It was another great day in the sun at Quartz Hill, and with light winds. John ZL2TCN thought is was so good that he even brought out food for a BBQ.

Most of our effort went into setting up a trial of the equipment that will be used for the ZL2WB entry in the 2006 Jock White Field Day. The tent, generators, radios, logging computers and antennas were all hooked up and tested. The exercise was valuable as we found a problem with intermodulation interference between the 80M and 40M stations, related to one or more poor connections in the 40 metre tall NIWA mast that is to be used to support the 80M antennas. We were unable to locate the source of the problem on the mast but we did manage to create a work around involving RF filters/tuners and keeping the antenna wires clear of the mast structure.

Other activities included repairing an insulation breakdown at the feed point for the 80M/160M Tee vertical antenna, cutting the lawns, and closing some gaps in the compound fence that some sheep have been using to gain access to our "greener" pastures". We also checked the 1st aid kit and smoke alarms.

Unfortunately we did not get time to deal with the other antenna repairs that are still required after the damage caused by the strong winds over New Year. These issues will be addressed over the next month and at the next Activity Day on 4 March.

Thanks to everyone who came out including ZL2AOH, ZL2CA, ZL2BSJ, ZL2BAP, ZL2GF, ZL2SP, ZL4TAC, ZL1AZE, ZL2IFB, ZL2AOV and ZL2TCN. We also noted apologies from ZL2BCW and ZL2AMI.

Posted by ZL1AZE on February 04, 2006