Dry season grass fires

July 28, 2014December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

In early April, 2014, there were a large number of grass fires that burned several hundred acres from Nimitz Hill where I live all the way south to Mt. Tenjo and further south to the Mt. Alutom area. Grass fires are not uncommon on Guam, in fact they occur just about every dry season in the spring. Of course you have unintentionally set fires, the result of carelessly discarded cigarettes along the roadside, but quite often these fires are set intentionally by poachers. Heavy underbrush provides cover in which pigs and deer can hide, so burning this cover eliminates hiding spots. Additionally, the new grass that grows following a fire is tender and attracts animals.

Unfortunately, these fires cause quite a bit of damage. Aside from the risk to residences, these fires often decimates endangers species which are unable to escape the burn. Additionally, the burned areas lost their grass cover which anchors the soil, so rains cause heavy erosion which blankets the coral reefs with smothering silt.

Following earlier fires that burned the summit of Mt. Tenjo, I decided to hike out to try to locate remnants of the old WW1 era Marine battery that used to be located there.

Looking north to Mt. Chacao, you can see how the burned areas contrasted with the green unburned foliage.

From the summit of Mt. Tenjo, looking west at the whole of Orote Peninsula, which is where Naval Station Guam is located.

Atop Mt. Tenjo, remnants of the gun battery were easy to locate because all the grass had been burned off. What I was not expecting were foxholes – many of them – guarding the summit. It turns out that these are WW2 era and I will post about them more in depth later.

Foxholes aren’t very photogenic, however this one can be easily discerned, guarding the southern approach to the summit.

At the true summit, this remnant was part of a visual signaling device that allowed the battery to communicate with those down on Orote Point. (WWI era)

You can see some of the original mounting bolts used to hold down one of the three 6″ naval guns placed atop Mt. Tenjo,

This is a section of the trench dug by the Marines during the prewar years, to defend the rear of the redoubt.

This is the only structure that remains at Mt. Tenjo. Shielded from the fires by an oasis of sorts, this building is often mislabeled as being Japanese Occupation in origin. In fact, it was built during the construction of the battery in the early post WW1 years.

10m QRM from zone 24

March 14, 2014December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

Sorry for not updating this page in some time – I have been busy now that I have

returned to work.

I wanted to share what 10m sounds like in this part of the world. This QRM is present at all times when the band is open to zone 24. Presumably it is noise from inexpensive two-way radio devices in China and elsewhere in SE Asia. The noise is sometimes S9, and completely covers weak stations.

When the band is open to NA, we usually have no problems because BY is still in darkness and there is no propagation. Also, the noise is nulled when beaming NA. The problem is trying to work Europe. Anyone weaker than S-5 is completely inaudible. In the recording below, I first start by listening to HA1AG in QSO with a JA station. Zoli is a solid S9 here, but copy is difficult through the noise. I then tune up and down the band, before switching to CW. There are two instances where you can even hear Chinese language in either FM or AM – not sure.

This noise is getting worse, and has also spread to the 12m SSB band. It covers the entire band, from 28.0 to well above 29.0 Mhz.

QRM across the 10m band:

The noise is actually visible on the band scope, only S3 but this is in CW mode.

The noise is a solid S-7 on the meter, peaking S-9, while in SSB.

CQWW DX Contests

December 10, 2013December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

Below is my report from the CQWW DX SSB contest. Conditions were spectacular, and I was able to operate all 48 hours. The CW contest was a different story. I woke up with a sore throat, which got progressively worse through the day. At the 12 hour mark, I felt miserable with a full sinus infection. Clogged ears and runny eyes don’t make for an enjoyable contesting experience, so I operated part time for just under 4 meg. Still had fun all things considered!

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, SSB

Call: NH2T
Operator(s): N2NL
Station: NH2T

Class: SOAB HP
QTH: Guam
Operating Time (hrs): 48

Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
——————————
160: 37 10 15
80: 274 27 53
40: 612 34 75
20: 1053 33 97
15: 2226 36 100
10: 2769 39 103
——————————
Total: 6971 179 443 Total Score = 12,747,890

Club: Florida Contest Group

Comments:

SO1R – Elecraft K3+AL1200
-Spiderbeam @40ft
-40ft vertical with a mix of top and base loading for 40/80/160
-Thee Beverages (NA, EU, VK/ZL)

I think most already know but it was a busy summer for me starting with an
unexpected diagnosis of stage 3 colon cancer in May (but currently with no
evidence of disease and an excellent future prognosis), subsequent
chemotherapy, and a forced QSY to a new location following the closing of my
former military housing area. The past several months have been extremely busy
while I relocated my station and installed three new Beverages on days when the
chemo side effects allowed (antenna work makes for great therapy!). Added to
the mix were several tropical disturbances over the past six weeks including
one that changed my Spiderbeam’s polarization from horizontal to vertical when
it bent my mast into a perfect 90 degree angle. Timing was perfect because I
got finally everything together and working last week, plus this is my chemo
“off week” with only one round remaining until complete so I felt
pretty good.

I really prefer CW to SSB and was cringing as 00z approached knowing that I
only lasted eight hours in OCDX SSB before my voice went out, but it’s CQWW SSB
and it’s my last from KH2 as I transfer somewhere new in June 2014. Once the
contest started the anxiety disappeared, aided by the best conditions I’ve ever
experienced in a contest from Guam. The time flew by and I finished with only
one 10 minute break out of the chair to grab a shower. My voice held out,
aside from some challenges during the last couple hours when my mouth decided
it wanted to quit pronouncing phonetics a little early.

This morning the latest tropical circulation started started passing through
with high winds, heavy rain, and embedded thunderstorms. One of my patio chairs
got blown into the base of my vertical about an hour before SR knocking out my
40 and 160m loading, and the wind stirred up a new power line noise source
which caused much frustration with very intermittent S9 noise which made the NB
worthless and covered callers completely. I came just short of my 7K QSO goal
but thanks to the conditions was able to break CT1BOH’s excellent continental
record he set back in 2000 as KH7X. This record was the carrot that kept me in
the chair. I’m thankful because things could have been much worse –
NH2DX(KG6DX) lost power twice over the weekend and the AH2R team is out taking
antennas down off the hotel roof today in some nasty weather before their
flight home.

Thanks everyone for the QSOs… and I hope to see everyone again in WWCW with a
repeat of this weekend’s conditions.

73, Dave KH2/N2NL

CQ Worldwide DX Contest, CW

Call: NH2T
Operator(s): N2NL
Station: N2NL

Class: SOAB(A) HP
QTH: Guam
Operating Time (hrs): 23

Summary:
Band QSOs Zones Countries
——————————
160: 97 14 19
80: 81 22 33
40: 128 34 54
20: 334 35 93
15: 789 39 124
10: 692 38 193
——————————
Total: 2122 182 426 Total Score = 3,772,032

Club: Florida Contest Group

Comments:

Original plans to operate SOAB for the full 48 hours fell through.

I woke up the morning of the contest with a scratchy throat – I probably caught
something on my flight home from a recent trip to DU1. I started feel worse as
the contest started. By 11Z I was 300 QSOs behind last year and feeling
miserable with a full blown sinus infection – watery eyes, clogged ears and
nose. I just wasn’t having fun so I crashed and went to bed. For the rest of
the weekend I turned on packet and S&Ped around calling guys. At times I
felt like Willy Wonka handing out KH2 multiplier candy. Really quite enjoyable
and I still got to play around in the contest without the typical serious SOAB
pressure.

Some regrets not doing a full effort… but I don’t think I could have made it
through the full weekend anyway. Half way through the contest the T/R relay in
my ancient AL1200 started glitching, so I was forced to run 33% power with my
KPA500 instead, plus I ended up having some unavoidable family responsibilities
come up that would have forced me off the air for about three additional hours
anyway – so I’m glad I made the decision when I did. Conditions were pretty
similar to last year – perhaps a very slight bit better – so it is questionable
if I would have been able to top last year’s score.

Plenty of KH2s on all the bands… almost too many when you are SOAB and
counting on assisted and multi op guys to call in for mults. Sorry for not
spending more time on the low bands where I know KH2 is rarer.

This is almost certainly my last CQWW DX contest from Guam for the foreseeable
future as I am due to transfer in June of 2014. No idea where I am headed, but
odds favorite are that it will be Honolulu for four years.

Still looking forward to lots of Radiosporting fun from Guam until I have to
take everything down to QSY – which may be just before WPX CW time next year.

73, Dave KH2/N2NL

Bad weather and busy times

November 28, 2013December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

I have not been good about updating my blog – I hope to get caught up in the next few days.

One reason for being busy were a number of storm systems which passed through Guam in October. On three occasions, one week apart, we had a forming tropical cyclone pass near Guam, resulting in heavy rain and winds.

The first such storm caught me by surprise. It was passing just to the South of Guam, and we were only expecting 25MPH winds. Before I went to bed, I was outside and the winds seemed a little higher than normal. I sensed something was not right, but there was nothing I could do. After all, the forecast was for winds less than 30MPH, well within the limits of my Spiderbeam and mast.

I woke the next morning to heavy, heavy wind gusts. When I looked outside, this is what I saw:

The winds had folded over my mast – but I was lucky as there was no damage to the antenna at all. In fact, I worked TM2MS on 30m with the antenna in this configuration! I am guessing the winds exceeded 60MPH that morning – ripping up the side of the hill. The mast acted as a fuse of sorts, which kept something else from breaking. It was really pretty easy to fix, with a new section of pipe.

The storm passed to our south and then took a sharp turn to the north again, passing just to the west of the island.

During this period I left the antenna on the ground, to keep it from getting damaged. Amazingly, I was able to work TN2MS on 15m through a large pileup with the antenna sitting on the ground, as well as XZ1Z on a few bands.

I was able to work TN2MS with the antenna sitting in this position. This shows how good this QTH is, also how good the ears of the TN operator was!

We had two other storms pass during October, and I had good practice taking down the antennas and then putting them back up. The Beverage receive antennas also suffered damage, due to falling trees. Fortunately I was able to get everything repaired before the CQWW DX SSB contest.

Cave exploring

October 14, 2013December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

I had a chance to go exploring one of the many caves located on the south side of Nimitz Hill, formerly known as Fonte during the pre-war days. They are off the beaten path, but not hard to find if you know where to look for them. There are many caves in total, but most are small. These caves were used extensively by the Japanese during their defense of Guam following the American landings on July 21, 1944. The northern landing beach was directly below Fonte, and the Japanese had a commanding advantage being on the hilltop and were able to hold back the American advance in this sector for several days. These caves were key to there defense because they provided shelter from both naval bombardment and aerial attacks.

There is a cave located on the east side of Nimitz Hill, just along the road which is a National Park Service site. Originally, this site was said to be the command post of the Japanese army commander, General Takashina. In actuality, this cave was used as a communications station by the Japanese, and it is my belief that the caves, being on the exposed hilltop, would have been too exposed to be used as a HQ position. Any way, these caves were upgraded as fallout shelters in the post-war years for civil defense so they do not even look as they did during the war.

It is quite likely that one of the caves to the south of Nimitz Hill was used as the HQ of General Takashina. Even if they were not, they were absolutely used as shelters by Japanese troops. After five days of heavy fighting, the Marines had barely advanced up the sides of Fonte (Nimitz) Hill. Takashina believed that they were worn out and low on supplies. His plan, executed on the 5th night of the battle, was to amass six battalions (upwards of 5000 or more troops) to directly assault the Marine positions and hopefully push them back into the ocean. The attack was a frenzied one, but ultimately failed with many hundreds of attacking Japanese killed. This effectively turned the tide in the battle, and the Marines were able to capture the high ground the next day. Takashina himself was killed while trying to reposition his remaining troops in Northern Guam with plans to resist as long as possible from the jungle.

Justin stands at the mouth of the largest cave

Looking up after climbing down into the cave, to give the perspective of how large it is.

There are shards of glass everywhere in the cave. The brown pieces are from beer bottles, the light blue/green from sake bottles. American troops recall hearing Japanese forces singing and yelling in a drunken stupor before their attack

Deeper yet, there are lots of bits of decaying debris, like this ration tin and pieces from a leather boot.

In the far back corner, we found this Japanese army gas mask (heavily decayed) along with medicine ampules. The round blue/green piece of glass is from a sake bottle.

Looking up at the mouth of the cave from inside

more bits; a neck of a sake bottle, a light bulb, and a piece of leather from an equipment pouch

Justin is happy after a fun time exploring

In this depression surrounded by small caves, there are drums still catching rain water. It is easy to imagine the soldiers coming out of the caves during lulls in the bombing to get some fresh air

This is a very pretty area of the jungle

Oceania DX contests

October 14, 2013December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

I operated in both the SSB and CW Oceania DX Contests over the past two weekends, as a shakedown to see how I feel and how the new location works. As expected, I felt much better during the CW weekend than SSB, because it’s my favorite mode and uses less effort (for me) than operating phone. The station seems to really work well also – I believe it is ready for the CQWW DX SSB contest later this month.

My scores in the OCDX contest should be enough to win the SOAB category both weekends, and I was able to break my 2010 record by quite a bit during the CW event.

Oceania DX Contest, Phone
Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
——————-
160: 4 4
80: 38 32
40: 175 125
20: 356 236
15: 826 435
10: 418 270
——————-
Total: 1817 1102 Total Score = 5,065,894

Oceania DX Contest, CW

Summary:
Band QSOs Mults
——————-
160: 25 22
80: 315 206
40: 346 241
20: 309 219
15: 646 369
10: 550 314
——————-
Total: 2191 1371 Total Score = 11,833,101

New QTH antennas all complete

October 7, 2013December 29, 2020 Dave Mueller

It took about two months, but I have finally completed all the work installing antennas at my new location. The Spiderbeam went up pretty easily, but the vertical took quite a bit of time to get it to work on 40/80/160, and the Beverages took the longest time, because I had to clear paths through thick jungle.

I got to shake down the station during the Oceania DX SSB contest last weekend. I made just over 1800 QSOs in 17 hours of operating. The location seems to be a winner.

Arrows point NW (Europe and Asia) and NE (North America) from my house. The takeoff toward Europe especially is fantastic. The house is at 560ft ASL.

The arrows show the direction and location of three Beverages I installed. 800ft for NA, 750ft for EU, and 500ft due south for Australia and New Zealand.

The receive antennas are switched remotely from here, with 12 VDC injected in the feed line. This is at the end of a 1000ft run of coax from the house. From here it is about 300ft more to each of the three antenna feed points. There is still plenty of signal so no preamp is needed.

The EU/AS Beverage terminates in an area filled with bamboo. Hopefully the Asian influence helps with receiving in this direction!

I really could have used a flame thrower to make a path through some of the thicker areas. The vines are incredibly difficult to get through – very strong and hourly progress is marked in feet.

The end of my European/Asian receive antenna has a nice view (looking northwest).

Here is the feed point of my low band vertical. The big coil provides loading for 160m. The smaller copper coil is for fine tuning resonance within 160m. The smaller aluminum coil is to match the antenna on 80 and 40m. Band switching can be accomplished remotely through the three vacuum relays.

My transmit antennas are all located at the edge of a 40ft drop-off. 40/80/160m top loaded vertical to the right, Spiderbeam and 6el 6m beam to the left.

Looking south at the house from a rock pillar on the other side of the road.

Looking southwest from the same point toward Orote Point and the Commercial Port showing the dramatic drop offs toward the ocean. The 3rd Marine Division had to fight up these cliffs during the Liberation of Guam. There are shell casings and bullets all over the area (this is NPS property).

Looking northwest from the same location, showing more of the cliff face and drop off.

Disassembling my old Beverage farm

September 25, 2013December 27, 2020 Dave Mueller

We finally got a break in the rain, so I had an opportunity to go back up to my old former QTH and finish removing the six Beverages I had in the jungle there. It’s really a shame to have to take everything down after all the hard work I invested putting them up, but I can reuse the wire, feed point transformers, and even the termination resistors. Due to all the rain, I was able to recover quite a few ground rods as well.

The wind we got last week definitely changed the appearance of the jungle up north. Many branches were down, and the ground was covered with fresh leaves. All my remaining Beverages were felled by trees, with the exception of my trusty EU/JA wire. It survived three years without breaking, even though a tree had fallen on it last week.

It is hard to see in the image, but this is a pandanas tree that fell across one of my Beverages.

I dare say that my former EU/AS Beverage was “magical” – very quiet with excellent performance. I will reinstall this wire as my new EU/AS Beverage here at my new QTH. Hopefully it performs just as well!

Beverage wire and ground rods gathered up and ready to be relocated

I still find random WW2 Japanese beer bottles in the area. This Kirin bottle was sitting under one of my wires. I only found it now after three years, after the wind blew away some ground cover. This area was used as a ranch and was occupied first by Japanese soldiers and later by Marines.

I still have a lot of work to do at the new QTH – the feed and termination of the NA Beverage, to make a path and install the new EU/JA Beverage, and to run almost 1500ft of RG6 coax.

Beverage work started

September 18, 2013December 27, 2020 Dave Mueller

I got started on installing one of two Beverage receive antennas this week. As I thought, it won’t be easy. So far, I have 730ft of 800ft run for a North American Beverage, and it is very difficult to get through the jungle due to the growth. Once I finish the NA wire, I want to install a second one for EU/JA, then run 1100ft or RG6 coax. As from my former QTH, I try to tread lightly – since I plan on removing everything when I transfer next summer.

This is close to the feed point (south west most point) of the NA Beverage. You can see one of my homebrew wire insulators attached to the tree. I make them from 1/2in PVC pipe

The trees are all really small and densely packed together. Makes it difficult to clear a path for the wire so it does not contact anything. I use bare copper clad wire and I see signal attenuation if too much growth gets in contact with the wire.

Easier going through this stretch, a grove of palma brava trees. These are used as ornamental plants in many areas. Some of these are 40ft tall.

I found the above photo in the NPS War in the Pacific Park web site photo gallery archives. It shows the Nimitz Hill area where I live, as it looked in March of 1945. The object at the top of the photo is a float – most likely this photo was taken from a Curtiss SOC Seagull float plane. These planes were most often flown from Cruisers and other large combat ships. The tent city you see is actually the 94th Construction Battalion, a SeaBee unit. They occupied the ground where I am installing my temporary receive antennas today. There are very few remnants left – you can still make out the grid work of access roads, but other than a few pieces of brick and pipe, there is not much else left. This probably explains why the vegetation is so dense – since this is not “old growth” forest. Very little “old growth” forest remains in this area, due to the heavy fighting and extended bombardment during the liberation.

The yellow arrow points toward the northeast (North America) and generally follows the path of the receive wire.

This won’t be easy…

September 13, 2013December 27, 2020 Dave Mueller

I have kept as busy as possible while dealing with chemo side effects which have gotten worse due to their cumulative effect as my treatment continues. I now have resonant antennas for 10-80m, leaving just 160 and 6 to go. Today I spent some time in the jungle adjacent to housing where I hope to install two Beverage receive antennas, one for NA, the other for EU. Unfortunately I don’t have the strength or time to install more, given I will be transferring off island next summer.

It will not be easy going – the growth in the jungle is very dense. Here in central Guam, the jungle is more “jungle like” than northern Guam, which technically is a limestone forest. Up north, the tree canopy and rocky ground keeps low vegetation in check. Here, the red volcanic dirt means anything and everything grows.

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