A club meeting and the CQ World Wide DX Contest on the same weekend, at the HB9TG shack in Schweizerholz: that is what we had agreed in the club. Taking part were Mark HB9DRN, Dani HB9HWG, Michi HB9EIY, Marco HB3YJY with his wife Michaela, and me. The plan was a weekend of contesting, barbecue and good conversation. Not everything went to plan.
Friday: arrival and bad news
On Friday the first of us arrived by motorhome, and the barbecue was soon going. Then came the first message from HB9TG’s technical manager: the rotator for the beam was probably broken. That can happen. What disappointed us was something else: the problem had been known for a week, and nobody had told us. We stood there with a big question mark on our faces.
Saturday: setting up, testing, improvising
On Saturday morning the last colleague arrived by motorhome, and we set up the station: a MacBook Air with Ham-Tools as logbook and contest software, plus the Kenwood TS-590S, the ACOM 1000 amplifier and the SAMS automatic tuner by Heinz Bolli.
Ham-Tools ran in contest mode for CQ WW: exchange with CQ zone 14, voice memories on the function keys, DX cluster with multipliers highlighted, band maps for 10, 15 and 20 m and the grey line alongside.
Then came the test with the half-working installation, and the next surprise: the amplifier was causing trouble. Mark found that the tuning display of the PA was broken too. Without it you tune a tube amplifier blind. Mark still found a way to tune the ACOM by hand.
Our mood was a little dampened by then. What state is this shack in? A broken rotator, an amplifier without a working display, and nobody had said a word.
In the evening HB9TG’s technical manager briefly dropped by. In conversation it quickly became clear to us that he does not know much about the technology. Whatever we talked about, we wondered how someone with so little technical understanding can be the technical manager of a club station.
What saved the mood
Then Michaela and Marco arrived with a delicious Black Forest gateau, and our spirits were up again at once. Michi brought an APRS iGate and a repeater for an FM network. There will be a separate article about that later.
The barbecue together and the good conversations carried us through the day. A great bunch, good friends.
Sunday: packing up
On Sunday we stayed at the shack until midday, then took down our setup and drove home.
My conclusion
It was a top weekend among friends, with good food and great conversations. Our setup and our planning were good; the HB9TG shack unfortunately was not. We made the best of it, and even the neglected shack could not spoil our mood. That is what this weekend showed me: when the right team is together, nothing knocks you over that easily.
We have already discussed our next dates together. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone again soon.
73 de Chris, HB9HJI
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