AmateurRadio.com

Over the summer I managed to ‘do’ 2 out of the 5 available 2m Backpacker contests. These to me are a great opportunity for me to get out on the fells and enjoy a longer spell on a summit with a nice qrp rig and some simple gear. The trouble with contesting is that inevitably you want to do better. So what’s the likely areas for improvement. Well there’s the rig, coax and antenna.

The rig is an ft817 and its not going anywhere fast. I sold once once then instantly regretted it. So it’s not going to be changed in a hurry. Yes it has its problems but frankly it just works and is relatively light so its a keeper.

Coax…Hmm work in progress. RG213 is too heavy, Ecoflex just isn’t flexy enough for summit packing. I’m yet to find the ‘perfect coax’. I’m leaning towards a trial with some Messi & Paoloni Ultraflex 7 as I like Mini 8 as a size but am looking for perfection here kids. This just means a reduction in losses to something as low as reasonably practicable as the saying goes

Antenna. Well I do like my now obsolete Sotabeams SB270 ( A 3 element yagi that lives inside its own plastic boom). Its light and doesn’t get thrown about too much in the wind and has lasted years. Trouble is it’s looking a bit knackered now and 3 elements is a bit short. I bought a 5 element LFA off innovantennas years ago and was really disappointed with the build quality. The elements just weren’t secure enough and it was way too heavy. Too heavy for a UKAC /p so no good for a summit. But it is well designed and the elements are quite light.

So the plan is to change the coax. I’ll do that over the winter. In the mean time I’ve taken a few grams off the yagi.

The boom was very substantial 32mm2 2mm thick Aluminium (note spelling you stupid browser ;-)). The boom weighs in at 1150g as is.Swapping this for 20mm2 1mm thick boom I’m down to 560g. Roughly half the weight. Element clamps have been swapped for the G1YBB method of IML mouldings plates and cheapo pipe clamps

You can see the immediate difference in size. The original beam is clearly made for sticking up at home then forgetting about it, ignoring the defects with this particular one.

Now with the elements added. They simply snap in to the pipe clamps and are held in place without any bother.

We’ll see how easy it is to carry up the Old Man of Coniston next year but at 1240g it is nearly 500g lighter than the original with the same RF performance.

I bought 2 pieces of aluminium and have a larger 2m and 70cm DK7ZB yagi that needs the same treatment (I went the other way this time, it was too light and flimsy) that I’ll give a run out during the Christmas Cumulative content

At the weekend it was the Region 1 144MHz contest and as always I tuned around to see what I could hear. I worked a few Gs as well as ON/PA/F stations all around 300-400km distant.

On Sunday morning, I tuned around quickly and heard a weak French station. It turned out to be F5OAU/P who, I could see from the last time I worked him was in JN27. I turned the beam down that way and called him running my usual 50W. No reply – which was fair enough – he was quite weak.

I decided to fire up the 4CX350A amplifier, now correctly wired up (see earlier post!) and see if I could raise him. I called him on SSB and though he could hear me, he was obviously struggling. Switched to CW and suddenly he could copy me quite easily. Excellent – a distance of just under 700km, We exchanged details and I was just sending him 73s on the key when….

…it all went quiet! Had a relay stuck? No.

Bypassed the amp and connected the antenna straight into the back of the rig – no sign of any stations or GB3VHF. Ah. Tried another rig. Same.

Oh dear.

I’d thought that my trusty 5el yagi on the roof was rated at 500W, but apparently not! I was running about 300W, which would have probably been ok on SSB, but I suspect on CW, was a little too much. I’m guessing there’s a capacitor in the gamma match, or rather, there was a capacitor in the gamma match.

Unfortunately, getting the antenna off the mast isn’t that straightforward, but Justin G4TSH has kindly volunteered to come and help (I am not a fan of ladders, sadly).

The exciting thing, however, is that a new antenna is on the way; a 6el LFA yagi from the team at Innovantennas – I have been talking to Justin G0KSC for a while and it nice to be able to give one of his designs a try out – I’m really looking forward to it. I’m particularly interested that Justin’s designs are claimed to be low noise and I have been plagued by some quite low-level but troublesome noise, a particular pain with weak signals and low level meteor bursts – so we’ll see how it goes.

It is now official: I have a fixed amateur radio station in Taiwan. Very interesting that the licence shows both my name and call, which wasn’t the case in the past.

Yesterday another gruelling teaching semester has started. Like so many I need to put extra effort and energy in my work just to be able to keep the job I have. Apart from that, I need to work on my physical well-being also (being 45 and all), so I have joined my kids in their Taekwondo class. It is going to be busy and tiring for the next half year. The little time I have to myself I’m going to spend in the shack, not behind the computer. So, I’m going to be quiet for while, not writing anything except for the occasional entry in the diary on my own web site. But who knows, maybe we will meet on air before I return here. 73 from Taiwan.

For the long Labor Day weekend, Joyce (K0JJW) and I headed to the cabin in the mountains. My main objective was to work the Colorado QSO Party. See previous post.

When in the mountains, I try to remember to monitor 146.52 MHz. You never know who might show up on that frequency…some of the locals chatting, a mobile station passing through, people camping or…a SOTA (Summits On The Air) station.

Sure enough, on Saturday, I heard Eric (W0ECE) calling from the summit of Mount Evans on 146.52 MHz. Joyce and I gave him a SOTA contact (and I got a new county for the CO QSO Party). Then, on Sunday morning, we heard Dave (KI6YMZ) calling from the summit of Mount Shavano, also on 146.52 MHz. We were mobile at the time and both of us worked Dave to give him two contacts. Then on Monday morning, again listening to 146.52 MHz, we heard Bob (AD6QF) on Quandary Peak. We handed out two more contacts.

Sometime on Monday morning, we started thinking of doing a hike. That led to the idea of hiking up Kaufman Ridge North (W0/SP-085), a SOTA peak about 2 miles from our cabin. It had not been activated before,  so that seemed like a good idea.

Except for the fact that I did not bring along any of my SOTA gear. (Note to self: whenever you are in the mountains, take along the SOTA gear.) I scrounged around the cabin and found a dualband HT with fully charged battery. Unfortunately, the only antenna was the rubber duck. (The World’s Most Convenient Crummy Antenna.)

Oh, what the heck, we gave it a try anyway. It was an easy climb to the summit. I got out the HT and called on 146.52 MHz. I quickly got a reply from Ben (KD0ELP) and Mark (KE0P). A little more calling and I raised Jerry (N0VXE) in Salida, CO. To get the minimum four contacts, I tried calling on two of the local repeaters and found Dave (K0HTX) who QSY’d to 446.00 MHz for a simplex contact with me. That made it an official SOTA activation, so we headed down the mountain.

A good weekend for SOTA activity. Keep listening on 146.52 MHz.

73, Bob K0NR

Magnum 257 (Radio Shack HTX-10)

I was sitting in the living room Saturday morning, turned my Magnum-257 10 meter rig on, and spun the dial to see if there was any activity.  To my surprise, there was.  Now, this is the older version of the 257, which makes it basically a RS HTX-10.  25 Watts on USB, and minimal features.  Connected to the Magnum is a very simple wire antenna, thrown into a tree close to the apartment, and a counterpoise out on the roof.  I heard IK6CWQ calling from Italy.  I picked up the mic, and responded, not expecting to be heard, and was surprised when he acknowledged. Not bad for this meatball setup I have.  I tried another Italian station I heard calling, but at that point news of the opening caused a bit of a pileup, which I just couldn’t dig my way through with the Magnum.  Still, I was pleased with the one contact.  The opening dropped out pretty soon after that.

My first HF contact ever was on that radio.  Back in January, when I first bought it, I drove to the South Shore here on Long Island and parked near the ocean.  Using the Magnum with a modified 11 meter whip, my first contact was with France, followed by a 10 minute rag-chew with a ham in New Mexico.  I wish every other new ham such good luck!  Since that day, I have made 30 additional contacts on that rig.  Usually from near the highest point on Long Island (a whopping 400 feet AMSL!), or near the ocean.  I’m definitely keeping the Magnum.  No matter what else I invest in, it has sentimental value now.

Worked a new one for me.

I heard 5N7M from Nigeria on 30 Meters and it took a little doing; but I got an answer for my efforts. Nigeria is a new one for me – never worked ’em before – via QRP.

This brings me up to (I believe) 112 DXCC entities worked via QRP and somewhere in the neighborhood of 138 DXCC entities worked over all.  I really have to do a serious recap accounting one of these days.

As hot as 12 Meters was on Saturday, the bands seemed pretty crummy yesterday and today. And that was matched by the weather here in Central NJ.  I participated, along with my CERT Team, in providing communications for the South Plainfield Annual Labor Day Parade and got downpoured on twice. And like the Ham that I am, I was more concerned about the radios getting wet than me! Fortunately, that was quite early in the morning; and by the time the parade kicked off, it was only overcast, with no precipitation.

Our annual fireworks display should kick off in about an hour and a half, really signalling the end of summer.  While it’s been a pretty crummy year so far, personally, I still hate to see summer come to an end.  It’s my most favorite season of all.  But the nights are getting longer; and the maple in the back yard is already starting to shed its first leaves.

Time stands still for no man.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!

From the KX3 e-mail reflector (posted today). And this sounds very interesting:

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Just a note to advertise a Special Event Station scheduled for 1600 UTC to 2400 UTC on 19 September 2012 – a hairbrained scheme launched too late to meet the printed matter deadlines.

Further details at www.qrz.com under call sign K2N. Bottom line: An eight (8) hour QRP CW-only special event aboard the only floating American WW II destroyer escort in the world that has been restored to its original 1945 wartime condition. We will operate two – possibly three – barefoot Elecraft KX3 transceivers and our antennas will consist of the authentically restored maritime verticals and horizontal wires. That means 70 and 80 foot wire verticals on the port and starboard sides; 100 and 190 foot long wires running amidships toward the fantail. We’ve already run a test and the KX3 internal ATU loads to 1:1 with no complaints whatsover on 40 through 6 meters inclusive. Our counterpoise is to die for — a 1200 ton navy warship floating in the Hudson River at the Port of Albany, New York.

If everything goes according to plan, we also expect to have pre-production versions of the new Begali “Adventure” paddle to field test. Two iambic paddles and one non-iambic mono version. The “Adventure” is designed to mate directly with the KX3 – or – sit in its base for use with any other transceiver.

So, if you are interested in working an historic ship then please mark your calendar as per www.qrz.com. We will QSL as per www.qrz.com with a nice postcard of the USS Slater (DE-766). 

73, Stan WB2LQF www.wb2lqf.com

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That’s the middle of the week – on a Wednesday.  But they will run until 8:00 PM that evening, so I stand a chance after getting home from work.  I would like to nab this one!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP – When you care to send the very least!