Hamnet 40m Contest – 20210307
On Sunday 7 March 2021, a team consisting of Sybrand ZS1SJ, Jan ZS1VDV and Paul ZS1V set up a field station in the shadow of Hanskop, on the outskirts of Grabouw to compete in the annual SARL Hamnet 40m Simulated Emergency contest. The team deployed a dipole and an endfed antenna set up at right angles to the dipole. The Icom IC-7000 and SGC 500 amplifier were powered by a battery bank, backed up by a small generator and a CTek charger. The generator and charger proved unnecessary, but the team ran them for a while anyway to check for any introduced noise.
The weather conditions were mostly favourable. There was light rain, and thankfully little wind, allowing the team to sit outside under only basic shelter with the radio equipment safely in the back of the bakkie. In the two hours of the contest, the team made approximately 60 contacts, including a few duplicates, resulting in a preliminary score rivalling Jan ZS4JAN’s winning effort the previous year. We thank the organisers of this contest and eagerly await their adjudication of the final results.