I was again pleased to see the 6m loop exhibit a workable SWR at such low heights. The loop was less than 20 feet above ground, and without the tuner, the SWR was 1.5 to 1 or less. The 4-el 2m yagi performed flawlessly and was a huge improvement over the loop, but it was nice having the 2m loop operational while mobile, and I switched to it while working local station KA2HNG/FN22. The antennas were supported by a stackable pole assembly of a closet hanger rod, an old 2m yagi boom, and a large diameter wooden dowel. The whole thing is hand rotatable thanks to a hose clamp on the wooden dowel taking all the weight. My setup time was a bit over 10 minutes, but tear-down time was much quicker. The mast still gets mounted through the passenger's side rear window. That means I had to keep that window open and keep on operating after half the insect kingdom entered the vehicle.

There was no 6m E skip and no tropo on 144/222. But on the bright side, I found 222 to be a huge assistance again with points, helping to almost triple my June score. I calculated my score, then recalculated it without 222 just to see what impact the band had on my operations. As it turns out, 222 accounted for only 16% of my QSOs, but it provided 42% of my points! It was a great way to end 2004 after feeling glum about my poor results in January and June. The furthest contact was 463 miles (744 km) on 2m with N8ZM in western OH (EN80) when I was at my FN12 site.





POINTS SUMMARY

Band   QSOs    QSO pts.    Mults.
----------------------------------------------
50      26        26        15
144     32        32        18
222     11        22         9
----------------------------------------------
TOTALS  69        80        42
                            +2 grids activated
                            --
                            44


       --- Claimed score = 3,520 ---