A fantastic day with a multitude of different antennas to be put to the test. Peter VK5PRO beguiled us with his homemade vertical and home brew load coil, Peter had only rushed to tune to a couple of bands but proved promising in those bands. Bob VK5AK wanted to see if his Diamond BB7Vvertical antenna performed any better than at home, the end result was really good results on 3.600 mhz but lacking on the others.
Well then Paul VK5 PH brought out his antennas, sling shot and 2 dipoles you could see this man was intending to win…. so congratulations to Paul for taking out the the best average S readings over 160m 40m 20m and 10m.
We had a great time with the ham and egg rolls, coffee and tea.
The best part of the day was the social interaction, the laid back atmosphere.
As advertised this was a commemorative day for Lloyd Butler VK5BR and John Butler VK5NX Who are now Silent Keys, their funerals were both held today. We were unable to make and calls due to lack of contacts and QRM today.
The take away was as a group we got to see Paul using a sling shot to get his antennas up, Ben got help with using a VNA for the first time and we were able to see the different antennas in use and the different application for speed vs camping in a spot for an extended period.
We are planning to have another one next month (TBA) so we hope we can get even more there from the various clubs.
