Ostrich
Not much special going on lately. Worked some SKCC members, spent some time on 6 meters and worked my first station over 3000 km there. My weather station always seems to be in need of repair and my website’s CMS needed upgrading. Oh yes, there is the daytime job, too. Busy, busy, busy.
But, my wife was so nice to bring me a 2.6 meter telescopic whip from one of her trips to China. And so, last Saturday afternoon, while my little girl was horseback riding, I took the KX3 and MP1 with the new whip for a spin. The longer whip proved okay, although now the loading coil is much too large. Without the coil the whip needs to be shortened to be resonant on 12 meters and lower. I made four QSOs: HL0HQ (the KARL HQ station), JD1BLY (from Ogasawara), 7M2ALZ and JL1NMB. The resident ostrich took interest in my setup and decided the counterpoise set was a nice toy to play with and so he took it from me. Who said QRP is not dangerous? Power levels may be low, but those beaks do have a lot of force in them.