Yesterday I took to the kids on a hike up a local hill to try setting up my new EFHW antenna on the Spiderbeam pole. There was a lot of back and forth because I haven't set this pole up more than once or twice, and I'm still getting the hang of it. Eventually managed it, but couldn't hear anything. Not sure why it was so deaf - I managed to get *out* on it at home the other day on WSPR.
In any case, at the end I tried to throw up the little EFHW I had made in the past - just tied a string to the end and threw it over a 10ft high branch. Managed to hear great on it. However, didn't try contesting as the kids were pretty tired by that point.
Today I got up and tried again, this time in the backyard (far enough from my normal station to count as outdoors). First I tried the DS1. Managed to get one person on 40m after a lot of work.
Then put up my 20m dipole on the painter's pole. Managed to work three stations before I ran out of time.
For fun, tried putting the little EFHW up on the Spiderbeam as a somewhat-vertical (I'd need a 12M to make it completely vertical). Seems to work, but after the contest was over everyone dropped off so I wasn't able to talk to anyone. Almost broke the pole when it started to fall over - I hadn't put the guy lines at 120 degrees from each other, and it looked like it would hold, but no. Managed to catch it. Lesson learned.
All in all, a great morning though.
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