PACC preparations

Running out of time....sometimes you can't help it.

As the PACC contest is ideal to test new or experimental antennas I have been dreaming of setting up a experimental "high" inverted-V antenna for 40m fed by open line so I could use it on other bands as well. But it went no further as dreams, I had absolutely no time and still have to hurry to prepare myself for the PACC. I just updated N1MM+ this evening, inserted the PACC contest and tested the radio and equipment. All seems to be working. The only problem is I didn't hear much SSB signals from 40m and up. The only bands open were 160m and 80m. That doesn't sound/look good for this weekends PACC contest...

Well, last week was not the best for us. We had a big problem with our central heating installation. This is a big problem in the winter of course with temperatures below 0 degrees celsius. In the Netherlands it is common to have a boiler which is powered by natural gas. This gas has been found below the province I live in around 1959 and became a big income for our country. We dutch are very much spoiled with this kind of heating and in most houses it is just a matter of turn the thermostat and you got heat. Last year in Denmark I discovered the house we were in was only heated by electricity and wood, no gas. A strange discovery for me and I have been thinking what are common heating systems in other countries around the world. Here this natural gas well is almost gone, it's used and we knew for years this would come to an end. Still they try to squeeze the last gas out of it and that causes a lot of problems in this province (earthquakes, lowering groundlevel etc.). Anyway, that's another story. Our heating installation is from the early seventies and made of unprotected steel tubes. It got rotten and tubes were leaking last week, al lot of trouble because the tubes were below the bathroom under a 50cm layer of concrete. Luckely we managed to make a emergency connection to the house with the help of a central heating technician. However part of the house is not heated at the moment and it is just the part below the radio shack. So, hopefully a couple of hours contesting will heat the shack a bit as outside it stays cold, freezing cold. I feel lucky my shack has been isolated very well although temperature this evening was 5 degrees.

If time allows I will check antennas tommorow and push up the 10m HB9CV. I don't think I will work much on 10 but you never know? My feeling is that the majority of QSOs will be on the low bands this contest....