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As you can see, the path to Portland for VHF/VHF has to plow through 750 ft. of hill. Seattle is better but the Cascades do get in the way and limit the number of stations I can work to just a handfull. Even with this handicap, I was able to break the EWA record for single operator low power for the June 2006 ARRL VHF Contest.....mostly thanks to 6 meters (195 Q's, 105 G's, in 35 states)!

Operating from eastern Washington is quite a challenge. We are far enough north to be adversely effected by the aurora oval and not far enough west to get a boost from the ocean. My QTH has good and bad aspects. I'm half way up a 1500 ft. hill that faces 30 degrees north. This gives me a great shot at Europe but forget long path. My VHF/UHF path from west through south is blocked and 160 suffers from our powdery volcanic soil that has the conductivity of Teflon!

My little 32 ft. tower has over100 ft. of antenna booms on it. When the desert winds whip around the hill, things get really interesting! It also holds up 30 and 160 M dipoles and slopers for 80 and 40M. Yes a 160 dipole up 30 ft. Its my only 160 antenna until the radials go down for my 70' vertical in the fall. A 17 M quad loop rounds out the antenna farm. My 1/3 acre hillside has a lot of aluminum and copper hanging around! The antennas from top to bottom are, 144, 1296, 222, 50, 927, 432, HF, and the top of the 160 vertical is to the far right of the picture. The 1296 antenna has my best 7/8" heliax for about 100' followed by about 25' of LMR-400. 927, 222 and 50 MHZ antennas all are fed with LMR-400. The 432 and 144 MHZ antennas have 1/2" heliax.

FQ       RIG            AMPLIFIER        MAX PWR   ANTENNA
1.8    IC-746PRO         AL-1200          1500W 70' VERT.
HF     IC-746PRO         AL-1200, HA-14   1500W CUSHCRAFT A4
50     FT-847            HA-14(MODIFIED) 500W   CUSHCRAFT 3EL
144    IC-746PRO         GONSET 903       300W   M2 5WL
222    DEMI XVTR,IC-737 BRICK            100W   M2 5WL
432    FT-847            BRICK            100W   M2 9WL
927    MOTOROLA MAXTRAC                   30W    HOMEBREW 10EL
1296   DEMI XVTR,IC-737                   50W    55 EL Loop yagi

I have several radios and antennas, mostly used for operating VHF/UHF. My addiction to contesting these bands has led to a renewed interest in the hobby. I'm looking forward to "F" openings in a few years, moonbounce, and the digital modes as time permits.

My newest bands of operation required antennas (9/06). I put up homebrew beams for 1296 and 927 MHZ. Both were built from the WA5VJB "cheap yagi" design published on the Web. I replaced the 1296 antenna in May 2007 with a 55 EL K1FO loop yagi.