The Green Valley Amateur Radio Club decided at the April meeting to participate in the 7th call area QSO party. The Titan museum discone antenna was to be used on 20 meters. In addition to the discone, a 40 meter dipole was to be erected to allow 2 stations to operate simultaneously and to provide good coverage for close in communication.
Friday afternoon about 10 hams arrived and made quick work of erecting 3 poles to support the 40 meter dipole. All was ready. At 6 AM on Saturday, George, AD7DH, opened the gate to the Titan Museum parking lot. The predicted high winds were in evidence when the first sun canopy started to blow away. After packing it away, a second canopy was securely tied down and appeared to work until a gust of wind broke one of the aluminum supports. Thus began a hot, sunny, windy day.
The antennas worked pretty much as expected. The discone on 20 put out a good signal to the Mid West and East coast. Unfortunately, there were several QSO parties going on the East coast that weekend and 20 was loaded. We did manage to work 10 Oregon/Washington state stations through the East coast QRM.
The 40 meter dipole worked as predicted. Being low (30 feet above ground) it had a high angle of radiation so it put a good signal into LA, Denver and Albuquerque. We got an excellent report from Yuma, 240 miles away.
Between the wind and bright sun, it was tough going. We managed to make 50 contacts on the discone and 19 on the 40 meter dipole. Thanks to the 20 some hams that participated throughout the day.