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ZD8SIX on Ascension |
Thursday 2nd November
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I woke up bright and early as Johnny was due to finish his night shift at 8 a.m. He and Lenny were coming round to help me assemble the mast and antenna. It didn’t take too long for me to assemble the bits and pieces and get it up. however, I had a very high SWR for some reason. I couldn’t think what the problem was as I previously coded all the elements and boom sections before I left the UK. As it turns out, even though I had checked everything several times, elements three and four were the wrong way round and it was that that was sending the SWR through the roof. Even then, the SWR was still high. I never did get to the bottom of this and operated throughout the trip with an SWR of around 1.3:1.
I connected up the TE amplifier and all seems to be working OK. It is now 10:30 and I am now CQing on 110 (may God forgive me) pointing towards Europe and listening to good 'ol 6m white noise.
Lenny, ZD8LJD & Johnny, ZD8KW help me assemble the M2 Antenna
The M2 antenna with Cross Hill in the background
I felt that the location was going to be good as I was near the sea (following W6JKV's strategy) and I had a clear take-off to the south, west and north. But, as you can see from the photograph above, I had a very iron-laden high hill just behind me between me and Australia.
Chris, ZD8SIX (G3WOS) at the station in the Guesthouse all ready to go!
