Contest Station W0AIH

WØAIH Contest Station

Welcome to the farm, where the primary crop is big towers and antennas!

Overview:

"The Farm" as it is referred to by WØAIH regulars is located on 120 acres of rolling farmland in West Central Wisconsin, just southeast of Eau Claire. Most hams who have driven on I-94 between Chicago and Minneapolis have seen the endless array of towers that can be seen on the hills overlooking the interstate at mile marker 76.

Located on the site are more than 50 towers. About 25 towers or poles are used as vertical radiators plus numerous telephone poles and other towers that are used to support feed line, ends of wire antennas and what ever else needs to be held in the air.

The main building, commonly referred to as the Chalet, is a building originally used to house a broadcast station transmitter at a different antenna site. Currently it houses five of the six HF operating positions along with 2 spotting positions.

The 20 meter position is located about 300 feet away in a small 6 by 8 building known as the "Air Force Shack", because in a previous life it was a portable Air Force communications shelter. Here you will find both the 20 meter position and the 20 meter spotter.

In the case of a single-op or multi-single contest, most of the 20 meter antennas can be rerouted to the main building. As you can see in the pictures there is enough feed line running between the two building to reroute almost anything, and this is also true of the rotor controls. Also the main building can be rearranged so that all the operating controls are located on one side. Mostly the 15 meter and 40 meter positions are used for this.

The rest of the out buildings are used for storage of cable, antennas and parts use to fabricate any of the special items uses in the construction of the site.

The 160M station runs an FT-1000D to a homebrew 4-1000A.

.: 160 M Antennas

The 80M station usually runs an FT-1000D driving a homebrew 4-1000A.

The 40M station uses a Icom IC-775 driving a homebrew 4-1000A. In DX contests, the 3el @ 70' is typically used toward South America, while the stacked pair is used toward Europe or Japan.

15 Meters has a wide variety of antennas available, allowing most directions and propagation modes to be covered without waiting for antennas to rotate. Two towers are dedicated to 15M, a 190 x 18" Wind Charger holding the 4/4/4/4 stack, and a 183' Rohn 45 with the side mounted 5/5 and the high 5ele Telrex. The side mounts are all homebrew and powered by Ham-type rotors. The station usually runs an IC-765 to an Alpha 87A. The 15M operating position can be configured as a single-operator position for running all bands. The transition to single-op is difficult and is done only occasionally.

10 Meters is one of the strongest bands at the Farm. Our location in the Upper Midwest provides and excellent scatter and Sporadic-E distance to the East Coast and the Gulf Coast on both 10M and 6M. During the low sunspot years and other "dead band" conditions, the Farm has often produced one of the top scores in the 10 Meter Contest. The 10M station usually runs an IC-775 or IC-765 to an Alpha 86 or a homebrew 4-1000A. The large number of antennas available allows complete separate SSB and CW stations to be configured for the 10M Contest.

Towers

Num Name/Pimary Use Ant Height Type Face

1 Strum 40 m 3/3 ele Hygain 40m 180/90 200 Guyed 54 ?

6 ele 10m @ 90 200feet

2 Vesto 40 m 3 ele 40m 70 feet 70 SS Taper

4 ele ??m

3 FVF Mem TH5 60 ft 60 SS??

4

5 10 m 6 ele 10m Telrex at 53 ft 50 Guyed

6 20 m 4 ele Telrex 20m 70 feet?? Pole/Twr (changed height this summer)

7 20 m 6 ele Telrex 20 160 Guyed

4/4/4/4 6m

2m ??

8 20 m 4/4/4/4 Hygain 204BA 20 m 180 Guyed/Rotate 3/3/3/3 10 m

8 ele 6m ??

9 20 m 5 ele Telrex 20m 105feet 110 Guyed 4/4 Hygain 20m Phased SE

10 15m 5 ele Telrex 36ftb 15m 200 Guyed

4/4/4/4 6m Fixed SE

5/5 Hygain 26ftb 15m 110/70 feet

4 ele cushcraft 15m

11 15m 4//4/4/4 15m Hygain 200 Guyed

12 10m 5/5/5/5 Hygain 10m 200 Guyed/Rotate

3 ele 20m 80feet

13 15/20 5/5 Telrex 15m 30’b 175/140ft?? 200 Guyed/Rotate

6 ele Telrex 20m 46’b ???Feet

14 160 1/4 Elevated Feed 24 elev radial 200 Guyed

15 First Tower West of Strum ??? Guyed I see something in my pix. I don’t know what it is.

16

17

18

19

Ant List

160

1/4 elevated feet, feedpoint at 60 feet, with 24 elevated radials

2 Double Extended Zepps at 170 feet (shared with 80)

3 ele wire beam ?? to SE, in valley ??

Full-wave Loop SE/NW

1/4 Wave sloper (direction ??)

11 ?? 1040 foot beverages.

80

NE SW Bobtail Curtain (two 3 ele arrays)

NW SE Bobtail Curtain (two 3 ele arrays)

3 element vertical beam (Switchable to NE NW SE SW)

2 double ext Zepp's at 170 (shared with 160)

Bi-Square, 2 wave loop with open opposiate the feed

4 520 foot beverages (directions ???)

Shared 160 beverages

40

3/3 ele Hygain 403B Long John's at 180/90 feet (Strum) (twr 1)

3 ele Telrex on 46' boom ant at 80 feet on windmail tower(vesto) (twr 2)

20

6 ele Telrex on 36 foot boom @ 160 feet (twr 7)

4/4/4/4 element Hygain 204BA on 180 foot rotating tower (twr 8)

5 ele Telrex 20m 105 feet (twr 9)

4/4 Fixed SE at 70/35 feet (twr 9)

6 element Telrex on 46 foot boom (twr 13)

2 4 wave Rhombic at 80 feet pointed 37 and ?? deg

4 ele (changed this summer) twr 6 this is near trailers, move this summer

3 element @ 80 feet (twr 12) this is on the 10m rot tower ??

15

4/4/4/4 ele mod/ext HyGain 155BA on 200 foot rotating tower (tower 11)

5/5 element Telrex on 30 foot boom on rotating tower twr 13 (new tower)

5/5 Hygain 155BA on 26 ft boom 110/70 feet (twr 10)

5 ele Telrex at 185 (twr 10)

4 ele Telrex at 45 (twr ??)

3 ele at 40 (Pole twr ??)

Tribanders

Dual bander

10

6 ele Telrex at 53 feet (twr 5)

3/3/3/3 HyGain 103BA 200 foot rotating tower (20m tower) (twr 8)

5 ele Telrex at 200 feet 90 deg from 40 meter ant (twr 1)

5/5/5/5 Hygain 105BA on 180 foot rotating tower (twr 12)

3 ele Telrex at 45 feet

4 ele Cushcraft at 75' (twr 10)

2 Tribanders