Spiderpole to the rescue for our informal club event

A lovely late Friday afternoon in August proved to be the ideal time to run an informal club event at the shack in Farnley Tyas.

It demonstrated how rapidly a station can be set up with batteries and portable antennas. It also prompted us to fit a fixed cylindrical base close to the shack to hold a vertical without rope support.

Radio should be fun, not a chore, and the three hours sailed by with plenty of QSOs and tweaks to the antennas.

The most dramatic change came with the erection of a spiderpole with a one-element antenna for two metres.

We'd been using a mag-mount on the shack roof which got us to Barnsley but not much further. Ian's Spiderbeam at 25ft coupled to the IC-706 took us farther afield to Grimsby!

Meanwhile, Jerry had been making headway on 40m and 30m with 100 watts and the Kenwood TS-590.

Later on, Ian, 2E0ISD, armed with a sledge hammer and other items from his Mary Poppins van, and aided by a brave Darran, G0BWB, created the metal base to hold future vertical antennas.

This was an enjoyable little event, enhanced by visits from some friendly dogs nearby on a training session, in what must be one of the finest amateur radio locations in the country.

Perhaps we can use it more.