Current Strange Antenna Challenge Summary:

• 2008 K0S Strange Antenna Challenge Special Event
  • The above link takes you to the page detailing our actual operation for the year specified.
  • The information immediately below is an overview of this year's event. This page is akin to a subject outline. More specific information on each year's special event is provided in that year's own section. Further down this page you will find links to past year's special events as well as subject matter which we think you may either find useful or interesting. If we do our jobs especially well, you may even find they fulfill both needs! Heheh....

• KØS Strange Antenna Challenge Special Event -- May 24-26, 2008
  • Start Date & Time: Saturday, May 24, 1000Z
  • End Date & Time: Monday, May 26 at midnight (local time zones)
    • This is a three-day holiday in the USA
    • The special event runs over the entire holiday
  • Primary Location: Springfield, Missouri
    • Satellite K0S Stations may operate from any location
  • Sponsoring Club: Ozark Hillbilly Portable Operations Team
  • Sponsoring Members: Erik Weaver n0ew and Dwayne Walker wb5plj
  • Special Event Title: K0S Strange Antenna Challenge
  • Certificate Information:
    • PDF and Hardcopy Certificates Available
      • PDF versions are available much faster.
      • I wait several months before printing and mailing the hardcopy certificates because after I complete the run I will no longer have the files to print additional certificates.
      • Satellite K0S Stations may now request a Certificate of Participation. Please supply a picture of your strange antenna or anything else you may like to see on your certificate.
    • Requesting PDF:
      • Provide full contact info (your end as well as our end)
      • Email to: erik@n0ew.org
    • Requesting Hardcopy:
      • Provide full contact info (your end as well as our end)
      • Include SASE (Canada is about $1 postage; I have no idea about elsewhere, so verify postage on your end if outside the normal USPS surface mail system)
      • Mail to:

        • Erik Weaver, n0ew/k0s
          4857 E Farm Road 136
          Springfield, MO, 65809

  • 14.250 MHz is where we plan to start calling CQ (+/- 20), provided, of course, our first antenna can load on that band. We intend to operate only in the General Class of any band. While we typically return periodically to 20-meters, remember we may be operating elsewhere. Also remember there will likely be other "satellite" stations operating as well. Each year more and more people have tried their own hand at this fun and somewhat unusual event. Please join us, by either enjoying a QSO with us or flying your own strange antenna!
  • This is NOT a contest. We are actually interested in your antenna system, and we will freely discuss ours as well. So if you are listening in, don't get upset and storm away because we aren't working someone and moving on. We'll do the same with you too! Now, if you are mobile toss that in so we know. I've worked all states as a mobile station, so I understand you sometimes have only a brief window to work us. If I hear that designator I'll try to get you worked in before you lose us.

• Satellite stations may operate as early as you wish Saturday morning and late as you wish Monday night -- we have to pick "hard times" for the special event listing, but as long as it is part of the 3-day holiday where you're at, that's good enough for us!
  • Remember, this is not a serious event. We are all out here for fun!
  • The only hard and fast "rules" for Satellite Stations are:
    1. Use only strange antennas!
       • No metal wire!
       • No stand-alone metal pipe!
       • Unless it is currently part of something else.
         • My favorite example: TENT POLES:
           • Do NOT just hang a few choice pieces of aluminum tent poles as a dipole (for those too young to remember this, tent poles used to be metal!). That would be considered cheating.
           • DO put the entire tent together and hang it in your tree! That is obviously a strange antenna, and well within the spirit of the rules!
         • Other examples include:
           • Metal rain gutters;
           • Flagpole;
           • Conduit currently being used in a cable TV utility drop;
    2. Tell us about your "Satellite Station"
       • Email to: erik@n0ew.org
       • We'll highlight your operation on this web site
       • Send us digital pictures
       • Tell us about your operation
    3. We supply a log and entry form in several formats to make this easier:
       • Blank KØS Log (PDF):
               StrangeAntennaChallenge_BLANK_LOG.pdf
       • Blank KØS Entry Form (PDF):
               StrangeAntennaChallenge_ENTRY_FORM.pdf
               (To be completed after the event, and submitted to erik "at" n0ew.org)
       • SPREADSHEET -- This contains the blank forms listed above, along with additional information. One is saved as a MS Excel formatted spreadsheet, and the other as a Sun Open Office spreadsheet, which is what I use:
         • Excel (XLS) Spreadsheet:
                 StrangeAntennaChallenge_LOG_and_INFO.xls
         • Sun (ODS) Spreadsheet:
                 StrangeAntennaChallenge_LOG_and_INFO.ods
       • Use our forms, or your own, whichever you prefer
    4. You are responsible for your own QSL's. Please provide your proper contact information when you make your contacts.

Resources and Information:

• KØS Google Group:

  • The K0S Email Reflector has been disabled and there are no plans to reactivate it. In its place we have begun a Google Group (http://groups.google.com/group/strange-antenna-challenge) which we hope will better serve those interested in exchanging news and information about this special event over the years.

• Giving RS(T) Reports

• Background

• Some typical connections

• K0S Field Manual:

  • K0S Field Manual FREE (Version 1.2)
  • Errata sheet (For the first version (1.0) of the "K0S Field Manual")
  • A good "strange antenna" primer.
  • Describes a few "strange antennas" used in past years.
  • Introduction to the fundamentals of antennas and antenna tuners.
  • Blank evaluation charts.
  • Troubleshooting section.
  • As one pleased reader states:
  • "Your Field Manual is the best guide I've seen for rookies to date. I already own the ARRL Antenna Book, all the Antenna Compendiums that are still in print, and have probably printed out 20% of L.B. Cebik's web site. Your manual taught me more in a couple of evenings. Now I'm ready to dig back into the tricky stuff. Again, Thanks!"
    73 de John KG4RQO
  
   

Past Strange Antenna Events:

• 2007 k0s Special Event

 
• 2006 k0s Special Event

 
• 2005 k0s Special Event

 
• 2004 k0s Special Event

 
• 2003 k0s Special Event

 
• ARRL 10-Meter Contest - Strange Antenna Warm Up!

NØEW Home Page:

• NØEW Home Page