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OT5A Contest Station
Vanop de Lierse Fort site organiseren we minstens twee keer per jaar de deelname aan een Multi band, High Power, Multi Operator Contest.
Een hele organisatie, logistiek, operators, en keukenteam.
Maak je klaar voor een onvergetelijk weekend vol radioplezier bij het Belgische OT5A conteststation in Lier! Jaarlijks nemen we deel aan de CQ WPX en CQ WW contest, waarbij we als een multi-operator, multiband team strijden en genieten van 48 uur non-stop radioactiviteit.
We transformeren ons conteststation zich tot een bruisend centrum van competitie en opwinding. Met een getalenteerd team van radioamateurs bundelen we onze krachten om deel te nemen aan deze prestigieuze contests. Ons doel is om zoveel mogelijk punten te scoren en contact te leggen met radioamateurs over de hele wereld.
Gedurende deze intense 48 uur zitten we boordevol energie en vastberadenheid om onze vaardigheden te laten zien. We werken als een goed geoliede machine en maken gebruik van onze kennis, ervaring en geavanceerde apparatuur om de beste resultaten te behalen.
Maar het OT5A conteststation is niet alleen een plek voor competitie, het is ook een plaats waar radioplezier de boventoon voert. Tussen de contestperioden door is er volop gelegenheid om ervaringen te delen, technieken uit te wisselen en te genieten van de camaraderie onder de radioamateurgemeenschap. We creëren herinneringen, smeden vriendschappen en delen onze passie voor radioamateurisme.
De WPX en CQWW contesten zijn de hoogtepunten van ons contestseizoen en we kijken er elk jaar naar uit. Het is een gelegenheid om onze vaardigheden te verbeteren, nieuwe uitdagingen aan te gaan en onze liefde voor deze hobby te vieren.
Dus, markeer de data in je agenda en kom naar het OT5A conteststation in Lier om deel te nemen aan dit geweldige evenement. Of je nu een doorgewinterde contestdeelnemer bent of nieuw bent in de wereld van radioamateurisme, er is altijd een plek voor jou in ons team.
We kijken ernaar uit om samen met jullie te genieten van een weekend vol radioplezier, opwinding en vriendschap bij het Belgische OT5A conteststation in Lier!
OT5A Contest Station … check the video
Countdown tot de volgende CQWW Contest ! Wij zoeken steeds operatoren !
De Countdown tot 27 Oktober 2023, de start van de contest.
A few kilometres outside the Lier City Centre (at 51°07’N – 4°36’E, WWlocator JO21HC) lies an old, derelict, 19th century Fortress made from bricks, concrete and clay walls. The site covers 32 hectares of land. In 1988 ON4DB, chairman of the Club, was granted permission to use it for antenna experiments. After a lot of brainstorming a master plan was developed. Six radio shacks would be created each with, on top of the 12 meter high buildings, at least one free standing tower of 24 meters or higher for the antennas. At this moment 14 are installed. The shacks are situated close to their antenna systems to keep the transmission lines short.
This means that the shacks are at relative great distances from each other and that is one of the reasons why an internal communications network had to be installed. Storage room for part of the equipment had to be created too. Water-, Gas- and Electricity utilities had to be brought in. Why? Because the club wanted to create an opportunity to take part in the biggest contest operations that exists: the CQ-WW and CQ-WPX contests organized by CQ-MAGAZINE in the “multi – multi assisted” category. This means that a station on every contest band (there are six of them) is on the air for the duration of a contest (48 hours). The site is also suitable for other activities: smaller contests, field days, emergency operations, experiments with transceivers, antenna’s and other equipment, etc.
Dispatching:
The dispatching has it’s place in a corner of the meeting hall. During a contest every contact between participants has to be logged. The logging system (CIMLOG especially written for the multi-multi contest by ON5CIM) is also controlled from here. The system also connects to a few DXclusters and filters incoming DX spots to avoid already logged stations to show up at the operators screen. (At the busiest times every few seconds a DX spot enters the system). All data is transported via a coaxial 10 Mbit ethernet network which is also managed from the dispatching.
Shacks:
Typical every radio shack has a desk, a few chairs, heating, light, mains connections, antenna systems, transceivers, a 2 kilowatt power amplifier, connections into the ethernet Network, log computers and a lot of small equipment. The operators spend most of their time here and at certain times it can be a pretty hectic.
RF Power Amplifiers:
6 heavy Duty all band RF Amplifiers have been constructed (and are still upgraded) by DL3EBM and ON7NB with technical assistance of ON5OT and ON7SF. Together with their power supply (PA+ power supply weigh in at about 250 Kg)they take most of the space in every shack and produce most of the heat. With 5000 Volts on the anodes it can hardly be otherwise! Every PA is pre tuned to an allocated band.
Antenna’s:
Nearly all antenna’s are constructed and installed by ON5OT and ON4AWU, with the help of a lot of other club members. Together with the maintenance of the antenna towers this part of the installation takes most of the available time. At regular intervals, all antenna systems are checked so that they are always ready to be used.
Antenna Rotors:
No affordable commercial antenna rotor is strong enough to withstand the wind last that the antenna’s produce. After a few years of constantly repairing the existing antenna rotors, we decided to build our own. At the moment a few of them are in use. All antenna rotors are designed and constructed by ON5OT.
Control boxes:
Each antenna rotor has his own home brew control box. Every shack has a connection panel and there is one shack which can operate all antenna’s.
Sequencers:
With the PA comes a sequencer that controls, transceiver, antenna switches, preamps and off course the PA itself.
Power Supply:
The electrical mains supply at the site cannot cope with the needs of a typical multi – multi operation. At the moment the club has to rent a 60 KVA generator for each contest, but we are looking out for one ourselves. +-400 liters diesel fuel is gobbled up during the full contest periode.