This is going to sound very weird - but here goes. I was driving home the other day and I heard the Seals & Crofts song with the same lyric - "We may never come this way again." And oddly enough, it brought to mind MFJ and how perhaps we may never see the likes of it again. It's very odd how my brain works, sometimes! Scares even me!
I got to thinking that if there was any MFJ product in particular that I liked, now would be the time to try and find it. Stock is depleting and there haven't been any announcements of an interest coming forward to take on the torch, as it were.
I really, really like my MFJ-1982LP End Fed. Coupled with Dave KD2FSI's MFJ-1982HP, these have been our Field Day antennas for years now with nary a complaint from anyone from SPARC. And the fact that they let us place high in our category every year doesn't damage their reputation any. I've also used it for the Skeeter Hunt and FOBB with satisfactory results. The SWR is excellent on all the bands and really the only band that requires the KX3's autotuner is on 30 Meters. And even there, it doesn't take the KX3 a long time to match it up. I realize that it's not a tr-band Yagi up at 50 feet, but I'm never going to have one of those, anyway. You play with the hand that you're dealt.
So I decided to try and find one for home, as a replacement for the W3EDP. I found a HP (high power) version at GigaParts. Not only does the LP version seem to be out of stock everywhere, but I do turn up the power to 85 Watts to participate on the St. Max Net on Sunday evenings.
So I purchased one. This antenna is 132 feet long so there might be some finagling to get it to fit in the backyard. I'm thinking I might have to bring the last 20 feet or so down as a sloper. That's not the end of the world, and I'll find a way to make it fit. I had a full sized G5RV up at one time - this should be not much more difficult than that to make fit.
My OCD notwithstanding, from early on in my Novice days, I have found out that antennas don't have to be "perfectly" installed in order to work. My very first antenna was a MOR-GAIN fan dipole. In no way, shape or form did that antenna get installed with the two legs in a straight line! It was a sharp, horizontal "V", and my Ham friends would come over and look at it and ask me, "How in the world do you make contacts with THAT?" But I did and it served me well for years!
So this is the current configuration of the W3EDP:
If I move that mast all the way back to the corner of our lot (or as far back as I can get it) and make that run a hard "L" instead of a shallow "V", that will "eat up" more of the wire. Then I'd run it to the other mast at the extreme right back corner of the yard and if there's any wire remaining, I would bring it down as a sloper along the property line on that side of the yard, thusly:
Anyway, that's the plan - and you know that saying about plans, mice and men. But I do want to get this done before Winter sets in. I know, it's still August, but time flies, and before you know it .........
One thing I do know, though. Before any installation, that UNUN will get opened and the solder joints double checked and re-enforced if necessary. I like MFJ products, but you learn from experience.
I thought it would be interesting to compare a couple maps. First map is a repeat. It's the Reverse Beacon Network map from Sunday's FOBB outing.
Now this is where my signal was being picked up by skimmers. Basically, computers that can detect signals, even those beneath the noise floor, that other ops might not be able to hear.
A wee bit different, wouldn't you say? I did not work any stations as far as Arizona or Western Canada. But I did work a few stations where the skimmers did not pick me up.
Moral of the story - RBN is a good guide, but it's not gospel. Just because you're being picked up by a skimmer doesn't necessarily mean that a pair of human ears at the same location would be able to pick you out of the noise. As they say on TV, "It's for entertainment purposes only."
Rule of thumb that I picked up from Joe N2CX. If you're going to go by what you see on RBN, pay attention to the s/nr levels. If it's double digit dB numbers, a good receiver and a good set of ears should be able to pick you out of the mud.
That all being said - that's for QSOs between humans. If you're working the digital modes, or just testing out a new antenna to see how it gets out, you'd have to interpret the RBN results a little differently. In those cases, what you see is probably what you're going to get, especially with FT8 and the like.
I am almost embarassed to write this post. My goodness, you would think that this was my first ever attempt at a portable operation.
I got to Cotton Street Park an hour early 12:00 PM - 16:00 UTC. Plenty of time, right? As it turned out nothing could be farther from tbe truth. First off, let me introduce you to the spud eating tree.
I need to buy a yellow shirt with a black zig-zag stripe on it.
You've heard of Charlie Brown's kite eating tree, right? That tree right there, the one behind my car ate two of my antenna launcher bullets, or spuds if you will. Getting them up high and over a branch was no problem. Getting them to come down was another. No amount of jiggling and finagling the fishing line worked. In both cases, the fishing line ended up breaking with the spud still up in the tree. I only brought two with me, so it was on to another solution.
Next I tried putting up the Jackite in my PVC holder. I've done that literally dozens of times without a problem. Not today, my friends! I put it up twice ..... twice it fell down. The difference today was that I learned something. Wanting to keep the bottom of the Jackite as clean as possible, I put a cap on the bottom of the PVC so the Jackite would not touch dirt. The problem with that, I eventually figured out, is that the cap is rounded, and is thus, slippery The pipe needs to be uncapped at the bottom so the hard edge of the PVC can actually "bite" into the soil, creating a firm grip. Once I took the cap off the Jackite stayed up and stable with no problem.
In between that discovery and the failed attempts, I tried using my drive on mast holder to hold the Jackite upright. What a piece of garbage! It is so flimsy that the Jackite was actually causing the metal of the drive on part to bend! The next stop for that thing is a dumpster.
I eventually got everything set up and I was about to get on the air when another unwelcome surprise reared its nasty head. I got the chair, table, radio, key and earbuds all plugged in. All I had left to do was connect to the battery. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was going to use the big deep cycle battery to see how long it would last.
The medium sized battery is a 7 Ah. Underneath the plastic tub is another smaller 5 Ah.
From the photo you can see I ended up using one of my smaller batteries because the big battery was reading 0 Volts! It was just at 13.8V the other day and has not been hooked up to anything in the mean time. How a battery can lose all of its charge like that without blowing up or catching on fire is beyond me. This one did and is going to the metal recycling center in town next Saturday.
After all these fits and starts, I finally got on the air at 17:54 UTC and made contact with Dave AB9CA in Indiana. Scouring the 20 Meter band, it became apparent that signals were sparse and the signals that were present were way down in the mud. Even when I heard a station with a relatively strong signal, QSB made them disappear in a matter of seconds. I made four contacts in my first hour. I was shaking my head, because I thought that for all the trouble I went through, THIS is what my day is going to be like? I started the day with a personal goal of 40 QSOs. HAH! Put a pin in that balloon, baby!
However, at 19:00 UTC, it was like someone turned a switch on and propagation returned! The signals weren't terrific, but at least I was hearing and working people. At about 20:00 UTC, I switched over to 40 Meters and worked some stations there. Signals were much louder on 40 Meters and QSB wasn't quite so deep.
I shut down with about 20 minutes to go as I wasn't hearing anyone new and my CQs on 40 Meters dried up. I worked 21 stations in all. 18 Bees and 3 Five Watt stations. And I learned some things.
1: You can never have too much time to set up.
2: If it ain't broke don't fix it - me putting that bottom cap on my PVC mast holder caused much unnecessary aggravation.
3: You can never have enough juice. By the way, that smaller battery started the day at 13.2 Volts and I checked it again at the end and it was down to only 12.8 Volts. This one is a good one.
4: The EFRW antenna with 9:1 UNUN and the 41 foot radiator was the bomb! The KX3's autotuner had no problems providing a match on any band, 40 through 10 Meters. I would not hesitate to deploy it again as it gives me a few more band options than the PAR ENDFEDZ 40-20-10 can.
About 3:30 PM or 19:30 UTC, I heard a "thunk" off in the distance. The spud eating tree must have had too much to eat and puked up one of the spuds, either that, or maybe a squirrel knocked it down. Whatever, I'm minus only one spud. I'll have to go to Home Depot for some PVC and end caps in order to fabricate a few more spares.
Some photos from the day:
PVC with bottom end cap = bad. PVC without bottom end cap = good.
A panoramic shot of my Cotton Street Park location.
Two views of the set up. Nothing complicated here, unless I make it complicated!
Cant' see it well, but the EFRW went from the tree to the Jackite pole. I highlighted the Jackite in blue, the EFRW in red
Hey Moe! Hey Curly! Thanks for the help in setting up!
Where RBN spotters heard me. Colorado and Wisconsin were about as far west as I got for QSOs.
It got up to 90F, even in the shade. This Summer has been a hot one!
The neck fan got delivered yesterday and performed superbly. Between the fan and a thermal bottle of ice water, I was quite comfortable.
I know long range forecasts are notoriously unreliable, but according to WeatherBug, this is what I'm looking at for next Sunday:
If this holds true, I'll definitely be at Cotton Street Park, probably with my EARCHI antenna, which I realized is the exact same thing as the KM4CFT antenna. It's an EFRW with a 9:1 UNUN.
I've used it before for SPARC Field Day, so it's proven itself in portable ops. I'm going to cut a slightly shorter radiator for it .....41 feet as opposed to 53 feet. I will lose 80 Meters, but since FOBB is a daytime event, no one gets on 80 Meters anyway.
My first iteration was a homebrew version that I made out of two oak planks way back in 2013.
The two planks were joined by a couple of hinges so I could fold it flat and my Jackite pole was held in place by two U-bolts. It worked, but was heavy, bulky and took up a lot of space in the trunk. It was kludgy at best. One time I lost a wingnut and had to go out and by a few spares.
I really wanted something lighter, smaller and a bit easier to deal with. A couple of years ago, after a search on Amazon, I found this one.
It was lighter, smaller and took up less space in the trunk, Ideal ....... right? As it turned out thr Jackite pole is literally 1 or 2 millimeters too wide and will not fit in the support tube. I used it with the Shakespeare crappie pole that I have, but I really like the Jackite as it's 10 feet taller.
So I started searching Amazon and eBay to see what I could find. I found a really nice mast holder on eBay marketed by Three Mosquitoes Gear right here in New Jersey. The price was $100 though, and that's a bit rich for my wallet.
Finally, Captain Obvious came up with a solution. Use piece of 2" PVC and a couple of hose clamps and viola!
Without spending any more money and using stuff I already had, I now have the mast holder for my Jackite that I always wanted! Took me long enough to figure it out, didn't it? I'm sure most of you out there would have had this lashed up months ago. Once again, W2LJ is slow on the uptake. I can think out of the box too, it just takes me more time.
Jul 20, 1300Z-2100Z, K3S, Baltimore, MD. Nuclear Ship Savannah ARC. 7.1 14.1 21.1 28.1. QSL. K3LU, 980 PATUXENT ROAD, Odenton, MD 21113. Single transmitter SSB and CW aboard N/S Savannah. Please check spotting networks for frequencies. Info on QRZ.com www.qrz.com/db/k3s
07/20/2024 | RAGBRAI 51
Jul 20-Jul 27, 0000Z-2359Z, W0R, Durham, NC. AF4ZE. 14.074 21.074. QSL. John Swartz AF4ZE, 6203 Chesden Drive, Durham, NC 27713. W0R Whiskey Zero RAGBRAI. Biking across Iowa for RAGBRAI 51. Will operate bike-mobile, QRP as time permits, likely in the evenings July 20-27, 2024. FT8, CW, SSB. QSL af4ze@arrl.net, LoTW, and QRZ.com. af4ze@arrl.net
07/20/2024 | Railroad Rendezvous
Jul 20, 1300Z-2100Z, W4DOC, Kennesaw, GA. Atlanta Radio Club. 7.250 14.200. QSL. Atlanta Radio Club - Railroad, 227 Sandy Springs Place Suite D-306, Atlanta, GA 30328. Railroad Rendezvous offers the rare opportunity to step aboard the General locomotive, made famous during the Civil War’s Great Locomotive Chase of 1862, and tour the cab of the historic steam locomotive, fee applicable. A variety of activities celebrating the railroad and other industrial enterprises will be taking place throughout the day. Send SASE for QSL card. www.atlantaradioclub.org/railroadrendezvous
Don't forget!!!! - If you participated in Field Day, your results have to be in to the ARRL by Tuesday, July 23rd.
For myself, I hope to test out my KM4CFT End Fed Random Wire in preparation for next Sunday's FOBB. I also have an idea how to modify my drive on mast holder so that I can use it with my 31' Jackite pole.
Sunday evening, the South Plainfield Business Association will be celebrating "Christmas in July" in the downtown section of town. The CERT Team will be there manning a cooling tent as it's going to be hot, not quite as hot as last week, but hot enough where we'll be available to anyone who needs some cooling down. I think we'll be handing out some hurricane preparedness literature, too.
Just checked the QRP Labs waiting list and I went from 293rd in line to 249th in just three days! Things are looking good for September!
This is a KM4CFT EFHW UNUN kit that I purchased via eBay. The circuit board is actually done, and I built mine as a EFRW UNUN, so that I can use the same wire for multiple bands. The only difference between the two versions is that the EFHW UNUN builds the toroid as a 49:1 transformer and uses a 100pF capacitor in the circuit. The EFRW UNUN builds the toroid as a 9:1 transformer and the capacitor is not used. I still have to measure out some wire - two lengths - one 41 Foot length (one of the non-resonant lengths recommended for 40 - 10 Meters ) for the radiator and one 17 foot length for the counterpoise.
When finished, it will be only a foot longer than my PAR ENDFEDZ, but will give me all bands, 40 - 10 Meters. The PAR will load up on 15 Meters with the KX3's auto-tuner, but 17 and 12 Meters are pretty much no-go.
This will be my antenna for Flight of the Bumblebees on Sunday, 7/28. If the weather is decent, I'll probably go to Cotton Street Park here in town and will shoot a line up into one of the really tall trees there and will use this as a hanging vertical or sloper. If the weather is crappy, I'll set up the Jackite in the backyard and will use this as a sloper while operating at our patio table under the cover of the big umbrella.
If it performs decently well for me, then I am counting on it and my ZM-2 tuner to pair up with the QMX when it finally gets here for a truly small portable operating package. I also ordered a 3.5 mm to 2.1 mm power cable adapter so I can use my little blue lithium battery with the QMX. Hopefully the QMX will be here in another month or two and I can take it with me when Marianne and I head up to Alexandria Bay for our anniversary in October. There are two state parks relatively close to where we will be staying that can be activated for POTA. Last year Marianne actually told me she wouldn't mind going with me if and when I activate them, when I brought up the possibility.
I'm quickly becoming enamored with operating portable with the smallest station that I can carry. It's truly amazing what you can accomplish with 5 Watts, if you know what you're doing and don't get into that nasty ol' mindset of "That will never work!".
On a side note ...... last year when we headed up to Alexandria Bay, we left on a Saturday after Marianne got home from work. Because we started out late, we spent Saturday night in Binghamton, NY. Recently, I looked up the hotel that we stayed at on Google maps and discovered that we were actually only a few blocks away from the street on which the original W2LJ lived! How cool is that? This year we plan to make the trip in one day, with no stop over. It's about a 6 hour ride up to Alex Bay from South Plainfield.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
PS; Just checked the QRP Labs "Assembled Kits Order Status" page, which was updated today. I am 293rd on the list. If they build approximately 200 per month, then I'm looking at an arrival time of maybe late September. That would still be in time for me to take it along to Alex Bay. Fingers crossed!
At Lake George last week, I had the opportunity to use four different antennas. My thoughts and impressions of each:
My Buddistick magmounted to the car roof was a clear winner. I was able to work a couple of European stations within minutes of each other. Had I brought along my camping chair, I would have stayed with the Buddistick a lot longer. Standing hunched over behind my open hatch back was aggravating the bursitis in my hip. I have used this setup before when I used to do a lot of lunchtime radio from tbe parking lot at work, and in fact, I had written an article about it that appeared in the February 2014 edition of CQ magazine. I am hoping the nano VNA will help me determine sweet spots for 40 through 10 Meters.
Second was the PAR ENDFEDZ used as a sloper in conjunction with a 20 foot Shakespeare crappie pole as a mast. This worked exceedingly well, also. Next year, I plan to bring the Jackite for an added extra 11 feet in height. Wire antennas seem to be a favorite of mine going back to my Novice days. I know that wire in the air will not disappoint.
Third was the AlexLoop. This antenna performed satisfactorally and was the clear winner for ease in changing bands, Just tune the capacitor and you're good to go. It might not have heard as well, or gotten out as well as the Buddistick or Par, but I was glad I brought it along and will continue to do so in the future.
AX1. I didn't use it long enough a proper evaluation. On this try for POTA, I was not really impressed, but then again, I have it used before with decent results. It would think that going forward, it will be my last resort if any other solutions do not appear to be viable. But I have to keep in mind that many KX2 and KH1 users rave about this antenna, so I will keep an open mind.
I try to make only one post per day, but since tomorrow is a travel day, I'm going to let my self-imposed rule slide for today.
Final POTA activation today:
I started the activation on 20 Meters with the Buddistick mag-mounted to the roof of the Jeep. I haven't used it in a long time, so I just kind of tried to remember how I used to configure it to the best of my recollection. I must have been not far off as you can see by the RBN map. I worked Sweden and Italy. I didn't bring the Nano VNA along. I think that will help me get it configured even closer to ideal.
I didn't bring the camping chair along and standing behind the Jeep's open back hatch was setting off the bursitis in my hip, so I opted to switch to the AlexLoop and sit on the cabin porch for the rest of the activation.
16 Hunters worked including Sweden, Italy, Quebec, MO (for a Park to Park with NU7J), ME, MA, VA, WI, PA, FL, NC and I think that's everyone.
I am by no means a hard core or even semi-hard core or even a semi-semi-hard core POTA activator. I just like to have fun and get to play radio - even if it's just for a little while. I also like to remind myself every now and then how far I can get with 5 Watts. Sometimes I take that for granted.
Another 10 stations in the log. I have to be upfront about this. This isn't a POTA vacation like some of the real die-hards do. This is a time to be away with family and just to enjoy each other and our down time together. Nonetheless, they do respect my love for Amateur Radio and afford me some solo time for my favorite pasttime.
The set up of the crappie pole and PAR ENDFEDZ went like a hot knife through butter. Easier, and it went up even more quickly than expected. Literally in a matter of minutes, the antenna was up and ready to go. Hindsight being 20/20, the Jackite pole would have been the better option, giving me an additional 10 feet in height. That's on my mental list for next year. Tear down and stowaway went just as smoothly.
After these sessions, I like to go to the Reverse Beacon Network for an "after action report". I was getting out pretty well. The PAR even tunes up well enough on 15 Meters that I was able to be heard out Arizona-ways.
The best contact of the day came at 18:47 UTC, when my "CQ POTA" on 20 Meters was answered by SM5DXT, Chris in Sweden. I got a 419 report from him. Weak signal, but pretty readable. I'll take that any day of the week.
I had QSOs with Hunters in MO, ON (this one was a Park to Park), WV, GA, PA, MD, and NJ. Good enough to satisfy my Ham Radio craving for the day. We're supposed to get the remnants of Hurricane Beryl visiting us today. It's kind of sunny right now, but the overcast is gaining ground. 1 - 3 inches of rain are supposedly coming according to WeatherBug. If I get on the air at all today, it just might be from the covered porch with the AlexLoop.
Logbook of the World seems to be back. I was able to log on and see my QSOs - which reminds me, I haven't done an upload in a while. I'll make sure to do that over the long holiday weekend. I also checked to see if our July 13th VE Session was removed from the calendar. It wasn't, even though I had sent an e-mail to the ARRL requesting that be done. I received a reply informing me that they still could not access that server. I'll be away that day and rather than put the onus on someone else to act as "Liaison for the Day", I decided to cancel.
Our annual trip to Lake George will be happening soon. This year, in addition to the AlexLoop and the AX1, I'm going to bring along the PAR ENDFEDZ 40-20-10 as well as my drive on mast base and my 20 foot crappie pole. I'd like to bring the Jackite, but it doesn't slip into the mast holder - it's too wide/thick. Usually, each time we go up to the Lake, I take some time to head up to Mt. Prospect (which is not a SOTA peak) and set up in the parking lot that is near the summit. There's a solitary picnic table there (in the parking lot!) and in the past I've parked the car some 20-30 feet away and have used the end fed as a sloper. There are other picnics tables in a wooded grassy area off to the side, but those are usually occupied by picnickers. Who wants to picnic in a parking lot, right? I usually have that table to myself. I can do a POTA activation as it's part of the Adirondack State Park - US-2001.
We had a CERT meeting in town last night and Marv K2VHW and I were asked to do some kind of licensing class for the CERT members in town. The two words I hate to hear the most were bandied about - "Ham Cram". I know Marv feels the same way I do. But what I'm thinking is maybe to have a period of reading the licensing manual beforehand with some Zoom meetings interspersed where we can answer questions and explain more "difficult" topics culminating in a day of review - the "cram" - followed by the exam session.
Looking at the QRP Labs website, I'm calculating that based on the number of built kits that leave the factory every month, I may see my QMX sometime in August. It would be neat to have it for the Skeeter Hunt. I was smitten by that HB-1B that I was given the opportunity to play with. I'm looking forward to adding the QMX to my small herd of radios.
Finally, I signed up and am Bumble Bee # 57 for this year's FOBB. The Heinz Bee - LOL! I will probably head over to Cotton Street Park for the event, although if I decide to head up to Washington Rock State Park it would be a two-fer ...... FOBB and a POTA activation.
Thirteen Colonies started Sunday night, I guess. I've no interest in participating in that at all, for reasons which I will not go into here. The best I can say about it is that it generates a lot of activity on the bands. I'll leave it at that.
Yesterday I did something I rarely do. As I was travelling home, I heard the NJ2SP repeater identify while I was in a location still pretty far away from South Plainfield. I picked up the microphone and announced that I was listening. Marv K2VHW came back to me and we had a nice conversation while I drove the rest of the way home.
What was so satisfying about it was when Marv told me my audio was rock solid and that I was making it into the repeater quite well. What a difference between this Hustler Hy-Gain antenna I'm using now and the cheap piece of ______ that I had been using before!
Our repeater is low profile by intent. It's mainly used for CERT activity , as well as for club activity throughout South Plainfield and the immediate surrounding area. For me to hit the repeater so well from Greenbrook, which is three towns away meant that my signal was travelling through North Plainfield, Plainfield and into South Plainfield. I was pleased to say the least.
As a Ham for 45 years, I know (in my head) that you should never skimp on the antenna and that it's the most important link in the whole radio station chain. But sometimes you just get frugal (read that as "cheap"), hoping that something less expensive will work just as well. This is especially true for mobile VHF/UHF antennas ----- most times it doesn't work that way, and you only end up spending more money to fix your mistake. Don't be like W2LJ, don't be tempted to go the cheap route!
Homebrew HF antennas, on the other hand, are a whole other story that I won't get into right now. Suffice it to say that many times you can roll your own skyhook that will will perform just as well as a commercial antenna for a lot less money.
I got on the air last night for the Hootowl Sprint. Activity was not the busiest, but that was probably because the CQ WW PX contest was dominating the bands, especially 20 Meters, I called "CQ QRP" there for a while with no joy. I did hear Mark WB9HFK calling CQ with a FB 599 signal and worked him.
40 Meters afforded me an unoccupied frequency on which to call CQ and I worked another four stations. Not the greatest total, but at least I was on the air. After the fact, I looked up my call sign on the Reverse Beacon Network and this was where I was being heard:
20 Meters was taking me into Europe and 40 Meters was getting me down into the Cayman Islands.
The antenna for the night was my W3EDP. I don't think I've really talked much about how it's set up. My backyard measures only about 50 X 50 feet. Not a lot of real estate back there so I had to get creative. This is how it's laid out:
It's anchored on the side of the house near a second floor window:
The coax runs from the balun down to the window that's on the shack side of the shack side of the basement. From the anchor point, the wire runs out to a mast that I have hose clamped to the chain link fence on the edge of our property.
The wire used to go out to "Ol' Mapely", but the tree which straddled our properties got infested with carpenter ants and became a real cause for concern that given a powerful Nor'Easter or Sandy type hurricane, it could fall on either ours or our neighbor's house, so we had to take it down. We came to that decision after having an arborist come by, who only confirmed our fears. Darn! Trees are an Amateur Radio Op's best friends!
From the "center mast", the wire pivots as per the aerial view and goes to another mast at the far right hand corner of the backyard where it terminates. The masts are military surplus fiberglass.
This photo doesn't show much which indicates that except for that middle mast, which is hose clamped to the fence, the antenna itself is pretty darn stealthy. That really isn't necessary, as at QRP levels, i never get any complaints from the neighbors and I'm not in an HOA situation.
I would guesstimate that my W3EDP is my weapon of choice probably 75 - 80 percent of the time. It's longer than a classic W3EDP which is about 84 feet long. I had one of those and took it down and replaced it as the wire terminated about half way between the middle mast and the far mast. I constructed this one with about another 25 feet of wire so that it ends just a few inches from the end mast. Even with the additional wire, the KX3's autotuner matches to it quite easily and without any fits. It loads on all bands from 160 Meters to 6 Meters without any difficulty. If you don't have a lot of back yard space, maybe my layout (or something similar) can work for you. Is my solution an ideal solution? Not a chance in a million - but it works and I make contacts with it. So as they say, any antenna is better than no antenna.
On another note, I read where beginning with New Jersey's 2025 fiscal year, which starts on July 1st, that it will cost to get into certain NJ State Parks. This may be a concern for NJ POTA activators. There are several guys who check into the nightly Middlesex County Chat Group Net who often relate their experiences of repeatedly activating Cheesequake State Park and the Spruce Run Resevoir. Starting July1st, it's going to run $5 each time they want to enter those two parks or several other very popular NJ State Parks. The state will offer an opportunity to purchase a 1 year pass for $50. Luckily, the two parks I like to activate - Washington Rock State Park and the Edison Memorial Tower will remain admission free.
I was supposed to run the South Plainfield ARES/RACES Net last night at 7:00 PM local time. We hold it on the third Tuesday of the month. I went down to the basement and turned on my VHF/UHF radio that sits on the bench and ........nothing!
By rights, I should have run upstairs for an HT, or out to the car and used my mobile rig, but I still have enough Service Manager (stubbornness) in me that when something like this happens - I have to trouble shoot it - right away.
I was getting 13.8 Volts out from the power supply, but nothing at the radio. I checked the in-line fuses and they were fine. I checked the voltage at the transceiver end of the power cable and that was not fine. What the heck?
I checked all the connections at the fuse holders, made sure all the Ohm reading were zero from power supply to cable end and then hooked everything back up, turned on the radio - again nothing. Argh!
Something told me to take a closer look at the Molex connector again. I swung the bench light over for more brightness, and sure enough, it looked like the blade on the one side looked a little bent, possibly not making contact with it's mate. I straightened it out, and snapped the Molex back together, the radio came on!
So here's the big question - how did this happen? I mean the radio was just sitting there. I don't remember moving it around or playing around with the cable in any way. I must have dome something without realizing it, because things like this don't "just happen". Do they? Molex connector innards just don't warp on their own and break contact. This one has me baffled. but it's fixed now (at least for now) so I won't beat my head against the wall trying to figure it out.
On the flip side, the Hustler VHF/UHF antenna on the car is really performing nicely. I can hear repeaters from a much greater distance than I was able to using that piece-of-crud-cheapie-antenna-that-I-should-have-known-better-than-to-ever-consider-using. I was able to talk to Marv K2VHW on the drive home yesterday via a repeater that was a good 20 or so miles away from where I was stuck in traffic.
The moral of the stories? Take wins wherever you can find them.
To Hamvention and FDIM next year! God willing and the creek don't rise and I'm in good health and there are no family emergencies. I mentioned to Marianne that I'd like to go and that attending FDIM is on my bucket list and she had no problems.
May is always a busy month for us as both out birthdays are in May, Mother's Day is in May, but there are no more graduations to worry about missing ...........so hopefully it's a go for next year. I've been wanting to go for so long to actually meet some of the people I've talked to on the radio for years. So I will start saving my shekels now.
I got on the air for the Run For The Bacon last night. The K index was 2, and the solar flux was 200. According to the solar weather sites, that meant decent conditions, but I thought they were "meh" at best. Signals were so low on 20 Meters as to be deep in the noise and pretty much unintelligible. 40 Meters wasn't much better. I made three or four contacts and pulled the big switch. Maybe June will ne better.
The rest of the weekend was jam packed with house chores, so other than hunting a few POTA stations, there wasn't much on the air time. I spent a little time on Facebook, hoping to catch some big news from Hamvention, but it appears there wasn't any. Icom rolled out some circuit boards to keep everyone guessing about their next big deal, while Kenwood and Yaesu were silent. Elecraft is still rolling in the wake of the KH1 introduction, so nothing new was expected from them.
I guess from a QRP standpoint the biggest news was QRP Labs QMX+. Attendance seemed to be good and the weather cooperated on Saturday, so I guess everyone is happy.
Outside, the weather was decent this weekend. That afforded me the chance to put the Hustler 2 Meter/440 antenna on the car that Joseph and Marianne gifted to me for my birthday. Wow! What a difference from the piece of (be nice, W2LJ!) that I had on there. The only drawback is that the radiator is 36" tall, so no more parking in the deck at work. I started parking in the regular lot this morning. Not a big deal when the weather is nice, right? But when the weather is nasty, it goes to show what Hams are willing to put up with for the sake of Amateur Radio.
I looked at the QMX order list yesterday. I am # 670 in line. If QRP Labs continues to manufacture around 200 pieces a month, I figure I should see mine maybe in August or September. I can live with that.
For my birthday, Joseph and Marianne asked me what I wanted. My no name cheapie bargain basement mobile VHF/UHF antenna just isn't doing the job. I was coming home from a club meeting a few weeks ago and tried hooking up with Marv K2VHW on the way home. He was in and out and I was in and out and neither of us should have been. I had to chalk it up to poor performance from my off brand bargain basement purchase. I sent Joseph a link for a Hustler MX-270 antenna from GigaParts. It arrived last Sunday? Who delivers on Sunday besides Amazon? Anyway, it arrived late last Sunday and I'll put it on my car this weekend, if weather permits.
This means that I'll have to park in the parking lot at work, going forward, as the 36" radiator is just too tall for the parking deck. I bought the smaller antenna that's on the Jeep now, specifically because it doesn't hit the ceiling of the parking deck. However, it doesn't perform nearly as well as I had hoped ..... so I'll deal with the inconvenience of parking outside in order to get better antenna performance.
First World problem, right? But it's nice not having to get into a car that's been baking in the sun all day during the summer; or brushing off snow in the winter.
Other than that, not much new radio-wise. We're having typical May weather here, where it's sizzling one day and chilly the next - which of course makes the possibilities of thunderstorms a daily event. The antennas have been disconnected since the weekend. I'm at the point in life where replacing expensive Ham Radio gear is not an option, so I have to be super careful with what I have.
I've always marveled at guys who change rigs like they change underwear. I've never been fortunate enough to be able to do that. And I guess that helps me to appreciate what I have maybe a bit more than most.
Today's "Blondie" comic strip kind of sums up my situation:
I managed to get outside for just a few minutes yesterday as the moon was approaching maximum coverage of of the sun (90%) at 3:24 PM local time. I took a small shipping box and punched a hole in the side with a thumbtack. It projected a very tiny, but totally sharp image of the moon covering the sun revealing only a small crescent of sunlight. Of course, this is New Jersey after all, and clouds came in for the actual moment of maximum eclipse. But I can say I saw it. This reminded me of the eclipse of 1972, when I had my 3" refractor telescope set up in the backyard, projecting a magnified image onto a white piece of cardboard.
A co-worker managed to snap this with his iPhone.
BTW, Sean Kutzko KX9X was doing some AM Broadcast Band DXing during the eclipse. He observed that during the maximum period of darkening at his QTH, he was able to hear AM stations from over 500 miles away, that he normally can only hear at night. The D Layer was definitely affected! He recorded the AM Band during the eclipse from start to finish and will go over it in detail over the next few weeks, in order to get a better feel as to how propagation was affected.
I saw on Facebook yesterday, where Alex PY1AHD of AlexLoop fame has become a Silent Key:
It is with extreme sadness and sorrow that I share the passing of our friend and colleague Alex Grimberg (PY1AHD), AlexLoop, due to his renowned work with magnetic loop antennas. Inestimable loss for Brazilian amateur radio, an enterprising and visionary colleague - We are all saddened.
I got word from my friend that he was encouraged by your comments regarding using a local WebSDR as a receiver. He was able to hear stations on 20 Meters via the Web that he was not able to hear on his K3, due to the solar panel noise. He made three successful QSOs on 20 Meters and will most likely use WebSDR for making contacts on 14 MHz and above. Thanks for your encouragement! I'm very happy for him - he had been disappointed (that's putting it mildly) with his situation. It's good to know he can be on the air again.
My KM4CMT EFRW UNUN kit was delivered yesterday. I hope to have it built and ready to go for "Amateur Radio Day At The Library" on April 20th. If I don't have it ready, I'll probably employ the PAR ENDFEDZ or perhaps the EARCHI EFRW that I already have in the backpack. It's not that the kit is a complicated build - far from it. It's a matter of finding time. The next few weekends are really filled up now that lawn mowing season has started up again.
If you haven't heard about it, Ken WA4MNT has a great website QRPBuilder.com. He offers some neat items in kit form. One that has me especially intrigued is his QX1 antenna, which is an alternative to Elecraft's AX1 and AX2 antennas. I'm going to paste in Ken's description of the antenna:
The QX1 Antenna kit, is a small, ultra portable vertical 40m, 20-10m antenna with a male BNC connector and telescoping whip, rated at 20W. It is resonant on the whole 40m band with only a whip length adjustment. With a tuner, can be used on the 20m through 10m.
All the holes are pre-drilled and tapped. Assembly requires winding the coil, a little soldering, and some mechanical assembly. The tools required for assembly are a Phillips screwdriver, forceps or needle nosed pliers, wire cutters, soldering iron, and some rosin core solder. Depending on your experience, it can be assembled in about an hour. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 2.
The BNC Antenna Mount/Adapter kit is a versatile antenna mount with a nylon clamp included. This design allows small BNC terminated antennas to not mount on the output connector of the radio, but rather, with coax, to a more advantageous position. It is ideal for quick setup, field and SOTA operation. We have listed this as a separate kit because, some users already have an antenna like the Elecraft AX-1, MFJ-18xxT series, or similar homebrew antennas that are terminated with a male BNC connector. The strong clamp permits mounting to a apartment or patio railing, picnic table, or even a tree branch. There is a connection point for radials or a counterpoise with captive stainless steel hardware.
Assembly is easy and only the most common tools are needed and a 1/4″ drill. On a difficulty scale of 1 to 5, 5 being the most difficult, this is rated at 1.
I like my AX1, but I sure wish this had come out a few months ago. It's a much more affordable alternative, and with inflation the way it is nowadays, who doesn't need to stretch their $$$ as far as they can?
In addition to this nifty kit, Ken offers paddles, an audio amplifier kit and even a kit that will allow you to use normal earbuds/earphones on a crystal radio. Again, I'm not affiliated with QRP Builder in any way, shape, fashion or form; but when I see a site that offers items that I think you folks may be interested in, I'll showcase them here.
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