The hut, as in the title, is a little mountain chalet in between the two towns of Alessandria and Genova, on the Appennino Ligure mountains at 800 meters above sea level. Surrounded by 3000 mq of fields, in a tiny little country village with just two inhabitants but with a lot of deer, wild boar, and wolves, this is where we used to pass some spare time and summer and winter holidays with the family. The location is well opened at 360 degrees and has a special slope in the valley right towards Stateside.

As a radio amateur I got out my first satisfactions immediately, installing just a vertical antenna (Butternut) on the grass, being able to reach all the dxpeditions that with a 5 element Yagi, and some other vertical on low bands, I couldn't even dream to hear and absolutely couldn't catch from Genova (where I live).

AS ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER ...

Animated by a group of friends in 2005 we approached our first contest: WPX CW, participating as M/S with the callsign IR1R. We had a very simple setup but a great desire to do well !

A wooden chair, a radio, one amplifier, PC and a vertical Butternut HF9, three operators: IK1HJS, IK1YDB IK1YPX = 1822 qso’s, 2.265,935 points, no cluster or skimmer, was our first satisfaction, a lot of motivation to go ahead.

It’s time to move: I ask permissions to erect a 22m. tower that will support the new Optibeam OB17-4. On the same tower an inverted V 160m dipole and 80m delta loop.

The landscape from the top of the tower is very impressive: towards North America there is a downhill slope of 400m in a 300m distance with incredible signals from that direction.

Permission was obtained to use the IR1Y callsign. I liked to use the symbolic icon for this little Team honoring wolves, now populating the district, and I used to announce our participation as “the return of wolves” hi !

IR1Y became a Headquarters station for the IARU HF Championship in 2005 representing ARI. Since then, Carlo IK1HJS and I, alternate in participation to major contests, either as single or Multi Operator. In the meantime a second 15m tower can be erected , field day style, from time to time.

Results were not slow to arrive: First place in the ARI International Dx Contest, world first place in CQ WPX CW SOSB40 HP, Europe first place (third world) WPX CW SOAB LP, EU record SOAB LP ARRL DX SSB, second world and EU record SOSB 40m in the ARRL CW.

Some Italian records are still not beaten on 15, 40, 80, 160m in CQWW CW alternating IK1HJS and IK1YDB.

Carlo IK1HJS (WRTC2010 team mate, and WRTC 2014 team leader) became an active member, bringing to the team other great operators such as Tony IK1QBT, and Emilio IZ1GAR (IH9X, IG9X, IH9R, IG9W).

The last contest as IR1Y was the ARRL 2014 CW. This was our first time as M2 with 5324 qso’s (including 284 Californian stations), 229 multipliers for a claimed score of 4,772,937. On this occasion Filippo IZ1LBG (WRTC Team Leader of Youth Team) and Flavio IK1SPR (WRTC2010 referee) joined the group, so the total was 6 operators.

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Well dear friends, this is the little story of IR1Y, where, in a little hut, a little group of friends like to share the same passions: DX and Contests… See you soon. Flavio IK1YDB close

On top of our container we have a crank up tower; the total height is about 60 feet with clear sight to all wind directions. Atop that is a 3-element triband yagi. Other antennas such as verticals and dipoles for the low bands have to be installed ahead of a contest. In the early beginning our group installed verticals for 10/15/20 as well, until August 2012 when we bought a mobile tower for another 3-element triband yagi. This is a 200% improvement and now with the higher bands wide open, it is a delight to operate.

Just ahead of a contest we make a rough scedule where no-one is really forced to be at the station. Family matters and other joyfull things of life are as important as making 2000 Q’s in a weekend. The rule is fun and priceless friendship, no pressure! Big gaps in active hours are more common with just 6 available operators.

We always find ourself very lucky to be on a quiet location like this. The absence of man-made noise is stunning and fascinating compared to home. The flat wetland helps putting out a strong signal, at least on the higher bands. When we call in pile ups, we mostly get through quick and a couple new ones (VK9MT/ZS8C/K9W) were worked with little effort. The 40/80 and 160 meter verticals work well, dipoles with the apex at 18 meters marginal to good. Because of the low noise envirement, quite different from our high noise cities, we go there now and then to have fun on HF outside a contest as well.

Now and then we have guests operating with us. CW-WW-SS-2012: W7BIA. Field-days: W6GMU, PA5WT and PA3FAL.

We are there in the CQ-WW-SSB/RTTY/CW, ARRL DX-SSB/CW, BARTG RTTY, Field Day-CW and PACC contests. We all have families and other interests varying from Harley Davidsons to making music and fishing for carp. Therefore, this is the best we do.

PA8F - Fred: My first experience with radio was in the eighties. It all started with CB radio and I got infected by the radio virus. In 1986 I did an exam together with my dad for our full license (CW included) and got the call sign PA3FFQ. My dad got PA3FFR at that time which he still uses.

After eight years of radio activity on the VHF bands I lost interest in radio. Until the year 2006 when my good friend Wander PD1DER got his Novice license and became active. That was the trigger for me to become radio active again and I got myself the call sign PA1WFB. From that moment I had just one goal and that was to work all DXCC countries. It took me 16 months to apply for my mixed DXCC award. In august 2008 I changed the callsign to PA8F.

I really enjoy contesting with the contest group PG6G. I’m also interested in awards. In October 2010 I was part of the DX-pedition PJ4B to activate Bonaire as a new DXCC. My favorite modes are RTYY, SSB and CW.

PA3GVI - Rob: I became a licensed Ham in 1994 and my main interest was DX-ing. At that time I was never too serious about the DXCC program, this changed in 2004 when I met Dave Patton/NN1N. I had 175 DXCC mixed then and tried to work every 'new one' which got on the air.

At the present time I have 329 DXCC confirmed/Mixed. I took part in several trips abroad, LX, HB and eventually to PJ4 to celebrate the birth of a new DXCC entity in October 2010.

I love DXing and contesting with our team from our nice quiet location in Kamerik. My favorite mode is CW followed by RTTY and SSB, and I love the low bands!

PA3GVI on Youtube:

PA2JAM - Joop: No Jamboree-callsign, I´m only JAMming the band! I was born 1960, as Johannes Arnoldus Maria Schalkwijk.I live in the city of Woerden with my wife and two kids. My first experience with radio was at the age of four, by being struck with HV at the back of our tube-radio. I have been passionate ever since, but with respect for high voltage hi!

I joined the group by the end of 2006. I enjoyed building and engineering the K3 from scratch, (still making it better!!). It will never be a 'big gun' station, but hope it will be a 'little pistol'. I Like contesting, but in a humoristic way. I have to break out the 5-9 rule now and then by trying a joke or giving unsollicited compliments for the signal strength and/or audio.

Don´t hesitate to ask me for a test over the air, I am always willing to help. I Hope to meet you somewhere somehow, and don´t forget to ENJOY the hobby! Seventy Trees! (almost a wood!) Joop. (to pronounce like: 'hope' with a jay) hi.


The PG6G website can be found at: www.pg6g.blogspot.nl. (The PG6G picture page has links to pictures from several events).

PG6G on Youtube: PACC 2013      20 Hours in Heaven
Personal web pages: PA3GVI      PA8A      PA4B      PD2JAM      PA8F     
More pictures: Looking West      160m Vertical      Winter - Looking SE      Oldest Member NL-11607

Thank you Jim/AF6O for inviting us to introduce our contest station. Hope to make contact with many of you out there somewhere on the Globe!    Rob/PA3GVI and the PG6G team close

My geographic location is close to Frank Donovan, W3LPL, who spent countless hours teaching, coaching and motivating me to become a better contester and build up my own station. I joined team W3LPL and experienced M/M contesting at the TOP of the pack and vowed one day, given enough money and land, I would love to build that type of station. Well…I do have a LONG way to go!

I defined an achievable goal of coming close to simulating the feel of a BIG Multi-operator station, with a small fraction of the investment of land, financial resources and tower work. In 2004 I relocated to my current QTH in Taneytown, MD and increased my lot to just over an acre in size. At the time, that seemed like a lot of space…however in retrospect, 20 acres would have been nicer!

Since I do not climb towers, I quickly settled on the AB/577 military mast as my“tower” of choice. This is an inexpensive and easy way to get yagis for 10 – 40 meters up 50+ feet! I chose monoband antennas to maximize performance and minimize degradation due to unfriendly antenna elements.

Soon I had a two element shortened 40 meter yagi and, eventually, a two element vertical array for 80, along with (4) receive beverage directions. I standardized on Yaesu’s FT-1000MP as a transceiver and use mostly manually tuned Ameritron AL-1200 amplifiers at each operating position, along with Heil HC4 headsets, KD9SV reversible 300’ beverages and K9AY’s beverage switching/sharing box to permit simultaneous use of 4 directions on 80 & 160. I have a 6 position computer network running N1MM (and Win-Test) for logging.

My station is used for single-op, multi/single, multi/two and Multi/Multi contest entries. The most noteworthy finishes have been in the WPX SSB contest where WX3B has won the Multi/Multi category twice and been in the top three finishers several times.

WX3B is well known as a great place to have fun, learn and experience the thrill and team sport of competitive radio contesting. It has also been a viable training ground for operators that will eventually join the N3HBX and W3LPL “super-station” Multi-operator teams.

It takes a vast amount of knowledge and information to build and operate a multi-transmitter contest station. Here is a list of the close friends, mentors, station builders and resources I have been fortunate enough to have access to over the years:

WX3B station building team: N3SB AK3Z NY3A W3ARS N3VOP K1RH K3RCH W3ADC W3ADX W3RAR K3LP N3KS W3DF N3OC N3ST

WX3B Teaching and Encouragement Team: K4VV WR3L W4MYA W3LPL K4JA K3LR KC1XX W8JI K4ZA KC3VO N3HBX K1TTT W2VJN

WX3B operators: K3WI N8IVN NH7C WA3AER K3AJ N3YIM N3VOP KU1T N3WZR N3FX KB3CS N3AFT N3TD N3ST W3ARS W3ADC W3ADX K1RH K3RCH N3SB N3KS

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Over the years, some of the antennas were replaced, not all of them survived all the winter storms also the antenna farm was expanded when the WARC bands opened up for us.

While DXCC – and the Honor Roll – was the initial focus of many member, some of us got serious about the DXCC Challenge program so decent antennas for all 10 bands including 6 meters were a must. Currently four of our members can be found on the DXCC Honor Roll and three members are listed in the DXCC Challenge program with more than 2’000 points. Some of the members had a serious interest in VHF also, so that’s hosted now too.

Contesting was not the prime focus for many years, but there had always been some activity. In more recent years, a smaller group got more serious about contesting and started to optimize the station for that. With a number of reguar guest operators we found that the Multi/2 category gave us the most fun and the contest group needed a name too. With the HB9CA club call (going back to founding member Pierre, who held that call for many years) "Contest Aficionados" came to mind at some point and stuck.

While it was relatively easy to install a 2nd transceiver and the necessary filters, there were some limitations on the antenna side.

We now have a second, smaller tower with a two element SteppIR beam. For the larger contests like CQ WW CW (which is our favourite event besides the only slightly smaller Helvetia Contest) we add a few more antennas like verticals for 40m and 10/15/20m and additional dipoles for and 80 and 160 meter.

Not just for contests but mainly for DXing, we erect an 80m vertical and 8 beverage antennas during the winter months when the local farmers allow us to do so.

So you hear us frequently in many of the contests. Either under our club call or the individual member’s calls. We certainly appreciate working you in the contest. If you hear an HB9 station, please call in and give us or some of our friends that QSO!

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Of course, the first thing I did was to build a stand alone, LARGE garage complex (‘man village’.) On one end, I built the shack, which is 20 by 40 and has a 200 amp service. Being a ‘hands-on’ person, other than the main structure (walls, roof, slab), my buddies and I built the rest, over that summer.

Just about then, I got word that a nearby U. S. Government communications facility was being closed down due to the base closure and relocation act, AND there would be tower available. I wound up getting many hundreds of feet of Rohn 45, 65 and AB-105, plus pallets full of turnbuckles and other hardware.

I also acquired 6 - 90 foot AB-105 towers, and 16 - 30 foot conical monopoles, from another security station, which was closing.

Now, that I had some hardware, it was time to build stuff.

Here in central VA, with the low population density, getting the permits to erect tall towers up was not an issue, as it is in so many locations. After a bit of ‘face time’ at the county seat, I walked out with permits for 7 towers, up to 190 feet in height.

The station is referred to as the ‘Goat Farm’, the origin of which is often mistaken.

At some group event such as our regular Christmas outing, or a cookout, someone mentioned something ‘being a real ‘GF”. (Any of us that have been associated with the government, will recognize that term immediately.) One of the wives asked, innocently ‘What’s a GF?’ A fast thinking member of the group offered up, ‘Oh, it means ‘Goat Farm”, which seemed to satisfy the question.

It’s interesting to note, my neighbor raises goats, sheep and other critters. In the summer, I let him graze the goats and sheep on my property, so they’re often thought to be my animals. He didn’t move here, with his goats, until after the Goat Farm had been named, but it all fits.

We also deal with something called ‘The curse of the Goat Farm’. It seems no matter what we have all experienced in the past, the new, weird, once-in-a-million things happen here. The term ‘GF’ is most often appropriate.

68 acres and ONE ground hog will choose to dig a burrow in the exact same place I have some hardline buried! It’s amazing what they will chew thru.

Another time when ‘the curse’ appeared was when we used plastic boxes as weather resistant housing for our Beverage transformers. Everything was mounted using SS screws and holes drilled directly thru the plastic. (After all, it was ‘plastic’, so no need for any sort of insulators, right?) Turned out that in a previous life, the intended use of these boxes had been for storing static sensitive IC’s, and the plastic contained conductive ‘lamp black’ carbon.

Only took us 3 years to figure this one out and get Beverages that actually worked as they should. There are more examples of the curse, but they’re too embarrassing to reveal. I suppose we all have those stories.

If the Goat Farm gang has a motto, it may be ‘Operate as well as you can, while still having a good time’. To that end, we surely eat and drink too much. Burgers and Brats are a staple.

Basic station configuration is 6 stations, using 8 K3’s and Omni 6’s for spares. There is a mix of commercial amps and home brew amps, as I do like to build. Band switching, receive filters, lock-out boxes and other similar things are the handiwork of Mike, K4GMH.

The nucleus of the crew that regularly operates from here would be K7SV, K4GMH, N2YO, K4EC, K4GM and K4ZW. Without the help and support of these, and others, we would not be able to operate, as we do today.

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