Momobeam and the Monteverde Contest Team
As is often the case, success stories are the result of the work of people who believe in what they do and who base their relationships on trust and human relations.
This also applies to the collaboration that has arisen between various players of the D4C – Monteverde Contest Team and the antenna manufacturer Momombeam. After an acquaintance meeting through common friendships, the D4C group immediately believed in the competence of Momobeam, in the person of Giuseppe Spano’, who was willing to accept an important challenge for a young company such as his: to build antennas sufficiently robust and with performance adapted to the needs of this contest station.
This was the starting point for an intensive exchange of information about the characteristics of both the site and the antennas that the group was looking for.
Indeed, the weather conditions at D4C are extreme, as the station is located on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean at 750m above sea level, with daily extremes of wind, salt and humidity. Momobeam, for its part, immediately set about verifying the simulations provided by the Monteverde Contest Club. After an interesting and intense development period, it moved on to the final production phase with the relevant tests on the pylons that the company owns to verify consistency with what was simulated. The Heavy Duty line was born! All materials were then promptly made available to the D4C team, which had to overcome anticipated and unforeseen obstacles to have them available in Cape Verde. The transports are regularly made by ship, which, however, also due to a complicated situation, did not have ideal safe transport conditions directly to the destination island for a few months.
The timing meant that the antennas arrived close to the CW WPX SSB contest. The clear objective was to have all the antennas operational to participate in that contest. Once on site and after organising everything necessary (customs, logistics, etc.), the assembly of 14 yagis of the HD model began. It was phenomenally simple to assemble: all hardware well separated in dedicated plastic bags, all elements precisely pre-drilled for easy on-site clamping, all booms clearly demarcated and plate positions clearly visible, in short, antennas that do not need a tape measure for assembly. Although assembly was intuitive, a detailed manual was provided for each type of antenna. Fortunately, the fine weather favoured an assembly within the planned time frame of a maximum of 9 days, and the contest started regularly. The results are exciting and fully reward the efforts made. This is a victory for everyone and what has been achieved so far solidifies the partnership. We are already working on new ideas and having the D4C station as a study bench, we are convinced that there will be new successes from which both parties will benefit.
Andrea Bianchi HB9DUR
D4C Monteverde Contest Team
