoband mobile vertical HF antennas. HAMSTICKs were made by the Lakelview Co.
- Sadly, this company closed just prior to January 2012.

Last update: 06/16/06
Dual Ham-Stick:
Scroll 3/4 down this linked page
www.w0ipl.net/ECom/NVIS/nvis.htm

Note:
Look for a manufacturer that allows easy, no retune assembly and disassembly.
- I may be mistaken, but from my research it seems that the Jetstream and Workman single band mobile antennas (e.g. JTMHF40, JTMHF75 and WHF40, WHF75 ) are the only ones on the market today that have this feature.
- Please contact me if you know of other manufacturers who do this.

^^ Variation
2 Bands+ : The "Octopus"
www.n1gy.com/the-octopus-antenna.html

Note:
Jetstream antenna's are locally available in Region 2 at:
Quicksilver Radio Products (Meriden)
www.qsradio.com/HFAntennas.htm

Homebrewed Buddipole
sites.google.com/site/w3ffhomepage/homebrew-buddipole-plans
and
www.w2swr.com/pdf/homebrew-buddipole.pdf

75/60/40 Meter NVIS Portable Antenna
www.eham.net/articles/5747

Note:
Ham Source (Shelton) carries a commercially made version of this similar antenna (you supply the 15' pole/mast).
(www.vcars.org/tech/NVIS.html)
www.hamsource.com/nvis.html

Make A Quick, Easy, Cheap, NVIS Antenna for Roadside Operating
- ”K.I.S.S.” (Keep It Simple Sherlock)
www.emcomm.org/projects/nvis.htm

N1FNE's and KB1EHE's amazing: "Versatile wire antenna and method"
ctaresregion2.org/forum/antenna-central/...-antenna-project#200
ctaresregion2.org/forum/antenna-central/...-antenna-project#219
ctaresregion2.org/forum/antenna-central/...-antenna-project#220

6/9/13: Update
Added: "Exchange" details.

Hi Everybody!
The Judge’s decision has been made!

EXTRA ! EXTRA!
Read all about it!

The Great NVIS Antenna Challenge (6/15/13)
After Action Report
June 20, 2013

Hi Everybody!
I’d like to thank all the participants for entering “The Great NVIS Antenna Challenge – Summer 2013”.
- Lots of excitement and fun went into preparing for this event.
- Several lessons learned.
- New antennas were built. Some were bought. Some failed in testing and never made it to the starting line.
- I hope the following provides a good recap of the event.

Let’s Do it AGAIN!
Based upon the unexpected conditions, a desire to verify results, a competitive desire do better, and to get more stations participating, we will be scheduling another Great NVIS Antenna Challenge for the FALL.
Please let me know what sort of scheduling would work best:
- 75m/40m both on one day? (How timed?)
- Separate days for each band? (How timed?)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
40 meters:
- Dead for Connecticut NVIS contacts
- Okay for ground wave (across town) contacts;
- Open for W.VA QSO party with severe QSB

75 meters:
- NVIS contacts were made “challenging” with the high noise on the band
- 3.965 may not have been the best choice (Foreign broadcasters).
- Some antennas transmit better than they “hear”.

AWARDS:
Best NVIS 40m Antenna
No awards (Dead Band)

Best NVIS 75m Antenna
1st Place TIE !!
KB1SOQ – Al (Danbury), using a 2 band Fan inverted "V"
WB2RYV – Jon (Stamford), using a Buddypole.

Both will receive, in addition to “bragging rights”, the prestigious prize of a Weatherized Cap for a SO-239 connector (donated by John B @ Quicksilver Radio Products), and a certificate suitable for framing and mounting on the wall of the “reading room”.

And now, the rest of the story….

DAMN THE MUF… FULL SPEED AHEAD!
WB2RYV - Jon observed:
Interestingly, the foF2 (and therefore the MUF) were playing games with us.

The MUF is determined by the height and strength of the F2 layer of the atmosphere, which is measured as foF2. The height and strength are in turn determined by solar activity, temperatures, and storm activity. So, in the end analysis, the culprit is the sun plus whatever other factors drive temperature and storm development on earth.

At 4pm local, the foF2 was about 6.0 MHz+, thus setting the (theoretical) best frequency for NVIS at about 5 MHz. Since foF2 is the frequency at which 50% of the signal penetrates the ionosphere and only 50% bounces back, it's not difficult to understand why we weren't hearing each other at 7.3 MHz.

Between 4pm and 9pm local, foF2 climbed up to about 7 MHz.
- Normally, one expects foF2 to drop as the sun goes down.

The foF2 at 7 MHz was a bit high for best results at 3.965 MHz, although I was able to hear most stations well enough to receive traffic from them - some good enough to receive voice traffic and most (but not all) good enough to receive digital traffic using a good low s/n mode like Olivia, Thor, MT-63 or Winmor Peer-to-Peer.

It would have been interesting to try 40 meters at 9pm to see what effect the higher foF2 might have had.
That question is answered by AB1LZ – Tom:
75 was pretty lousy, but we switched to 40, and had a really clear signal. (8:10 to about 8:25pm)
75m – Improved conditions Sunday morning
WA1SFH – Douglas reports that the next morning (Sunday) 75m was much quieter and he was getting 5-8 reports from stations in Long Island (across from Darien) and near the intersection of I-84 and I-691 (Cheshire).

Signal Report Logs
See Attached Spread-Sheet at bottom of this post.

40m Comments
John Weinland / N1ATB (Red n1xly, John n1atb, Bill wa2ily.) – 40m
Folks,
N1XLY was operating 100 watts from Southbury with a NVIS 60-foot long-wire about 5-feet above ground
- Made no contacts on 40 meters, but was able to hear WO1F and W1QH in Danbury. Both signals were
barely audible.
- Was not able to participate in the 80 meter event

WA2ILY was operating 100 watts from the same Southbury site with a 15-foot-mast vertical four-sloping-radiator NVIS antenna; and

N1ATB was also operating 100 watts from the same Southbury site with an 18-foot-mast vertical four-sloping-radiator NVIS antenna.
John Weinland / N1ATB (continued)
- Also tested was a four-Slinky horizontal NVIS dipole configuration about 5-feet above ground. The Slinkys did not work well.

We operated from 4PM until about 4:45PM on 7280 KHz
- Heard several Virginia stations before the net (worked one of them),
- Heard several CT call signs including KB1SOQ and a few others, but all were S1-S2 and in the background noise.
- We gave several calls, not knowing if the net were open yet or not, but heard only background murmur.
- At about 5:00PM, we broke down the gear and headed for the 19th hole.

40m Lessons Learned:
- Frequency-agility for these tests might help, with more specified alternate bands.
- The 40 m NVIS configurations we ran all loaded very well, gave good-to-excellent (except the Slinky configuration) receive performance (9-land and 4-land stations aplenty) but poor local NVIS behavior (dead band).
- All the NVIS configurations easily met the ‘field-deployable-and-portable’ criteria for the test.
While the maximum height of the 18-foot NVIS exceeded test specs, but its average height above ground was about 10-feet.
- Not tested were commercial antennas such as buddipoles and the like. All our antennas were ‘home-brew.’

KD1UL – Tom (40m)
I got started about 1640EDT and never heard you (unless you were on 7.270).
- Did hear a QSO from Clinton, CT on 7.270, but did not break in because I didn't hear net control.
I did not realize this was contest QSO especially when antennas were being discussed.
- Called CQ on 7.280 from about 5:50 - 6:00PM with no response.
- Could not load up my antenna on 80m. S0, I folded my tent and came home.

KB1TTN – Rob (40m)
WZ1V Ron in Clinton, CT and I in Branford both fixed stations had a great QSO going wondering where everyone was. Audio and signal was 5/7

K1OF - Oscar (40m)
Same situation here in Danbury - great connection.....across town.....

WB2RYV - Jon (40m)
(re: K1OF) 14 miles was probably ground wave and not NVIS.

KD1YV – Jim (40m)
I have a very high noise level s7 to s8.
I can't hear any signals below it. I just tried calling you (WA1SFH) ... not sure if you heard me as KA1KD.
- I listened here for 20 minutes, and did not hear anybody except W1QH.
- Will go back home and listen there.

75m Comments
AB1LZ – Bill (75m/40m)
- Even the 75 was pretty lousy tonight.
- I did talk to my friend in Buffalo from 8:10 to about 8:25. (Found that) 75m was pretty lousy, but we switched to 40m, and had a really clear signal. (7.138).
- I checked your ARES frequency tonight, and it had commercial music from Europe, so we could not have used that. That may have been the source of the carrier I was hearing earlier today during your test.
- I used the Military NVIS antenna, basically perpendicular 40/80 inverted V's, with the center at about 15’.

WA1OTZ - Rich (Lakeville) – 75m
- I had the rig tuned to 3.965 because i was going to listen to cpn on sunday.
- Heard the net start up and was wondering if anybody could hear me.
- I am sorry did not keep a list of the stations but from memory. I had S8 noise level.
- WA1SFH was just above the noise level and missed a word here and there.
- Other stations were the same, except for N1EN (20 over s9 - strongest of all), WB2RYV (10 over s9 - 2nd strongest), W1QH could not hear at all.
- Could also copy the mobile on the beach (KB1TTN) that kept stepping on everybody.
- Am sorry that I couldn't be more specific, but could have passed messages direct or via relay from anywhere in the state.
- Next time - if you do it again - will be ready.
- Rig: FT-897, run 100 watts, but 80m antenna was at 25'.

The W1HQ - Harlan / W1QK – Dan Team (75m)
- We operated Harlan's IC-706MK2G using 100 watts battery powered into a Hamstick dipole at 15 ft above the front yard at W1QK in Brookfield, CT. Elevation is approx. 460ft. asl.
- Signals were heard pretty well, with N1EN with the best overall signal at this location except for one local- KB1SOQ in nearby Danbury.
- Great activity - enjoyed setting it up and working everyone from the yard.
- The bugs weren't bad as the stars just became visible.
- Hope we have the same wx for FD next weekend.
- Thanks for sponsoring the event.

Photos follow…

More Comments:

N1EN - "Michael in Poquonock" writes:
This would be worthwhile exercise to repeat.

The antenna piece is interesting, and it’s good to get practice in having a net when we can’t necessarily hear each other. The latter is a skill that we overlook too often.

FWIW, working with MARS locally, I can offer the following comments about frequency choice locally (where “local” = “within Southern New England”):
• 2meg (160) seems to be pretty good at 630pm during Standard Time (November-February)

• 4meg (75) seems to be fairly reliable at 6pm year-round (subject to static crashes); it becomes usable sometime between 4 and 6 depending on conditions and season

• 5 meg (60) seems to usually be good mid-morning, and mid-late afternoon.

• 6-7 meg (40) is more random, depending on the whims of propagation (but I don’t have a good “local” antenna for 40m, so I might be biased)

Perhaps a repeat of the experiment should be considered for SET?
If so, perhaps you might want to cut it back to just one or two rounds, and encourage non-competitors to join, in order to attract a few more folks (including those who might avoid CPN) and get the SET score up?

Or, if you were looking for standalone dates, after summertime noise on 80 subsides a bit, I’ll mention that the weekend of September 7-8 and the weekend of November 30-December 1 are probably the best bets if you’re looking to avoid contest-generated congestion.

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