Posts Tagged ‘portable qrp’

Portable Ops 7/45: Windy, Windy, Windy…

If there is one thing Kansas is known for, its the wind!  Today was no exception!  We had 26 mph steady winds with gusts to 30-40 mph.  This was really bending the old 31′ Jackite over!  At one point one of the lower sections unleashed and fell into the bottom section during a QSO.  I was able to complete the QSO and then get out of the car and fix the antenna!

Today I continued my quest for more SKCC members, and I was not disappointed.  20 meters was great today for me – working from coast to coast from my normal spot in the park.

I started calling CQ on 14.054…

KA2KGP (1494T): came back to my CQ with a 549 report and some QSB from New York.  He was 599.  If you check out Tom’s QRZ page you will read what he told me, and that is that he is deaf.  How amazing is that to work a deaf member of our ham radio community on CW.  QSB got him a bit, but I believe he said that CW is his main mode since he can’t hear voice.  Tom had a nice fist as well!

K4DJ (11060S): came back to my next CQ with a 569 report from North Carolina.  Rich wished me luck in my pursuit of the Centurion SKCC award.  He was running 75 watts on his end.

W1FJI/p (2182): I was tuning around and heard a very faint CQ about 14.054, about a RST of 539, but very weak.  I got his call, so I answered and Art gave me a 559 in return from Massachusetts.  Art was portable either from his car or a park, not sure.  He was running 3 watts – so this was a nice 2xQRP contact.

NS3C (8284T): Richard and I connected on the SKCC Sked page and met at 14.054 – he answered my CQ.  I had worked Richard last week I believe.  This time he was on his KX3 as well in California.  He had a great signal into Kansas.  So this was a nice 2xQRP and 2xKX3 contact!  Thanks Richard!

After that my 60 minutes was up and it was time to head back to the office.  At the pace I am going I think I will reach my goal of 45 portable operation outings much earlier than expected!

After today I am at 17 unique SKCC members worked.  I hope to work at least for a bit Wednesday night in the monthly sprint, but not sure I will be able to leave the kids and wife for 2 hours solid!

Portable Ops 7/45: Windy, Windy, Windy…

If there is one thing Kansas is known for, its the wind!  Today was no exception!  We had 26 mph steady winds with gusts to 30-40 mph.  This was really bending the old 31′ Jackite over!  At one point one of the lower sections unleashed and fell into the bottom section during a QSO.  I was able to complete the QSO and then get out of the car and fix the antenna!

Today I continued my quest for more SKCC members, and I was not disappointed.  20 meters was great today for me – working from coast to coast from my normal spot in the park.

I started calling CQ on 14.054…

KA2KGP (1494T): came back to my CQ with a 549 report and some QSB from New York.  He was 599.  If you check out Tom’s QRZ page you will read what he told me, and that is that he is deaf.  How amazing is that to work a deaf member of our ham radio community on CW.  QSB got him a bit, but I believe he said that CW is his main mode since he can’t hear voice.  Tom had a nice fist as well!

K4DJ (11060S): came back to my next CQ with a 569 report from North Carolina.  Rich wished me luck in my pursuit of the Centurion SKCC award.  He was running 75 watts on his end.

W1FJI/p (2182): I was tuning around and heard a very faint CQ about 14.054, about a RST of 539, but very weak.  I got his call, so I answered and Art gave me a 559 in return from Massachusetts.  Art was portable either from his car or a park, not sure.  He was running 3 watts – so this was a nice 2xQRP contact.

NS3C (8284T): Richard and I connected on the SKCC Sked page and met at 14.054 – he answered my CQ.  I had worked Richard last week I believe.  This time he was on his KX3 as well in California.  He had a great signal into Kansas.  So this was a nice 2xQRP and 2xKX3 contact!  Thanks Richard!

After that my 60 minutes was up and it was time to head back to the office.  At the pace I am going I think I will reach my goal of 45 portable operation outings much earlier than expected!

After today I am at 17 unique SKCC members worked.  I hope to work at least for a bit Wednesday night in the monthly sprint, but not sure I will be able to leave the kids and wife for 2 hours solid!

Getting My Radio Fix – QRP Portable Today!

I was finally able to sneak off at lunch time for some quick portable QRP op’s with the KX3 and my Portable QRP Antenna from the local park.

I did a quick scan of the bands when I got there, and made one quick contact with a mobile station…

N7IV/M 14.056 599 both ways.  I am not exactly sure where he was, but had a little pileup going. (UPDATE: I found him on APRS – I appears he was in Wisconsin)

Then I decided to just plant myself on a frequency and call CQ to see what happened.  I spotted myself on Twitter hoping to maybe make contact with a Twitter follower.  VA3QV sent me a Tweet and said he was listening but could not hear me.

But I did manage to get some replies to my CQ on 14.057!

W4FO Pat in Florida
KD3CA Don in Pennsylvania
W9DCQ Doug in Wisconsin
WD9DWE Dennis in Indiana

Thanks for the QSO’s guys!

I then decided to spin the dial a bit.  I heard W1AW/0 in ND, but could not break the pileup.  It sounded like he was working some DX but I could not hear the DX.

Then I went to 17 meters and worked…

W1AW/8 in Ohio – it took a bit to bust the pileup, but I finally made it!

So a fun lunch hour on the radio today!  Thanks to everyone that worked me, and to those on Twitter that tried to work me.  It was a fun adventure.

Here is where I was spotted by RBN:

One strange thing did happen today at the park.  A car pulled into a parking spot about 6 spots away from me.  There were a couple guys in the car.  On the trunk was mounted a large antenna with a wide spaced coil.  I suspect it was a CB radio antenna.  The problem was that they were talking on it!  Every time the talked I got a loud static noise on my rig.  I wonder if they were hearing my 5 watts also??
Eventually they left, but gave me a long slow look as they drove past – pretty funny – but I was glad they left because they kept messing up my QSO’s!

Getting My Radio Fix – QRP Portable Today!

I was finally able to sneak off at lunch time for some quick portable QRP op’s with the KX3 and my Portable QRP Antenna from the local park.

I did a quick scan of the bands when I got there, and made one quick contact with a mobile station…

N7IV/M 14.056 599 both ways.  I am not exactly sure where he was, but had a little pileup going. (UPDATE: I found him on APRS – I appears he was in Wisconsin)

Then I decided to just plant myself on a frequency and call CQ to see what happened.  I spotted myself on Twitter hoping to maybe make contact with a Twitter follower.  VA3QV sent me a Tweet and said he was listening but could not hear me.

But I did manage to get some replies to my CQ on 14.057!

W4FO Pat in Florida
KD3CA Don in Pennsylvania
W9DCQ Doug in Wisconsin
WD9DWE Dennis in Indiana

Thanks for the QSO’s guys!

I then decided to spin the dial a bit.  I heard W1AW/0 in ND, but could not break the pileup.  It sounded like he was working some DX but I could not hear the DX.

Then I went to 17 meters and worked…

W1AW/8 in Ohio – it took a bit to bust the pileup, but I finally made it!

So a fun lunch hour on the radio today!  Thanks to everyone that worked me, and to those on Twitter that tried to work me.  It was a fun adventure.

Here is where I was spotted by RBN:

One strange thing did happen today at the park.  A car pulled into a parking spot about 6 spots away from me.  There were a couple guys in the car.  On the trunk was mounted a large antenna with a wide spaced coil.  I suspect it was a CB radio antenna.  The problem was that they were talking on it!  Every time the talked I got a loud static noise on my rig.  I wonder if they were hearing my 5 watts also??
Eventually they left, but gave me a long slow look as they drove past – pretty funny – but I was glad they left because they kept messing up my QSO’s!

QRP 1,000 Miles per Watt….from the Campground

KX3 bathed in light from my red headlamp

The kids are starting back to school this week, so we thought we would get in one more family outing before life gets crazy.  So last week we went camping from Wednesday morning until Saturday morning.  Its great to be at the campground during the week – almost nobody else is there!

It rained every night – the days were hot and humid.  We spent most afternoons out on the lake in my Dads boat he loaned to use – nice and cool with lots of swimming and tubing.

Friday night I had time to play radio!  I setup the KX3 running on internal batteries on the picnic table.  Hooked up the portable QRP antenna that I lashed up to the canopy and I was off to the races.

I used my headlamp with a red light to see what I was writing and the radio controls.  This worked exceptionally well – and kept the bugs away.  I have used the white light before and it really draws in the bugs!

When I turned the rig on it was on 20 meters – I expected it to be dead since it was about 03:45 UTC (10:45 PM local) – but I immediately heard signals.  As I tuned around, I was hearing DX everywhere!

I listened to some of the exchanges, and could tell it was a contest – RST and Serial was the exchange.  Turns out it was the Worked All Europe HF Contest.

So I dove into the mix and started pouncing!  Wow it was fun….

UA7K – Russia (I think, could not find in QRZ)
UW2M – Ukraine (1,172 miles per watt)
UT0U – Ukraine (1, 134 miles per watt)
AI6O – California
K1XM – Massachusetts
UY5ZZ – Ukraine (1,115 miles per watt)
RW1A – Russia (1,091 miles per watt)
RM5D – Russia (1,091 miles per watt)
YP9W – Romania (1,139 miles per watt)
HA8VV – Germany (1,055 miles per watt)
S57DX – Slovenia (1,054 miles per watt)
HG7T – Hungary (1,091 miles per watt)
HG8R – Hungary (1,115 miles per watt)
DJ5MW – Germany (1,004 miles per watt)
SN6A – Poland (1,019 miles per watt)

I finally shut it down at 05:21 (12:21 AM local time) – but the band was still hoping.  I did tune around 40 meters and heard some signals, but the antenna just needs to be longer for good 40 meter operation.

What a blast!  Almost everyone came back to me on the first call – only 3 times did I have to repeat my call.  Everyone I called, I worked!

It was fascinating to think about working Russia and Ukraine with all the tensions in that part of the world right now – guys are still having fun playing with the radio.

I am really enjoying dipping my toe into these contests – it is a great way to work a bunch of stations – and some DX to boot.

Nick KE0ATH working 2 meters

Nick (KE0ATH) also did some operating on 2 meters using a collapsible portable J-pole that we built together.  He had a blast.  He is working on putting together a go-box 2 meter station for camping and outdoor adventures.

Be sure and check out, and subscribe to my YouTube channel – I am working on several more videos – stay tuned!

Lunchtime Portable – It’s been a while!

After reading about Mike, VE3WDM going portable, it got my blood pumping to get back out for some lunch time QRP operations!

So last night I tracked down the coax and put the gear in the Pilot.  It has cooled off a bit this week, it was only 83 deg here when I arrived at the park.  I quickly got the Portable QRP Antenna put up and was on the air!

I worked a total of 6 stations during my one hour of operation.  20 meters was decent stateside, but 17 meters was a disappointment.  17 meters has typically been my favorite band for some lunch time DX!

Here is the run down of todays activity:

W1AW/9 20 meters into Indiana
KW7D 17 meters Paul in New Mexico

I called CQ and…

K7TAN answered me – Don was in Idaho, we had a brief QSO which was nice.

Then back to search and pounce…

K6TW was activating W6/CT-003 Mt. San Antonio which is east of Los Angeles.  I would really like to be a SOTA activator sometime!

W1AW/9 this time on 17 meters

and finally…

W0FV was calling CQ on 20 meters and was very loud!  Doug was in Grand Junction, CO – we had a brief contact as he gave me a 359 RST.  Thanks for pulling me out Doug!

Then it was time to head back to work, so I quickly pulled everything down and headed back to the office.

Another fun lunch time portable QRP session in the books!

From Russia with Love…

Its been to many months since my last lunch time QRP session!  Finally had a warm day with no work activities over lunch so I headed out to my favorite park and had a blast!!

As soon as I turned the KX3 on I heard…

KC2EE calling CQ on 14.060 – we exchanged 559 reports – he was in Houston, TX. Working Sid brought back the great feeling of sending some CW – although I was rusty!

Then I went on to work…

NA6MG was spotted on SOTA GOAT, so I tuned to 18.090 and there he was coming in at 599.  Dan was on W6/CT-231.

OH4MDY was calling CQ on 18.075 and was a solid 599 here.  I had to call a couple times, but finally made it.  Retu was in Finland!

Next up was my best DX yet!

R7LA – Vasily was calling CQ on 24.893 with no takers.  He really had to work to pull my callsign out, but then it seemed to get better.  He copied my well after getting my call, so the conditions must have improved.  He gave me a 559 and he was 599 here.  He must have pulled up my QRZ page while on air because he told me that my QRP signal was FB!  What a hoot!  Thanks Vasily for pulling my 5 watts out of the mud, you made my day!

Not that spring is here, I will be operating much more at lunch time.  I am still working on getting my home station set up.  Antenna is ready, I just need to get it in the attic!  I really want to start working some digital modes from home.  I think they might work best because of the loud interference I experience there.  We will see.


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