ON4WW/P : A son and dad Field Day story

The week preceding the Field Day weekend of 2/3 June 2001 was a busy one for me and my son Mark junior. Antenna, site and generator pit preparations kept us going for a while.
As I would be competing in the Restricted Category, an antenna was needed for the 40, 80 and 160m bands. I ended up constructing a 1/4 wave vertical for 40m, lengthened with an additional two meter pvc tubing on the top.
This antenna supported two parallel fed inverted-L antennas for 80 and 160m. The radial system consisted of three chicken wires.
The 3-band antenna was erected on one of the fields I use for the Beverage antennas during winter time.

Meanwhile junior dug a pit and made a shelter for the generator, as to minimize noise for the few neighbours. He also made a structure to raise the ON4WW welcome sign.
Both survived the fierce winds, which seem to be so typical for Field Day operations.

Murphy visited only once under the disguise of a harddisk crash of the laptop. The weather elements were typical Field Day style : sunshine versus cloudy, windstill vs. storm, dry vs. rain, only hail and snow we missed.

The result was a great experience, with quite a lot of visitors, and a great breakfast provided by our new neighbours. Thanks guys, that kept me going !
On the side a good score was achieved, with a first place in the Restricted Category.

Click on the photographs to see the full size pictures.

ON4WW Junior
Mark junior made the structure to raise the ON4WW welcome sign
Generator pit
He also dug the pit for the generator as to minimize the noise for the neighbours
Generator shelter
And here's the shelter he provided. It lasted without a problem for the entire weekend
Gnerator in sheltered pit
This is the final result : generator in the sheltered pit, with a fuel barrel that avoided the need for a refill
Son and dad
Son and dad ready for some hot Field Day action
40m 1/4 wave vertical
This is the 40m 1/4 wave vertical, used as a support for the 80 and 160m inverted-L antennas
antenna ground system
The beer bottle serves as insulator between antenna and ground. The parallel wires from 80/160 are attached to the 40m vertical, and to center of coax. The three chicken wires connect to ground
View on bottom of antenna
Another view
Top of multi-band antenna
This is how it looks at the top. The 80m inv-L goes to the right, 160 to the left
Site survey
Generator shelter to the right, Field Day multi-band antenna in the middle, mobile shack in front of the self-supporting tower
ON4WW operating
Some 'serious' operating was done...
ON4WW and Rwandese cat

...visitors allowing. This cat is a gift from Bernd 9X5AB. I brought it back home after my 9X assignment


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