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RAC Winter contest was a bust!!
20 December 2025 | by 
I was very disappointed, but I wanted to err on the side of caution. This weekend was the running of the RAC Winter contest, which is very well attended. I get a lot of practice running in this contest, and it is a great help in my contesting journey. Unfortunately, the weather forecast put a damper on the weekend contest. For our area, high winds were forecast up to 100 km/h along with rain that could turn into freezing rain. My antenna, the Hustler 4BTV, according to DX Engineering, is rated for winds up to 88 km/h. At the best of times, I don’t like to venture even close to that number with my antenna. This weekend it “could” reach 100 km/h, and then add to that the possibility of freezing rain. This weather event was to start on Friday and run until Saturday evening.
I have the ability to tilt the antenna down and secure it, which is what I did. Being retired now and on a fixed income, to replace the antenna would be about $600.00 with tax and shipping. I am not in a position to drop that kind of money because I decided to leave the antenna up and see what happens. Eventually, I would like to get the Butternut HF6V, as it can withstand winds up to 130 km/h. For the most part, other than a hurricane, I could leave it up without worry. At this point in time, that antenna is way out of our budget for a hobby.
The antenna will go back vertical on Sunday, and it lives for another day on the air, pushing out CW. It did give me more time on the weekend to spend working on my python coding projects for ham radio.
As a side note my participation in the contest would not had been as heavy as like in days gone by. We found out 2 weeks ago that my wife Julie has cancer. Things worked out great in that all with in a 2 week period she was able to see a specialist and then see a cancer surgeon and then have surgery as well. She had her operation on Wednesday and is now at home. We shall now see what the next steps are, but for now we are just enjoying Christmas.
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RAC Winter contest was a bust!!
I was very disappointed, but I wanted to err on the side of caution. This weekend was the running of the RAC Winter contest, which is very well attended. I get a lot of practice running in this contest, and it is a great help in my contesting journey. Unfortunately, the weather forecast put a damper on the weekend contest. For our area, high winds were forecast up to 100 km/h along with rain that could turn into freezing rain. My antenna, the Hustler 4BTV, according to DX Engineering, is rated for winds up to 88 km/h. At the best of times, I don’t like to venture even close to that number with my antenna. This weekend it “could” reach 100 km/h, and then add to that the possibility of freezing rain. This weather event was to start on Friday and run until Saturday evening.
I have the ability to tilt the antenna down and secure it, which is what I did. Being retired now and on a fixed income, to replace the antenna would be about $600.00 with tax and shipping. I am not in a position to drop that kind of money because I decided to leave the antenna up and see what happens. Eventually, I would like to get the Butternut HF6V, as it can withstand winds up to 130 km/h. For the most part, other than a hurricane, I could leave it up without worry. At this point in time, that antenna is way out of our budget for a hobby.
The antenna will go back vertical on Sunday, and it lives for another day on the air, pushing out CW. It did give me more time on the weekend to spend working on my python coding projects for ham radio.
As a side note my participation in the contest would not had been as heavy as like in days gone by. We found out 2 weeks ago that my wife Julie has cancer. Things worked out great in that all with in a 2 week period she was able to see a specialist and then see a cancer surgeon and then have surgery as well. She had her operation on Wednesday and is now at home. We shall now see what the next steps are, but for now we are just enjoying Christmas.
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