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Today’s QSO was a very pleasant 20 minute rag chew with Gene N5GW. Gene and I have worked each other countless times, but to be honest with you, the majority of our conversations have sounded something like this:

N5GW DE W2LJ UR 559 NJ 5W
W2LJ DE N5GW TU UR 559 MS 5W
N5GW DE W2LJ TNX 72 DE W2LJ QRZ?

But as I stated before, today we had an actual conversation – no QRP Sprint exchange …. for a change!

And this time, Gene was not in Mississippi, he was in Tennessee, on vacation on the Cumberland Plateau.  Gene and his XYL are enjoying the mountains, and having a gold old time. Gene brought along his IC-7000 and strung up a wire antenna in an oak tree outside their cabin. Gene had a good 589 signal into New Jersey, and I got a 559/569 report in return.

Gene had the good fortune of having a good antenna (even though it’s temporary), and high elevation. That combination gave him a winning signal.

It’s always a delight to actually converse with guys that I’ve only held brief QSOs with. QRP is not just contesting and sprints. It’s also very much getting to know the other guy, just like in the other niches of Amateur Radio. And this is the better part, because this is where the lasting friendships are made.

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

This afternoon I took a quick walk up the range road and into one of David Swain’s back fields. I worked France, New Mexico and Croatia.

The range road runs north from Hunkins Pond Road in Sanbornton… not far from where I live. I walked up about half a mile and then turned right toward the Dearborn farm. I stopped in Swain’s field.

The view was fantastic… to the south is the Belknap range. The grass is pretty high and David is doing the second hay cutting on his fields now.

At the edge of the field I tossed a wire into a maple tree. I sat right down in the grass along the stone wall and set up the KX3. I used a 33 foot wire with the earchi.org 9:1 unun.

I started out on 15 meters and answered Ollie F5IAE as soon as I turned on the rig. He was 579 and gave me a 559. “FB JOB UR NICE QRP,” he sent before signing.

Then I called Paul KW7D in New Mexico. He had just finished a contact with Ireland, and he gave me a 579. We chatted for a minute before saying goodbye.

Then I switched to 17 meters and heard Kiko 9A4WY in Croatia calling CQ. He gave me a 559 and was a strong 599. In all I made the 3 contacts in about 15 minutes.

I packed up the gear and headed back.

How fortunate to live in the countryside and have so many beautiful places from which to make radio contacts! To walk and bike through the hills, lane ways and fields of New Hampshire is a real privilege. And thanks to all of you who listen a bit harder for weak stations and make it all so rewarding.

Today I worked several light house stations mainly on 40 meter. I worked EA1WD on 20m with BPSK63. Earlier today propagation wasn't great, sometimes I doubt if the antenna is okay. But there is nothing wrong with my antenna. ;-) Tonight 40m was in a good shape. With BPSK31 I worked Jaap LA/PA5JD/P we had a nice chat. He lives normally nearby (Egmond-binnen) that's only 5 km from my village.

He works in Norway for a year as a cheese maker. We never met before. I also worked: DJ2PW, R6DD, G6BFP, UB2FAB, ES6JAN, OK1DOZ, S51UZ, DK0EPC and DL2ALY/LH. Enough for today.

This afternoon I rode my bike from East Andover to Dyers Crossing. I worked Cuba, Elba Island, Moscow, Tino Island and Slovenia.

I rode about 2 miles and turned off the trail onto an old road. Crossing the brook was a one-lane bridge. It was blocked off to traffic.

I walked out onto the bridge and heaved a 33 foot wire into a maple tree overhanging the bridge and sat down. I operated for 15 minutes on 17 meters and 20 meters. I used the KX3 at 5 watts. Both bands were in great shape. Here’s my log:

17 Aug-13  2042  18.077   CO8LY              CW 599 599 Cuba
17 Aug-13  2043  18.078   IA5/IZ5NFD   CW 599 599 Elba Island
17 Aug-13  2054  14.011   UA5C                 CW 599 599 Moscow
17 Aug-13  2055  14.012   IP1T                   CW 579 599 Tino Isl Light
17 Aug-13  2100  18.070   S51WO             CW 599 599 Slovenia

Tino Island Lighthouse – Italy

The afternoon was really perfect… about 75F and sunny. Ideal for a bike ride
through the fields and woods of New Hampshire. Working a little DX is
all I need to make the afternoon completely memorable.

At the Dayton Hamvention, I had picked up the Buddistick™ Deluxe Package portable HF antenna. This antenna is very popular with the Summits On The Air crowd and other QRP enthusiasts. Usually when I am doing SOTA activations, its all about VHF. But being a self-proclaimed HF Slacker, I might get on HF sometime from a summit, so having a Buddistick available seems like a good idea.

I decided I better check this thing out to see if I can make it work on our back deck.

The Buddistick Deluxe Package

After actually reading the instructions, I assembled the antenna and used the clamp mount to attach the antenna on our deck railing. I strung the single radial out on the deck to the recommended length and connected up the transceiver using a short length of RG-8X cable.

Then I used the “by ear” tuning technique to set the tap on the antenna coil. You basically just run the tap down the coil to find the spot that produces the highest noise level at the transceiver.  I checked the match using the built-in SWR meter in the Yaesu FT-817 and verified that it was good.

The tapped tuning coil

At first, I tried 20 Meters and discovered an S6 noise level. Not good. Retuning the antenna, I moved up to 15 Meters and found the noise level to be much lower. I also heard a few strong stations working the North American QSO Party.

The mighty Yaesu FT-817 transceiver

I tuned around on the SSB portion of the band and found Bob N4BP calling CQ Contest so I gave him a quick call. He came back to me right away and I gave him the contest exchange of name and state. QSL and I was in his log, no problem! I heard N8II calling and repeated the same exchange, no sweat.

Hey, this QRP stuff really works!

So that was a great first experience with the Buddistick. Now I need to try it from a summit.

73, Bob K0NR

I’ve not done much with FO-29 so far. With the FT817 being half duplex, I’m a little wary of transmitting much, as it would be easy to interfere inadvertently, with another QSO. Having said that, some simple QSOs are readily possible.

The other day, I had an idea. With the lovely old FT790 that I bought for not a lot off eBay last year, could I use that in conjunction with the FT817 and a duplexer and make a full duplex portable station?

The key would be how good the FT790 receiver would be. This morning, FO-29 was passing over to the west, so I hooked up the 790 to the Elk and had a listen. It seemed to work fine. I heard many stations on the pass: G4DOL, GW1FKY, EA3LW, EA8HB and several others whose calls I’ve forgotten. In fact, I got the impression that I was hearing the satellite better than some others.

I think I will try a duplexer and see if I can make this work. De-sense may be a problem perhaps, and physically managing both the FT817 and FT790 may be a challenge.

It’s got to be worth a go! Also, it will be nice to use FT790 in ‘anger’, rather than just sitting on the bench looking nice.