Posts Tagged ‘Portable’
Portable Ops in Comfort
April 16th, 2023 | 
Author: Towable Shack
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| Working my rolling shack portable station from air-con comfort |
We've had a few RV's over the years, but for some reason I've never thought to operate from inside the RV. I have always tossed a wire over a tree and operated from a picnic table or from my camp chair, as here...
But I thought, "Hey, I have a 12v power supply built-into the RV and the built-in ladder makes a nice solid mount for an antenna mast."
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| Early try with a military fiberglass pole mast |
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| Now I use a Flagpole Buddy with a 30 foot telescoping mast |
Here's a link to the flagpole buddy... link
Our RV has a Converter / Inverter with a spare 25 amp 12v circuit. I tapped into that and ran a power pole wire to the dinette table.
The camper had a coax outlet to watch a TV outside the camper... that's obnoxious. So I cut the cable TV coax and crimped on a UHF connector, and ran that to the dinette table. I simply attach my coax from outside the camper to cable TV coax adapter to get the antenna connection inside the camper. Wallah, coax through the wall with no drilling. The cable TV coax run from the dinette to the wall outlet is only a couple feet so it's not really impacting the impedance of the coax run to the antenna.
I've tried a couple of antenna's and have settled on my end-fed 44 foot wire fed with a 9:1 balun and some clip on radials. I pull the antenna wire through top end of the telescoping mast with kite string, counter-weighted with a heavy sinker. That keeps the wire taught from the end-fed point up to the top of the mast and out at an angle.
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| Gone RF fishing with a 30 foot pole and a big sinker. |
The Elecraft KX3 and Ten-Tec Eagle will both match a bent spoon with their auto-tuners and have no trouble with the end-fed on 40m and above.
For a portable key I use my Palm Radio Single paddle. Either magnetically attached to the steel side of the Eagle or just held with one hand while operating with the KX3.
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| Palm Radio Single Paddle |
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| On the Eagle the Palm Radio Single magnetically attaches to the side |
One thing I find interesting about operating while "camping" (if you call towing a small house to a campground camping) is that I seem to also work a suprising number of other stations that are operating from a campground.
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| Note the power and antenna connections under the table |
The KX3 can stay on the dinette and doesn't take much room. Keeping the footprint small and the earbuds in, keeps the XYL happy when operating during an outing.
I worked a number of stations on 40m, 30m, 20m and 10m this weekend. It's always fun to tell a station that you are portable, even if you are essentially operating in your home away from home.
Thats all for now.
Lower your power and raise your expectations
Rich AA4OO HamRadioQRP.com
Do You Travel? Don’t Forget Your Ham Gear! – ETH087
In this episode of the Everything Ham Radio Podcast, we talk with Vance Martin, N3VEM, about how he takes his Ham Radio Equipment with him when he goes on business trips. If you travel at all, you know the boringness of sitting in a hotel room after working all day, right? Maybe it is a new city, or maybe you have to be up early and don’t want to “go out” and be out late so you are able to function the next day.
So why not take your ham radio equipment with you while you travel and use that down time to make some contacts? This can also give you a chance to get out of your shack and get some fresh air and make some contacts to boot.
Vance and I talk about everything from what he does before he leaves, to what to do at the airport to how he operates while he has down time while traveling. Check out the show notes and listen to the episode by following the link below:
Arduino Projects for Amateur Radio with Glen Popiel – ETH072
Do you want to get back to the original roots of Amateur Radio? Maybe you are a new ham and you have a DIY side? Maybe you just want to try something new? There are so many things that you can do with an Arduino that cost only $4 or so! Anything from a morse code keyer to a 40m QRP CW Radio and a whole lot in between. You can even do things with an Arduino that has nothing to do with amateur radio but you will find a use for.
In this episode with talk with Glen Popiel, KW5GP the author of the ARRL published books, Arduino for Ham Radio and his new book that just came out, More Arduino for Ham Radio. He is also the author of the ham mesh networking book, High Speed Multimedia for Amateur Radio.
We had a great conversation and it made me literally go to the ARRL website and buy his new Arduino book while we were recording! Check out the show notes of this episode to listen and to get more information about what we talked about. There are also links to his books that you can go to to buy one for yourself.
First SOTA activation – Normanby Top G/TW-005
We ventured out to the Lincolnshire Wolds again on Saturday and spent most of the morning taking in a fabulous little 5 mile circular walk from the village of Wold Newton with the wife finding over twenty geocaches along the way.
After last weekends disappointment I had purchased a new Baofeng UV-82L dual band for the princely sum of £27 from eBay to replace the suspect UV-5R. It certainly seems more sensitive when receiving and the transmit audio is loud and clear.
With the 'flower-pot' antenna in the rucksack I spent the walk monitoring the local repeaters (and could hear the regular idents) as well as the calling channels. I was putting out the odd call (with little success) when we stopped to allow the wife to search for the geocaches.
However I wasn't disheartened as the plan was to spend the afternoon on Normanby Top, the highest point on the Lincolnshire Wolds trying to activate the summit for SOTA.
I had been spurned on to have a go at an activation after watching a video of Michael Sansom's (G0POT) presentation on the SOTA scheme for the Chertsey Radio Club. The video is available online here and Michael has written an excellent companion introduction to SOTA on his website http://peanutpower.co.uk/sota
After finishing the walk we drove the short distance stopping to collect more geocaches along the way and as we neared Normanby Top we stumbled across Thoresway Motoparc where they were busy practising their motorbike scrambling skills and I spent a while taking some action photographs from the side of the road.
But I digress, Normanby Top, as I've said is the highest point on the Lincolnshire Wolds and the actual summit has an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar as indicated on the map but it on private land. The SOTA rules allow someone to activate a summit by being within 25m vertically of the high point, this means the activation area for Normanby Top is potentially huge as it is more of a plateau than a steeply defined hill.
To the South of the summit is a road with an air-traffic control radar station. We parked up near this impressive structure to have some very late lunch (time had flown by)
I could have activated from this road as others have done but I decided to use the bridleway to the North which leads off the Viking Way long distance footpath. The wife dropped me off at Acre House Farm and she went off to hunt for yet more geocaches and I set off down the track to find a suitable place to set up. I was a little hampered by the proximity of a power line which followed the bridleway but as luck would have it just as I had finished setting up at my chosen spot the landowner came down the farm track in his Land Rover.
I had a friendly chat with him and he was fully aware of what I was doing and had no issues having met other activators in the past. He also gave me permission to walk across his land up to the trig-point if I wanted to. As I've mentioned it isn't on a public right of way but said he is more than happy for people to go to the trig-point providing they ask at the farm before hand and take home all their rubbish, unfortunately he has some recent problems with inconsiderate litterers.
I decided to decamped and following his instructions to a gap in the fence and set off to the trig-point which was a little bit further away and a little steeper than I thought, but it didn't help I was carrying a half made up antenna, poles and a bag full of kit and my not inconsiderate bulk! Anyway I got there but due to us running already behind schedule and my change of location it was getting late in the day and was nearly 5pm.
I had taken my Yaesu FT-857D, two 7Ahr SLA batteries, fibreglass pole, antennas for 20m/40m HF, 2m SSB and 2m/70cm FM. Yes I'd travelled light! Having some lovely clear views all around I decided to try some 2m 'line of sight' contacts.
I put up the Sandpiper Delta Beam for SSB (horizontal) and my 'flower-pot' dual band for FM (vertical) on a fishing pole. The wind had started to pick up and I'd not got any proper bungee cords (doh!) so I lashed it up using guy ropes around the pillar.
The radio was perched on top of the pillar and I put some calls on 2m SSB with no luck and switched to FM with more success. I was using between 5-10W and got nothing exceptional distance wise but racked up 8 very nice clear QSOs to claim an activation. The wife texted me to say she had returned from her searching and was parked up patiently at the farm awaiting my return, not hurrying me by any means. It was now nearly 6pm and the wind was getting up and the temperature was starting to drop. It had been a long day for us and the dogs so I decided to packed up and went back down the hill to the bridleway admiring the view across to the Humber and the Humber crossing.
I really enjoyed myself but wished I'd allowed myself more time, this was in part because it was a late decision in the week to tack the 'summit' on the end of a day out walking and changing my mind to actually go to the summit given the chance but it was nice to do that for my first SOTA but I really need to get the hang of travelling light.
After my last post (which is also syndicated to AmateurRadio.com) I had some questions about Geocaching - Dave, WD8CIV left this useful comment which I shall repeat as summed it succinctly - thanks Dave.
"Geocaching is like a high tech Easter egg hunt. People hide caches – waterproof containers containing a logbook and maybe some little trinkets – and then post the GPS coordinates to a Web site like geocaching.com. Others will search the site for caches in an area of interest, then use their own GPS (and intuition and woodcraft skills) to try to find them. Anyone who finds a cache signs the logbook, may take one of the trinkets and/or leave a new one, then goes back to the Web site and reports that they found that cache. There’s quite a community of geocachers, and it’s been going on for over a decade."
After last weekends disappointment I had purchased a new Baofeng UV-82L dual band for the princely sum of £27 from eBay to replace the suspect UV-5R. It certainly seems more sensitive when receiving and the transmit audio is loud and clear.
With the 'flower-pot' antenna in the rucksack I spent the walk monitoring the local repeaters (and could hear the regular idents) as well as the calling channels. I was putting out the odd call (with little success) when we stopped to allow the wife to search for the geocaches.
 |
| One man and his dogs |
I had been spurned on to have a go at an activation after watching a video of Michael Sansom's (G0POT) presentation on the SOTA scheme for the Chertsey Radio Club. The video is available online here and Michael has written an excellent companion introduction to SOTA on his website http://peanutpower.co.uk/sota
 |
| View across to radar station on Normanby Top |
 |
| Saw some spectacular jumping skills |
 |
| Section of the 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map |
To the South of the summit is a road with an air-traffic control radar station. We parked up near this impressive structure to have some very late lunch (time had flown by)
 |
| Radar Station on Normanby Top |
I had a friendly chat with him and he was fully aware of what I was doing and had no issues having met other activators in the past. He also gave me permission to walk across his land up to the trig-point if I wanted to. As I've mentioned it isn't on a public right of way but said he is more than happy for people to go to the trig-point providing they ask at the farm before hand and take home all their rubbish, unfortunately he has some recent problems with inconsiderate litterers.
I decided to decamped and following his instructions to a gap in the fence and set off to the trig-point which was a little bit further away and a little steeper than I thought, but it didn't help I was carrying a half made up antenna, poles and a bag full of kit and my not inconsiderate bulk! Anyway I got there but due to us running already behind schedule and my change of location it was getting late in the day and was nearly 5pm.
 |
| Trig-point and radar station behind |
I had taken my Yaesu FT-857D, two 7Ahr SLA batteries, fibreglass pole, antennas for 20m/40m HF, 2m SSB and 2m/70cm FM. Yes I'd travelled light! Having some lovely clear views all around I decided to try some 2m 'line of sight' contacts.
I put up the Sandpiper Delta Beam for SSB (horizontal) and my 'flower-pot' dual band for FM (vertical) on a fishing pole. The wind had started to pick up and I'd not got any proper bungee cords (doh!) so I lashed it up using guy ropes around the pillar.
 | |
| It was straighter than this before I went to take photo |
 |
| View North (Humber to the top left) |
I really enjoyed myself but wished I'd allowed myself more time, this was in part because it was a late decision in the week to tack the 'summit' on the end of a day out walking and changing my mind to actually go to the summit given the chance but it was nice to do that for my first SOTA but I really need to get the hang of travelling light.
 |
| Back down and met by the wife who wanted her shopping bag back |
"Geocaching is like a high tech Easter egg hunt. People hide caches – waterproof containers containing a logbook and maybe some little trinkets – and then post the GPS coordinates to a Web site like geocaching.com. Others will search the site for caches in an area of interest, then use their own GPS (and intuition and woodcraft skills) to try to find them. Anyone who finds a cache signs the logbook, may take one of the trinkets and/or leave a new one, then goes back to the Web site and reports that they found that cache. There’s quite a community of geocachers, and it’s been going on for over a decade."
First SOTA activation – Normanby Top G/TW-005
We ventured out to the Lincolnshire Wolds again on Saturday and spent most of the morning taking in a fabulous little 5 mile circular walk from the village of Wold Newton with the wife finding over twenty geocaches along the way.
After last weekends disappointment I had purchased a new Baofeng UV-82L dual band for the princely sum of £27 from eBay to replace the suspect UV-5R. It certainly seems more sensitive when receiving and the transmit audio is loud and clear.
With the 'flower-pot' antenna in the rucksack I spent the walk monitoring the local repeaters (and could hear the regular idents) as well as the calling channels. I was putting out the odd call (with little success) when we stopped to allow the wife to search for the geocaches.
However I wasn't disheartened as the plan was to spend the afternoon on Normanby Top, the highest point on the Lincolnshire Wolds trying to activate the summit for SOTA.
I had been spurned on to have a go at an activation after watching a video of Michael Sansom's (G0POT) presentation on the SOTA scheme for the Chertsey Radio Club. The video is available online here and Michael has written an excellent companion introduction to SOTA on his website http://peanutpower.co.uk/sota
After finishing the walk we drove the short distance stopping to collect more geocaches along the way and as we neared Normanby Top we stumbled across Thoresway Motoparc where they were busy practising their motorbike scrambling skills and I spent a while taking some action photographs from the side of the road.
But I digress, Normanby Top, as I've said is the highest point on the Lincolnshire Wolds and the actual summit has an Ordnance Survey triangulation pillar as indicated on the map but it on private land. The SOTA rules allow someone to activate a summit by being within 25m vertically of the high point, this means the activation area for Normanby Top is potentially huge as it is more of a plateau than a steeply defined hill.
To the South of the summit is a road with an air-traffic control radar station. We parked up near this impressive structure to have some very late lunch (time had flown by)
I could have activated from this road as others have done but I decided to use the bridleway to the North which leads off the Viking Way long distance footpath. The wife dropped me off at Acre House Farm and she went off to hunt for yet more geocaches and I set off down the track to find a suitable place to set up. I was a little hampered by the proximity of a power line which followed the bridleway but as luck would have it just as I had finished setting up at my chosen spot the landowner came down the farm track in his Land Rover.
I had a friendly chat with him and he was fully aware of what I was doing and had no issues having met other activators in the past. He also gave me permission to walk across his land up to the trig-point if I wanted to. As I've mentioned it isn't on a public right of way but said he is more than happy for people to go to the trig-point providing they ask at the farm before hand and take home all their rubbish, unfortunately he has some recent problems with inconsiderate litterers.
I decided to decamped and following his instructions to a gap in the fence and set off to the trig-point which was a little bit further away and a little steeper than I thought, but it didn't help I was carrying a half made up antenna, poles and a bag full of kit and my not inconsiderate bulk! Anyway I got there but due to us running already behind schedule and my change of location it was getting late in the day and was nearly 5pm.
I had taken my Yaesu FT-857D, two 7Ahr SLA batteries, fibreglass pole, antennas for 20m/40m HF, 2m SSB and 2m/70cm FM. Yes I'd travelled light! Having some lovely clear views all around I decided to try some 2m 'line of sight' contacts.
I put up the Sandpiper Delta Beam for SSB (horizontal) and my 'flower-pot' dual band for FM (vertical) on a fishing pole. The wind had started to pick up and I'd not got any proper bungee cords (doh!) so I lashed it up using guy ropes around the pillar.
The radio was perched on top of the pillar and I put some calls on 2m SSB with no luck and switched to FM with more success. I was using between 5-10W and got nothing exceptional distance wise but racked up 8 very nice clear QSOs to claim an activation. The wife texted me to say she had returned from her searching and was parked up patiently at the farm awaiting my return, not hurrying me by any means. It was now nearly 6pm and the wind was getting up and the temperature was starting to drop. It had been a long day for us and the dogs so I decided to packed up and went back down the hill to the bridleway admiring the view across to the Humber and the Humber crossing.
I really enjoyed myself but wished I'd allowed myself more time, this was in part because it was a late decision in the week to tack the 'summit' on the end of a day out walking and changing my mind to actually go to the summit given the chance but it was nice to do that for my first SOTA but I really need to get the hang of travelling light.
After my last post (which is also syndicated to AmateurRadio.com) I had some questions about Geocaching - Dave, WD8CIV left this useful comment which I shall repeat as summed it succinctly - thanks Dave.
"Geocaching is like a high tech Easter egg hunt. People hide caches – waterproof containers containing a logbook and maybe some little trinkets – and then post the GPS coordinates to a Web site like geocaching.com. Others will search the site for caches in an area of interest, then use their own GPS (and intuition and woodcraft skills) to try to find them. Anyone who finds a cache signs the logbook, may take one of the trinkets and/or leave a new one, then goes back to the Web site and reports that they found that cache. There’s quite a community of geocachers, and it’s been going on for over a decade."
After last weekends disappointment I had purchased a new Baofeng UV-82L dual band for the princely sum of £27 from eBay to replace the suspect UV-5R. It certainly seems more sensitive when receiving and the transmit audio is loud and clear.
With the 'flower-pot' antenna in the rucksack I spent the walk monitoring the local repeaters (and could hear the regular idents) as well as the calling channels. I was putting out the odd call (with little success) when we stopped to allow the wife to search for the geocaches.
|
| One man and his dogs |
I had been spurned on to have a go at an activation after watching a video of Michael Sansom's (G0POT) presentation on the SOTA scheme for the Chertsey Radio Club. The video is available online here and Michael has written an excellent companion introduction to SOTA on his website http://peanutpower.co.uk/sota
|
| View across to radar station on Normanby Top |
|
| Saw some spectacular jumping skills |
|
| Section of the 1:25000 Ordnance Survey Map |
To the South of the summit is a road with an air-traffic control radar station. We parked up near this impressive structure to have some very late lunch (time had flown by)
|
| Radar Station on Normanby Top |
I had a friendly chat with him and he was fully aware of what I was doing and had no issues having met other activators in the past. He also gave me permission to walk across his land up to the trig-point if I wanted to. As I've mentioned it isn't on a public right of way but said he is more than happy for people to go to the trig-point providing they ask at the farm before hand and take home all their rubbish, unfortunately he has some recent problems with inconsiderate litterers.
I decided to decamped and following his instructions to a gap in the fence and set off to the trig-point which was a little bit further away and a little steeper than I thought, but it didn't help I was carrying a half made up antenna, poles and a bag full of kit and my not inconsiderate bulk! Anyway I got there but due to us running already behind schedule and my change of location it was getting late in the day and was nearly 5pm.
|
| Trig-point and radar station behind |
I had taken my Yaesu FT-857D, two 7Ahr SLA batteries, fibreglass pole, antennas for 20m/40m HF, 2m SSB and 2m/70cm FM. Yes I'd travelled light! Having some lovely clear views all around I decided to try some 2m 'line of sight' contacts.
I put up the Sandpiper Delta Beam for SSB (horizontal) and my 'flower-pot' dual band for FM (vertical) on a fishing pole. The wind had started to pick up and I'd not got any proper bungee cords (doh!) so I lashed it up using guy ropes around the pillar.
| |
| It was straighter than this before I went to take photo |
|
| View North (Humber to the top left) |
I really enjoyed myself but wished I'd allowed myself more time, this was in part because it was a late decision in the week to tack the 'summit' on the end of a day out walking and changing my mind to actually go to the summit given the chance but it was nice to do that for my first SOTA but I really need to get the hang of travelling light.
|
| Back down and met by the wife who wanted her shopping bag back |
"Geocaching is like a high tech Easter egg hunt. People hide caches – waterproof containers containing a logbook and maybe some little trinkets – and then post the GPS coordinates to a Web site like geocaching.com. Others will search the site for caches in an area of interest, then use their own GPS (and intuition and woodcraft skills) to try to find them. Anyone who finds a cache signs the logbook, may take one of the trinkets and/or leave a new one, then goes back to the Web site and reports that they found that cache. There’s quite a community of geocachers, and it’s been going on for over a decade."
Out portable on the Lincolnshire Wolds
This Easter weekend we decided to go out with the dogs and combine three hobbies, walking, geocaching and amateur radio whilst taking the opportunity to visit some radio related relics of World War II and the Cold War on the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Following a recent presentation at the South Kesteven ARS by David Gordon G6ENN where he talked about his successful portable operating I was encouraged to constructed a simple dual band 'flower pot' antenna (design from VK2ZOI) using some RG58 coax and 25mm conduit.
My previous attempts at portable operating have largely involved HF and slightly heavy equipment (my Yaesu FT-857D and Sealed Lead Acid batteries) but I decided this time to try VHF/UHF as we were going to one of the highest spots in the area. This allowed me to travel light just taking along a Baofeng UV-5R and the antenna sticking out of the rucksack.
Parking up in Donington on Bain we had a short 4 mile circular walk planned allowing the wife to collect a dozen geocaches along the way with a short detour at the top to visit RAF Stenigot. The walk climbs to the top of a hill, but it isn't a long ascent by any means or overly strenuous. The view back included the impressive Belmont Transmission Tower (just visible over my shoulder in the picture above) which before it was shortened in 2010 was reputably the tallest structure of its type in the world.
The Lincolnshire Wolds is the highest area on the East of England between Yorkshire and Kent and so there are many structures that take advantage of the elevation. In addition to Belmont we could see the Radar station at Wolds Top/Normanby Hill and Lincoln Cathedral in the distance, but we were interested in what was in front of us the remains of RAF Stenigot.
RAF Stenigot was part of the Chain Home radar network during World War II, this early system used large antenna arrays suspended from large towers, one of which is now preserved as a Grade II listed structure which is still used by RAF Aerial Erector School for selection tests for possible recruits.
After the Second World War, the site was retained and in 1959 it was upgraded to a communications relay site as part of the NATO ACE High system, which involved adding four tropospheric scatter dishes. The site was decommissioned in the late 1980s and was mostly demolished by 1996 but the toppled dishes remain.
While on private land with no public right of way it is a simple matter to follow the field edge to get quite close, the actual site has been secured to prevent vandalism and is now home to a herd of bulls to deter trespassers!
We stopped in the shadow of the dishes for a drink and some refreshment and I got out the radio and attempted to make some contacts, but sadly it seemed like everyone was in still in bed. I could open quite a few nearby repeaters and put out calls but again nothing heard, hopefully ET had better luck!
Checking the equipment when I got home it seems the Baofeng radio has developed quiet TX audio, so it is likely people couldn't hear me. I haven't used these cheap radios much and know they are prone to issues but thought mine was okay. Oh well, at least I looked the part and got a few odd glances from the few walkers and locals we saw. What I didn't realise at the time is the hill is also the site of GB3LC but I did spot some amateur radio antennas nearby.
It really was a great morning walk in a part of the country which is on our doorstep but haven't really visited before. Getting up close to the dishes and the Radar mast was fascinating.
What's more you aren't far from the Lincolnshire Coast, so after our walk we went to Mablethorpe for the afternoon and fish and chips which were well received.
Might look at activating Wolds Top in the near future as it is also a SOTA summit!
Following a recent presentation at the South Kesteven ARS by David Gordon G6ENN where he talked about his successful portable operating I was encouraged to constructed a simple dual band 'flower pot' antenna (design from VK2ZOI) using some RG58 coax and 25mm conduit.
 | |
| Completed 2m/70cm Flower Pot |
My previous attempts at portable operating have largely involved HF and slightly heavy equipment (my Yaesu FT-857D and Sealed Lead Acid batteries) but I decided this time to try VHF/UHF as we were going to one of the highest spots in the area. This allowed me to travel light just taking along a Baofeng UV-5R and the antenna sticking out of the rucksack.
 |
| Just setting off with Boris & Eddie |
Parking up in Donington on Bain we had a short 4 mile circular walk planned allowing the wife to collect a dozen geocaches along the way with a short detour at the top to visit RAF Stenigot. The walk climbs to the top of a hill, but it isn't a long ascent by any means or overly strenuous. The view back included the impressive Belmont Transmission Tower (just visible over my shoulder in the picture above) which before it was shortened in 2010 was reputably the tallest structure of its type in the world.
 | |
| Belmont Transmission Tower |
The Lincolnshire Wolds is the highest area on the East of England between Yorkshire and Kent and so there are many structures that take advantage of the elevation. In addition to Belmont we could see the Radar station at Wolds Top/Normanby Hill and Lincoln Cathedral in the distance, but we were interested in what was in front of us the remains of RAF Stenigot.
 | ||
| The tower at RAF Steingot, clearly visible as we climbed |
 | |
| View back |
After the Second World War, the site was retained and in 1959 it was upgraded to a communications relay site as part of the NATO ACE High system, which involved adding four tropospheric scatter dishes. The site was decommissioned in the late 1980s and was mostly demolished by 1996 but the toppled dishes remain.
 |
| View of RAF Stenigot |
 | |
| The dishes as seen from the footpath |
 |
| At the gate (locked) to the site |
 |
| View looking towards the radar tower |
 |
| Yours truly |
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| ET Phone Home! |
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| CQ CQ M0NRD/P |
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| The Chain Home Radar tower |
 | |
| The "Heavy Mob" Security Patrol |
What's more you aren't far from the Lincolnshire Coast, so after our walk we went to Mablethorpe for the afternoon and fish and chips which were well received.
 |
| Eddie enjoying his fish and chips |
Out portable on the Lincolnshire Wolds
This Easter weekend we decided to go out with the dogs and combine three hobbies, walking, geocaching and amateur radio whilst taking the opportunity to visit some radio related relics of World War II and the Cold War on the Lincolnshire Wolds.
Following a recent presentation at the South Kesteven ARS by David Gordon G6ENN where he talked about his successful portable operating I was encouraged to constructed a simple dual band 'flower pot' antenna (design from VK2ZOI) using some RG58 coax and 25mm conduit.
My previous attempts at portable operating have largely involved HF and slightly heavy equipment (my Yaesu FT-857D and Sealed Lead Acid batteries) but I decided this time to try VHF/UHF as we were going to one of the highest spots in the area. This allowed me to travel light just taking along a Baofeng UV-5R and the antenna sticking out of the rucksack.
Parking up in Donington on Bain we had a short 4 mile circular walk planned allowing the wife to collect a dozen geocaches along the way with a short detour at the top to visit RAF Stenigot. The walk climbs to the top of a hill, but it isn't a long ascent by any means or overly strenuous. The view back included the impressive Belmont Transmission Tower (just visible over my shoulder in the picture above) which before it was shortened in 2010 was reputably the tallest structure of its type in the world.
The Lincolnshire Wolds is the highest area on the East of England between Yorkshire and Kent and so there are many structures that take advantage of the elevation. In addition to Belmont we could see the Radar station at Wolds Top/Normanby Hill and Lincoln Cathedral in the distance, but we were interested in what was in front of us the remains of RAF Stenigot.
RAF Stenigot was part of the Chain Home radar network during World War II, this early system used large antenna arrays suspended from large towers, one of which is now preserved as a Grade II listed structure which is still used by RAF Aerial Erector School for selection tests for possible recruits.
After the Second World War, the site was retained and in 1959 it was upgraded to a communications relay site as part of the NATO ACE High system, which involved adding four tropospheric scatter dishes. The site was decommissioned in the late 1980s and was mostly demolished by 1996 but the toppled dishes remain.
While on private land with no public right of way it is a simple matter to follow the field edge to get quite close, the actual site has been secured to prevent vandalism and is now home to a herd of bulls to deter trespassers!
We stopped in the shadow of the dishes for a drink and some refreshment and I got out the radio and attempted to make some contacts, but sadly it seemed like everyone was in still in bed. I could open quite a few nearby repeaters and put out calls but again nothing heard, hopefully ET had better luck!
Checking the equipment when I got home it seems the Baofeng radio has developed quiet TX audio, so it is likely people couldn't hear me. I haven't used these cheap radios much and know they are prone to issues but thought mine was okay. Oh well, at least I looked the part and got a few odd glances from the few walkers and locals we saw. What I didn't realise at the time is the hill is also the site of GB3LC but I did spot some amateur radio antennas nearby.
It really was a great morning walk in a part of the country which is on our doorstep but haven't really visited before. Getting up close to the dishes and the Radar mast was fascinating.
What's more you aren't far from the Lincolnshire Coast, so after our walk we went to Mablethorpe for the afternoon and fish and chips which were well received.
Might look at activating Wolds Top in the near future as it is also a SOTA summit!
Following a recent presentation at the South Kesteven ARS by David Gordon G6ENN where he talked about his successful portable operating I was encouraged to constructed a simple dual band 'flower pot' antenna (design from VK2ZOI) using some RG58 coax and 25mm conduit.
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| Completed 2m/70cm Flower Pot |
My previous attempts at portable operating have largely involved HF and slightly heavy equipment (my Yaesu FT-857D and Sealed Lead Acid batteries) but I decided this time to try VHF/UHF as we were going to one of the highest spots in the area. This allowed me to travel light just taking along a Baofeng UV-5R and the antenna sticking out of the rucksack.
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| Just setting off with Boris & Eddie |
Parking up in Donington on Bain we had a short 4 mile circular walk planned allowing the wife to collect a dozen geocaches along the way with a short detour at the top to visit RAF Stenigot. The walk climbs to the top of a hill, but it isn't a long ascent by any means or overly strenuous. The view back included the impressive Belmont Transmission Tower (just visible over my shoulder in the picture above) which before it was shortened in 2010 was reputably the tallest structure of its type in the world.
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| Belmont Transmission Tower |
The Lincolnshire Wolds is the highest area on the East of England between Yorkshire and Kent and so there are many structures that take advantage of the elevation. In addition to Belmont we could see the Radar station at Wolds Top/Normanby Hill and Lincoln Cathedral in the distance, but we were interested in what was in front of us the remains of RAF Stenigot.
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| The tower at RAF Steingot, clearly visible as we climbed |
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| View back |
After the Second World War, the site was retained and in 1959 it was upgraded to a communications relay site as part of the NATO ACE High system, which involved adding four tropospheric scatter dishes. The site was decommissioned in the late 1980s and was mostly demolished by 1996 but the toppled dishes remain.
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| View of RAF Stenigot |
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| The dishes as seen from the footpath |
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| At the gate (locked) to the site |
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| View looking towards the radar tower |
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| Yours truly |
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| ET Phone Home! |
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| CQ CQ M0NRD/P |
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| The Chain Home Radar tower |
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| The "Heavy Mob" Security Patrol |
What's more you aren't far from the Lincolnshire Coast, so after our walk we went to Mablethorpe for the afternoon and fish and chips which were well received.
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| Eddie enjoying his fish and chips |
