Proceedings of the 26^th Annual
Pacific Northwest VHF Society Conference

October 8, 2022
Salem, Oregon

Holiday Inn Hotel, 3301 Market Street NE, Salem, OR 97301    See Google map .
There were 40 attendees.   See also the 2022 Conference Photo Gallery.

2022 Presentations and Papers

• 3D Printing: Be Lazy   by Dave Miller, VE7HR
• 122 GHz Challenges   by Ray Cannon, W7GLF
• High-Performance Yagis for Portable Stations   a 2016 PNWVHFS presentation by Rick Campbell, KK7B
• Lightweight Yagis for VHF/UHF   a CSVHF paper for high-performance portable antennas by Rick Campbell, KK7B
• Square Four Aerials for VHF   a CSVHF paper for portable Yagi design with clean pattern by Rick Campbell, KK7B

2022 Conference Overview

A brief summary:

Friday check-in and social hour showed off 122 GHz equipment demos inside, while the rovers were outside admiring each other's vehicles.

• Matt KC7OOY showed his amazing aluminum supports and antennas, all homebrew and all designed for quick field assembly.
• Ed N7PHY brought his pickup truck in which he roved across Montana for a month last summer.
• Barry K7BWH showed his ham van, a Sprinter 4x4, a combination camper/cargo van set up for 'roughing it' fairly comfortably. He calls it Motel 5 with the motto: "Not nearly as swank and luxurious as a Motel 6."
• Dave KA7RRA brought his Toyota Highlander, currently outfitted with a horizontal loop antenna.

Saturday presentations:

• 3D Printing by Dave VE7HR showed off his rather elaborate printed adjustable tripod mount. I think 3D printing for ham radio is really, really good at making adapters to mate things together. If you have 3d modeling skills (like Dave!) then the sky’s the limit.
• Jim K7ND talked about Building Antennas with lots of hints about techniques that worked well for him and suggestions for parts procurement.
• Ray W7GLF offered tons of interesting details about 122 GHz characteristics and challenges. He demonstrated a link across the room. At this frequency, a single leaf or sheet of paper can obstruct the signal completely. Over break, several folks made microwave contacts outside for the Sprint contest.
• After lunch was my favorite presentation: Rick KK7B with his adult daughter Ana K7XNA told us about Hidden Transmitter Hunting on 432 MHz using modulated AM, Kenwood TH-F6 handhelds and homebrew 3-element antennas. It was in the context of providing this 'attendee participation ham activity' in the conference hall at a recent large microwave conference. Rick is a EE professor at Portland State University and he's a very engaging speaker.

Saturday afternoon is our Society business: elections, reports, awards, a drawing for door prizes, and a tailgate swap meet. Some awards worth mentioning:

• Matt KC7OOY was awarded Rover Maniac for activating the greatest number of PNW grids over the last 3 years.
• Paul K7CW was awarded Grid Master for working the greatest number of PNW grids.
• Barry K7BWH earned the Lewis & Clark Sacagawea Award for activating all 20 grids in Idaho.

Thanks everyone for a fun conference! See you next year in the Seattle area, probably at Issaquah again.

2022 Proceedings

Contest Award Winners

We have 170 award certificates in the PNWVHFS Parallel Award system. We're catching up on three years since the conference has not been held due to the pandemic.

Notable awards are:

Rover Maniac Award earned by Matt Stagg KC7OOY of Phoenix, OR
for roving to the greatest number of PNW grids in contests

Grid Master Award earned by Paul Kiesel K7CW of Tahuya, WA
for working the greatest number of PNW grids in contests

Lewis & Clark: Sacagewa Award achieved by Barry K7BWH of Lake Forest Park, WA
for activating all 20 grids in Idaho