WITH

using

James Watt

As some of you know I do some QRPp Parks on the Air activations using the QRP Labs QCX Mini. For the past couple of years I've had GREAT results using my 40 and 20 meter QCX Mini with what I call, "My Smoke Detector Battery" setup

QRP Labs QCXX Mini 20 Meters

 

A few days later on May 1, 2024; I decided to give it another try but this time on 40 meters when conditions were not quite optimal. And again, I was amazed with the number of stations picking up my signal with "My Smoke Detector Battery"

QRP Labs QCX Mini 40 Meters

As most of you may know, during the month of June 2024, the sun has presented several Earth facing regions which have been quite active with solar storms, solar flares, large sunspot regions, CME's and HF radio blackouts. These conditions have not been favorable for QRPp communications. Living in Kentucky, USA this time of year also represents days and weeks of hot, humid weather with potential for almost daily thunderstorms. So far in June 2024; we've seen record low morning temperatures of 82 degrees and several days of temperatures exceeding 95 degrees with heat indices well over 100 degrees.

Finally the Solar Space Weather forecast for the first few days of July 2024 looked like an excellent opportunity to try some Parks on the Air CW activations using QRPp. However, terrestrial weather was another issue. Heat advisories were forecasted for the last few days of June 2024 and first few days of July 2024.  It was time to take advantage of this brief window to do some QRPp operating.

QRPp Equipment Set Up

The antenna I was going to use was the Tufteln 40 / 20 Linked EFHW. I made this antenna specifically for my QRP Labs 40 & 20 Meter QCX Minis.

Tufteln 40 / 20 Meter Linked EFHW

As for a keyer, I was going to use the American Morse Equipment Ultra Porta Paddle. 

American Morse Equipment Ultra Porta Paddle

Upon awaking before daybreak, I checked the NOAA Space Weather Predication Center's website for Space Weather conditions. It all looked favorable. Terrestrial weather had a Heat Advisory forecasted for July 2, 2024, so I decided to head out for a near sunrise Parks on the Air activation at Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve US-7956 which is less than 4 miles from my QTH.

Not knowing who would be hunting at 1130 UTC, I arrived on site; throw up my arborist line about 45 feet into a tree and pulled up my antenna in a sloper configuration, set up my 40 meter QCX Mini and was ready to go.

At 1142 I started sending CQ and 'BEHOLD" within a minute or two the hunters responded top my calls and kept me busy for the next 50 minutes. Below are the results of what a QRPp CW Parks on the Air activation yielded me.

The highlight of this day's activation was a QSO with Greg / VE3GSS  Port Carling, ON, Canada. A little over 920 km from my Kentucky POTA site with less than 1 WATT.

At 1235 UTC the temperature had risen to 84 degrees. It made no sense in pushing it as I had already achieved more than I expected. To say I walked away with a HUGE grin on my face is an understatement. It was a GREAT Parks on the Air activation.

                                                         

On July 3, 2024 my internal clock woke me at 0900 UTC with basically the same Space and Terrestrial conditions that were in play as the day before.  So why not make this "Ground Hog Day in July.  Same time, same set up on July 3, 2024. One difference; today I would try 20 meters.

Within less than a minute after my CQ on 40 meters at 1143 UTC, my activation began with hunters eagerly wanting to be acknowledged.  I didn't disappoint and neither did they.  QSOs were rapid fire for almost an hour.

 At 1240, I switched over to my 20 meter QCX Mini to see what I could garner, knowing that at time time of morning in the U.S., the likelihood of getting any action on 20 meters was suspect.   I did manage one 20 meter QSO.  Here was my catch for a July "Ground Hog Day"

  

The highlight of this day was as try for a Park-to-Park QSO with a station in Japan. I tirelessly tried for several minutes to make a 40 meter contact with a Parks on the Air station JJVAS at JP- 0128. The QSB was pronounced and the strongest I could get was a 229.  The operator was kind enough to send AGN? a few times but I was just trilled for that reply with less than 1 WATT.

This day like many others brought greetings from people who have become familiar with my operations as they get in their daily walks, runs and cycling before the heat sets in.  Today though I met Dr. Tamekka Cornelius, Ph. D, who was out on her daily walk. She, like others are inquisitive about seeing a man sitting in a mostly open field connected to some wires, a bicycle close by and some weird equipment strapped to his legs.   Dr. Cornelius and I had a nice chat about Amateur Radio, brief history of my broadcast career and my bicycling activities.

 

Operating QRPp reminds me of the country music singer Kenny Rogers' song: 

"The Gambler"

You've got to know when to hold 'em

Know when to fold 'em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run

Once in your ham radio journey, try operating QRPp.

You might be surprised with YOUR results.

73

Jim

"Ham on a Bike"

]

 

    

Well the RAC Canada Day Contest is over for another year.

As with all the RAC Contests I set certain goals for my self and for this one was no different.

The goals were as follows:

HAVE FUN- This is a must. I am a casual operator and not a “dyed in the wool” contester. The main thing is to have fun and keep it friendly… This was not an issue and I had a blast working across Canada.

TRY AND WORK CANADA COAST TO COAST TO COAST-

Well almost… I had contacts in:VE1, VE2, VE3, VE4, VE5, VE6, VE7, VE8, VE9 and VO1. East Coast to the West Coast and the North West Territory.

Unfortunately this time VO2,VY0, VY1 and VY2 escaped me.

HAVE A SCORE IN THE TOP 50% OF MY CATAGORY. Needless to say that this time its not going to happen. I made contacts on 15m, 20m and 40m and they were good contacts…. I just needed more of them.

After about 9 hours of radio stretching it out over a 24 hour period it was all over. One of the lowest scores I will not be submitting but it was still fun.

Onwards and upwards so…. Happy 4th of July to my American Friends…. I’ve already gotten 7 of the 13 Colonies station in the log and I started chasing them today.

Check out their website for more information.

.

Then it looks like its back to “Playing Pota” again ….

73bob

Yesterday, I operated from the Silver Lake Day Use Area of US-3322, Pinckney State Recreation Area. This is a great park, and in many respects, I like it a lot more than US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area. It’s just a little further from my house than Island Lake, and I think I’ll be spending more time at US-3322, now that I’ve hit 1,000 QSOs at US-3315.

One of the 40 contacts I made was with Jim, N4JAW. He’s not only a very active POTA operator, but also very active on Mastodon. Yesterday, after I returned home, I was pleasantly surprised to find this video posted to Mastodon. I’m re-posting it here with Jim’s permission.

Not so twisted anymore

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’ve been contemplating ditching the twisted-pair feedline I have been using on my POTA doublet antenna, after having such good success with my friend Paul’s Cobra antenna. That antenna uses 450 Ω ladder line. I happened to have a 100-ft. roll of high-quality, 300 Ω twinlead, so I thought I’d give that a go. I’ve used this antenna twice now, and while it’s hard to prove conclusively that the antenna works better with with the 300 Ω feedline, it “feels” as if it’s working better.

Of course, it could just be that band conditions have been better during my last two activations. That’s why I’d like to actually make some measurements. It’s not that easy, though. There are a couple of articles online that explain how to use an antenna analyzer to do this (1, 2), and I’ll give these a go once I’ve read and digested this material.

The downside to using 300 Ω twinlead is that it’s bulkier and less flexible than twisted-pair wire. It also seems more sensitive to environmental factors, such as touching the ground. But, taking a  little care when setting up the antenna takes care of those issues.

QRN?? At the park?

It wasn’t all good news yesterday, though. There’s something at the park generating a hellacious noise on 20 meters. The noise is so bad that the band is practically unusable. This noise is somewhat noticeable on the other bands, but just barely, and certainly not enough to make the bands unusable.

That being the case, every one of the 40 contacts I made yesterday were on bands other than 20 meters. I started out on 40 meters, then jumped to 17 meters, which fortunately was open and active. I tried 15 meters, too, and made a few contacts there, but it wasn’t very active, so I moved back to 17 meters.

This noise is new. Last Thursday was the first time I’d noticed it. I would have made a recording of it, but I didn’t have an audio recorder handy on my phone. I will do next time I get to that part of the Pinckney Recreation Area.

On Mastodon, someone suggested that the noise was coming from a solar inverter. I hadn’t thought about that at the park, so I wasn’t really looking for solar panels, but I’m guessing that this is correct. Next time I’m there, I’m going to have to walk around and see if I see any.  I might bring a small radio, too, to see if I can pinpoint the noise source.

Even if I do find the noise source, I’m not sure what I can do about it. I suppose that I can point this out to the park officials, but I’m not sure what, if anything, they’ll be motivated to do about it. Stay tuned for more on this. If you have any ideas of what I should look for, please let me know.

One of the genius things about Parks on the Air is the awards program. There are all kinds of awards to choose from, and they are all automatically awarded. You don’t have to submit QSL cards or pay fees. They just appear on your awards page, and you can pick and choose which ones mean something to you.

I’ve never been much of a wall paper chaser, so, aside from the Rhino Rover award that my friend, Tom, W8TAM, helped me achieve, the 24 awards that I have somehow managed to accumulate don’t really mean that much to me. Yesterday, though, I reached a milestone that brought a smile to my face (as you can see by the photo at right). I hit 1,000 contacts from US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area.

It’s been very hot here in the Midwest, but somehow, I managed to cajole Paul, KW1L, and Rick, K8BMA to accompany me to the park. We left my house just before 9 am, and despite some slow traffic, we managed to get to the park and get set  up by 10 am. Yesterday, instead of using my 66-ft. doublet, we set up Paul’s new Cobra antenna. Despite its claim to being “ultra light,” it was a bit heavy for my fiberglass mast. We solved that problem by not using the top two sections of the mast.

I don’t know if it was band conditions (I was calling CQ on 14.062 MHz), or the antenna, or a combination of both, but I began working them one after another right off the bat. I made the first 10 contacts in less than 10 minutes. I made the 45 contacts I needed to reach 1,000 in just a little over an hour, and I was up to 55 contacts at 11:25, at which point, we decided to eat lunch.

The contacts we made were literally all over the map. Somehow, the skip was short enough to work into New York and Pennsylvania, but also south to Florida, east to Prince Edward Island, and west to British Columbia.

After lunch, we switched to 15 meters to see what band conditions were like there. Right away, I got a call from an OK2 station, but not much afterwards. We pounded out another six contacts before calling it quits. It was starting to get hot out there, and any extra contacts would just be anti-climactic.

Paul likes to ask, “So, what did we learn from this?” One thing I may have learned is that using twisted-pair wire may not be the best feed line for my POTA antenna. I think that I have to give some credit to the Cobra antenna for the good results we had yesterday, and its feed line is 450 Ω ladder line. The feed line loss for 450 Ω ladder line has got to be less than the feed line loss of my twisted-pair feed line.

I think I’ll try to find some 300 Ω twin lead and see what kind of results I get. Is there an easy way to measure feedline loss? Has anyone already measured the losses of 300 Ω, 450 Ω, and twisted pair feed lines and compared the results?

As for POTA, it’s onwards and upwards. I have 315 contacts from the Pinckney State Recreation Area (US-3322). It’s only a little further away from my house than the Island Lake Recreation Area, and in some ways, is a nicer park. I’m thinking that if I can get out 2-3 times a week, I can get to 1,000 contacts from there by the end of the season.

CaHRTenna Poseidon is the Coffee and Ham Radio’s take on the popular Rybakov vertical non resonant antenna. Today we’ll talk about Poseidon, show you how to build your own, and put the Greek god of the sea on the air.

CaHRTenna Poseidon Vertical Antenna: https://coffee-and-ham-radios.square.site/product/cahrtenna-poseidon-vertical-antenna

The Rybakov Antenna: https://ve3gam.webqth.com/am-work/rybakov/rybakov.html

Coffee and Ham Radio’s Poseidon is based on an antenna called the Rybakov. That antenna, created by Italian ham IV3SBE about 20 years ago is a non resonant ground ground mounted vertical antenna with a radiating element of 25 feet. At the feed point is a 4:1 unun or transformer to match the 200 ohm impedance the antenna presents. Radials of about a similar length provide the ground network for the antenna. With a tuner, the antenna will operate on the 80 through 6 meter bands, although it gets pretty inefficient on 40 meters and below. Your best performance will be on the higher bands and this style of antenna really excels on 10, 12, and 15 meters. As you get higher in frequency, the RF radiation angle gets lower and lower, making it an excellent DX antenna.

But why the name Rybakov? When IV3SBE designed the antenna, he envisioned it being supported by an 8 meter fishing pole. The antenna’s 25 foot length makes it perfect to deploy with a lightweight mast or fishing pole. Rybakov is Russian for fisherman, so it makes sense to give the fishing pole antenna that name.

Coffee and Ham Radios did send me a Poseidon vertical antenna kit to build and put on the air in exchange for a video. But my opinions are my own and there is no outside influence. So let’s head inside, build this antenna, and then put it on the air.

So what makes Poseidon different? I believe the key difference lies in the transformer. If you look at most 4:1 unun designs, they use a red T200 style toroid. The red toroids work well and offer very good overall efficiency, but a key design element of this antenna was to make is tunable with a transceiver’s internal tuner. That means you will need an SWR that’s 3:1 or less over the entire frequency range the antenna is designed for. Unfortunately the T200 isn’t up to that and you will get higher impedances at the lower frequencies. This green colored iron powder core that’s used in Poseidon offers an overall better impedance matching at a wider range of frequencies, with a slight tradeoff of efficiency. Is the tradeoff worth it? It is if you don’t want to bring an extra piece of gear out into the field. Also consider, lower impedance coming out of the antenna means less losses in your feed line. So overall, its a valid choice to make.

The second consideration with this antenna is that 4:1 transformers can pass along common mode currents, causing the outer shield of your feed line to radiate. This will affect your antenna’s radiation pattern. Proper 4:1 windings will also include a second toroid would as a 1:1 choke. In order to make this antenna easier to build, Poseidon does not use the double toroid winding, instead you will need a choke of some sort on your coaxial cable. Today I’ll be using an integrated choke on my feed line for this antenna.

Graphical contact map provided by: https://www.qsomap.com/
Thank you for your support.

How I record my contact audio: https://youtu.be/tOqzZPphE7k
My headset trigger switch: https://youtu.be/b5Wu8BlrSF0
Heil Ham Radio BM-17 Dual headset: https://heilhamradio.com/product/bm-17-2/

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The post Building the CaHRTenna Poseidon: A non-resonant vertical antenna powerhouse appeared first on KB9VBR Antennas.

Where: US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area (near Brighton, MI)

When: 3:00 pm – 6:00 pm (1830 – 2230 UTC)

Who:  I was solo today.
Weather: Sunny, low 80s, BEAUTIFUL!
Rig: Elecraft KX-3, 66-ft. doublet antenna

The traffic was really bad on the way to US-3315 on Friday. Part of the reason for this is that I got started a little later than usual. I didn’t leave the house until 2:00 pm. As I sat in traffic, I hoped that this wasn’t a bad omen for this activation. Fortunately, it wasn’t.

I started on 40 meters for this activation, but there didn’t seem to be a lot of activity, so after one contact, I switched to 20 meters. 20 was open, so that proved to be a good move. I made my first 10 contacts in less than a half hour.

After about an hour and 15 minutes, I decided to try 15 meters. I made a couple of park-to-park (P2P) contacts and was spotted on ReverseBeacon Network (RBN) by several Europeans. I kept banging on 15 meters for a while and made some more contacts, including F5SGI, my first POTA DX contact in a while.

About 2035Z, I switched to 17 meters. I made a couple of contacts there and then went back to 20 meters to finish out the day.

Overall, I mad 45 contacts in about three hours of operating time. For most of that time, my rate was over 16 contacts/hour. This beat my previous rate of 14/hour last time.

As far as total contacts go, I’m now just 45 away from 1,000 total contacts at US-3315. I hope to hit that sometime this week.

…. A “new” POTA Park…

For those of you not certain where Uxbridge Ontario is…. Look up for a map.

From the info given on the Global TV site (see above link) I am led to believe that this will be a “Day Use” Park but it will be a “Provincial Park” which means that when the work is complete and the park is opened to the public it will qualify as a POTA entity once it gets assigned a POTA Number.

Looking forward to getting another new park in my log

73bob

…. A “new” POTA Park…

For those of you not certain where Uxbridge Ontario is…. Look up for a map.

From the info given on the Global TV site (see above link) I am led to believe that this will be a “Day Use” Park but it will be a “Provincial Park” which means that when the work is complete and the park is opened to the public it will qualify as a POTA entity once it gets assigned a POTA Number.

Looking forward to getting another new park in my log

73bob

Traditionally held on “The Last Rainy Weekend” in June but for the sticklers for the rules its actual date is the 4th weekend in June…

This year it would be on June 22nd and ending on June 23rd

So what will VA3QV be doing???? Its safe to say that my Field Day Station will look a bit like this:

or like this from back in 2017….

So I plan to be operating as a 1B Battery Station from the RAC Ontario East Section (ONE)

The actual location has not been determined yet but there is a good chance the location could be one of the Parks on the Air location in the City of Kingston.

That’s the plan for good weather… and so far the long range forecast is calling for nice (dry). If the weather is not dry then the plan is to operate as a home station in the 1D catagory just to give out points to the participants

If you are new at this then the rules can be found here:

Years ago Field Day was considered a test of our emergency operating skills specifically to set up and operate a station for 24 hours and somehow it has morphed into more of contest with groups of operators putting up equipment that would not be used in a real emergency at power levels that could not be maintained unless you had a generator and an endless supply of gasoline.

I’m a little more primitive by setting up my QRP (5w of power) radio with a wire antenna and using a solar panel to top up the battery as needed.

I will have the option of being under cover (see above pic) as protection from the sun and/or rain most likely be needed at some time . Not sure how long I will be operating but it won’t be for the full 24 hours.

Overnight all I would be doing is listening to static and feeding the mosquitoes…

No egos to stroke…. Just operate and make some contacts with the emphasis of having fun and not taking myself too seriously.

Hope to hear you and be heard by you during the event

73bob

Dave and I are mobile again for the Wisconsin QSO Party. This time hitting four POTA parks and five counties on our multi-multi-mobile road trip. Will we end up with an epic score or fail miserably?

Team K9M is Michael KB9VBR and Dave KZ9V. This is our second year as mobile operators in the Wisconsin QSO party. If you made contact with K9M during the QSO party and would like a card, please QSL via KB9VBR. As they say, I’m good in the book.

Wisconsin QSO Party: https://www.warac.org/wqp/wqp.htm

Things that helped us immensly:
Feather Flag Base: https://amzn.to/3MdepHE
Wolf River Coils: https://www.wolfrivercoils.com/
MFJ-1979 whip: https://amzn.to/3B9cehF
42×108 inch Faraday Fabric: https://amzn.to/3Vt1m9R
Jaw Mount Antenna Clamp: https://amzn.to/3VL5Ir6
SO-239 stud mount for jaw clamp: https://amzn.to/3VT1KwG
SOTAbeams mast: https://www.dxengineering.com/search/brand/sotabeams/product-line/sotabeams-tactical-7000hds-compact-heavy-duty-telescopic-mast
Weize 100ah LiFePO4 Battery: https://amzn.to/3UswLbV
N1MM Logger Plus: https://n1mmwp.hamdocs.com/
Heil Ham Radio BM-17 Dual headset: https://heilhamradio.com/product/bm-17-2/

Graphical contact map provided by: https://www.qsomap.com/
Thank you for your support.

How I record my contact audio: https://youtu.be/tOqzZPphE7k
My headset trigger switch: https://youtu.be/b5Wu8BlrSF0

As a bonus, patrons can view the unedited phone contacts for the QSO Party and extended conversations between Dave and I. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas

Links may be affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This does not affect the price you pay.

The post Revealed: Our Risky Wisconsin QSO Party Strategy appeared first on KB9VBR Antennas.

The event was held on June 1st and finished on June 2nd. At the time of posting this there were 106 Museum Ships (including memorials) on the list. For more info on the event check out: https://www.nj2bb.org/museum/ .

In Kingston we were fortunate enough to have the SS Keewatin berthed at the Great Lakes Museum and so for this event it was a 45 min bus ride with all the radio gear I needed to participate.

Here is a couple of pics I took while at the museum.

The gear I used for operating from alongside the Keewatin was my POTA Station that consisted of my Yaesu FT891, Eco-Worthy 20ah LIPO 4 battery and a MFJ 33 foot telescopic mast to support the home brewed 63 Foot End Fed Half Wave (10m to 40m) antenna.

It looks rather small compared to the size of the Keewatin… Thanks to the Taxi Driver who moved into the pic so I could show the size of the ship easier. No I did not use the taxi… Kingston Transit bus #3 stops right at the front door of the Museum.

All my gear fit in my wife’s laundry cart… She may never get it back now…

I used some bungy cords to secure the mast (right of the pic) to a fence behind the tree cover. It suspended the EFHW in a “inverted Vee” configuration and worked well for me with no tuner needed.

I was able to operate for about 3 hours (or less) each day. The gear worked without a hitch but not so much the operator.

As the radio room in the Keewatin has not been updated yet, I was forced to operate from alongside (the above pic) so I was unable to leave the gear to use the facilities and so once nature called… it was time to pack up.

At the end of the event according to my logs I actually was contacted by 100 stations that were “Welcomed on Board the Keewatin”… of those 100 contacts 12 of them were other Museum Ship and their details follow.

(Pictures above the name of the ship)

Col James M Schoonmaker

USS Lafferty

USS Thresher Memorial

USS Massachusetts

Tall Ship Elissa

USS Nautilus

Claud W Somers

USS North Carolina

Watson Naval Museum

USS Salem

USS Cobia

This was a “spur of the moment” style of activation. I was going past the ship a week before and then found out the Museum Ships event was the next weekend. Although the Keewatin does have a valid Callsign without the radio room ship shape they were not in a position to activate.

I asked if I could do it and was given the green light to operate (using my own personal callsign) from where I did. (alongside but outside the fence)

As the Drydock is part of the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail (POTA CA-6003) some amateurs also got a new park in their logs.

Long story short… The activation was a success…. At least 100 amateurs now know of our ship and the Museum Ship community welcomed the Keewatin and its my hope that next year the ship itself will the on the air.

If we made the contact, thanks again. My logs for the two day event have been uploaded to EQSL, QRZ.com, the Museum Ships Group and will be uploaded to LoTW when they have fixed the security issue. I will also offer a copy of my logs to the Keewatin Radio Operators (see above link) for their records.

73bob

Where: US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area (near Brighton, MI)
When: 10:30 am – 1:30 pm (1430 – 1730 UTC)
Who:  Paul, KW1L, came with me today.
Weather: It was sunny, but a little cool in the morning. As you can  see, I’m wearing a sweatshirt. The temperature eventually got in to the low 70s, with very little humidity.
Rig: Elecraft KX-3, 66-ft. doublet antenna

On Thursday morning, Paul and I decided to set up on a hill overlooking the lake. There were very few people at the park Thursday morning, so we almost had the whole park to ourselves. There were a few swimmers. Brrrrrr. That water must have been cold.

As you can see from the photo at right, the operating position is in the sun. It was a bit cool in the morning, and being in the sun, made it feel just right.

It was just before 11:00 am when I made my first contact. I chose 40 meters to start, and I quickly made the 10 contacts needed for a legal activation. I then moved up to 20 meters, where I had decent success. I even tried 15 meters, but I only worked one station on 15—Russ, K5TUX of Linux in the Ham Shack fame.

We brought our lunches with us, and we broke for lunch about noon. After lunch, we made a couple of 20-meter phone contacts, including KC4DSV, who was operating from a spot that qualified as two parks: US-3924 and US-2935. We decided that that was a great way to end the activation, so we packed up and headed home.

So much for playing radio this weekend. In the last half hour my 200mW Zachtek WSPR transmitter, cycling from 80M to 10M every 15 minutes or so, managed to be heard in 2 places… Both in Boston and presumably by ground wave.

By comparison, here is a half hour block from a good propagation day:

Simply amazing! Enjoy the Aurora!

KM1NDY

Where: US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area (near Brighton, MI)
When: 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm (1830 – 2030 UTC)
Who:  I was accompanied on this activation by my lovely wife, Silvia.
Weather: The skies were overcast, and it looked like it was going to rain. It was also very windy. The temperature was in the upper 70s, and very little humidity.
Rig: Elecraft KX-3, 66-ft. doublet antenna

On this activation, I set up in the Bluebird shelter at the Island Lake Recreation Area. It was a bit of a hike to get there, as the road was closed for repairs. That worked in my favor, though, as I had the shelter all to myself.

True to its name, I spotted a bluebird perching on the volleyball net near the shelter. To the dismay of my wife, I spotted a lot of spiders, too.

I started out on 20 meters, but there was so much contest QRM, I decided to try 30 meters instead. Unfortunately, there wasn’t that much activity on 30, so I decided to try 40 meters.

I had much more success there. Conditions were good, and I was getting  good Reveres Beacon Network spots. I made 12 contacts in less than a half hour.

After that, I tried 17 meters, and I made a couple of contacts there, but eventually wandered back to 20 meters. Instead of operating around 14.060 MHz, though, I saw some POTA spots above 14.090 MHz, and worked a park-to-park, then started calling CQ up there. That worked out OK, and I ended up the activation with 25 contacts total.

Then, it was off to dinner with Silvia.

Where: US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area (near Brighton, MI)
When: 1:00 pm – 4 pm (1700 – 2000 UTC)
Who: On this activation, it was just me.
Weather: Beautiful day.  Sunny skies, temperature in the low 80s, and very little humidity.

Now that I’m back from Dayton, it’s time to start enjoying the summer. For many hams, that means Parks on the Air! I’ve already made a couple of activations, and plan to make many more this summer. I’ve also decided to blog about each activation.

Yesterday, I activated US-3315, Island Lake Recreation Area, the park closest to my house. They’re doing some renovations at the two spots where I usually set up—the Bluebird and Hickory picnic areas—so I set up at the Kent Lake beach area. There isn’t a shelter close to the parking lot, but there are plenty of trees to provide shade.

Notes

• I chose kind of a public place for this activation. Public places are good for attracting visitors, but you have to be more careful with your antennas. I put some caution tape on both legs of my inverted V antenna, but even so, you should keep an eye on the antenna. A family with small kids claimed a couple of picnic table near me, and at one point, one of the toddlers decided it might be fun to play with the antenna. Overall, I think that I prefer a more secluded spot. I’ll just have to hike a bit further from the parking lot.
• Having said that, the young(ish) father of the toddler came over when I started tearing down and inquired about what I was doing. He said that he was thinking of getting an SDR, so that he could start monitoring different services. I gave him my card and encouraged him to contact me if he developed an interest in amateur radio.
• I spotted my first sandhill crane of the year. Last year, they were regular visitors, and I’m happy that they’re back this year.
• 20 meters sounded kind of dead, even though I was getting some decent spots on Reverse Beacon. I’m thinking that there are fewer hunters in the early afternoons, for whatever reason.
• I was getting a weird, intermittent, man-made noise that I had not heard before at this park. I thought it might be from passing cars, but I couldn’t really figure out where it was coming from.
• I have some fancy banana plugs that I’m using on the radio end of my twisted-pair feedline. These do provide a good connection, but for some reason, the screws holding the wire in place are coming loose. I’m hoping a little LocTite on the threads will cure that problem.
• Immediately after going QRT, I downloaded the log to Evernote. I didn’t do this last time, and unfortunately, my phone completely died and I lost that log.
• Next time, I’ll bring a rag or a brush, to brush and dirt or branches on the table before I begin operating.

Anyone who has been with me for awhile knows that every now and again “Murphy” of Murphy’s Law fame comes for a visit.

Things here have been going fairly well (Ham Radio wise) recently. I have been able to some contacts (mostly 20m SSB) during the daytime and also in the evenings (mostly 40m SSB) and considering the band conditions I think that’s pretty good.

But (and you know there had to be a “but”!

After making some evening 40m ssb contacts last night I shut off the power supply and left the shack. I came back to the shack and turned on the power supply and the radio would not turn on.

I did a quick check and the power supply now had an output of 4v dc. Not what I was expecting as before I shut it down it was steady at 13.5v dc which is normal for this unit.

I then took the cover off and could not smell the “magic smoke” and there was no visible issues on the board itself. No burn marks on the board, everything attached and no signs of any thing out of the ordinary.

I did have a backup PS so I’m still on the air with a 25 amp unit rather than the 30 amp unit that now is a paperweight.

The replacement from “The Toronto Toystore” will set me back around $220.00 after shipping/taxes, so it won’t break the bank and they have one in stock so “fingers crossed”.

So, this morning I look out into my backyard and notice the counterweight attached to the end of my “Stealthy Inverted L” is laying on the ground. A quick check found that the wire itself was intact but…. (yup but again) the wire had slipped off on of the branches that support the horizontal section of the wire. This does happen every now and again so…. 30 minutes later I’m back on the air.

The plan now is to see if the band comes to life (the numbers are looking good) and I can get (more than) a few contacts in the log.

.

Ending on a positive note I was able to contact VE3FI Bill as he activated POTA CA-2376 as part of his cross Canada tour. I guess the antenna is working after all that.

73bob

Anyone who has been with me for awhile knows that every now and again “Murphy” of Murphy’s Law fame comes for a visit.

Things here have been going fairly well (Ham Radio wise) recently. I have been able to some contacts (mostly 20m SSB) during the daytime and also in the evenings (mostly 40m SSB) and considering the band conditions I think that’s pretty good.

But (and you know there had to be a “but”!

After making some evening 40m ssb contacts last night I shut off the power supply and left the shack. I came back to the shack and turned on the power supply and the radio would not turn on.

I did a quick check and the power supply now had an output of 4v dc. Not what I was expecting as before I shut it down it was steady at 13.5v dc which is normal for this unit.

I then took the cover off and could not smell the “magic smoke” and there was no visible issues on the board itself. No burn marks on the board, everything attached and no signs of any thing out of the ordinary.

I did have a backup PS so I’m still on the air with a 25 amp unit rather than the 30 amp unit that now is a paperweight.

The replacement from “The Toronto Toystore” will set me back around $220.00 after shipping/taxes, so it won’t break the bank and they have one in stock so “fingers crossed”.

So, this morning I look out into my backyard and notice the counterweight attached to the end of my “Stealthy Inverted L” is laying on the ground. A quick check found that the wire itself was intact but…. (yup but again) the wire had slipped off on of the branches that support the horizontal section of the wire. This does happen every now and again so…. 30 minutes later I’m back on the air.

The plan now is to see if the band comes to life (the numbers are looking good) and I can get (more than) a few contacts in the log.

.

Ending on a positive note I was able to contact VE3FI Bill as he activated POTA CA-2376 as part of his cross Canada tour. I guess the antenna is working after all that.

73bob

I really had a blast at this year’s Dayton Hamvention. My 2024 Hamvention experience included:

• Parks on the Air (POTA)
• Four Days in May
• New product introductions: QMX+, zBITx, Icom X60, Flex 8000
• Forums
• Kids
• Food
• Friends, lots of friends

Rather than try to write about it all in one big blog post, I’m going to split it up into a bunch of smaller posts. Here’s the first installment…

POTA, POTA

I’m retired now, so I can take as much time as I want for events like Hamvention. That being the case, my first decision was to not only go to Hamvention, but also Four Days in May (FDIM), put on by the QRP Amateur Radio Club International. The biggest part of FDIM is the all-day seminar held the Thursday before Hamvention. The talks begin at 8 am and run until 5 pm.

I only live about three and a half hours from Dayton, so in the past, I’ve driven down verrrry early Thursday morning, so that I could get there in time. My wife thinks I’m getting too old to do that, though, so I drove down on Wednesday. Since the drive is so short, however, I took advantage of the fact that I had a lot of time and activated two parks along the way: Van Buren State Park and Grand Lake St. Mary’s State Park. Both of these parks are not far from I-75, and I was kind of excited about doing this as it would be my first “rove” on my own.

I left my house at 9:30 am. It was raining as I left, and for most of the way to Van Buren State Park, which is just north of Lima, OH. When I got there, though, the rain had stopped, and I got set up quickly. While eating lunch, I made 18 contacts in a little over an hour.

Onward and southward

I packed up and headed to Grand Lake St. Mary’s State Park. On the way, it began raining again, but by the time I reached the state park, it had stopped and the sun was shining.

As the name implies, it’s quite a big lake for a man-made lake. In fact, according to Wikipedia, Grand Lake is the largest inland lake in Ohio, and at one time, was the world’s largest man-made lake. The lake was constructed in the early 19th century as a reservoir for the Miami and Erie Canal, which connected the Ohio River with Lake Erie. The canal system thrived for about thirty years in the mid-to-late 19th century before it was replaced by the railroads.

One of the attractions for me is that there is a lighthouse on the lake. That being the case, my first choice for an operating position was at the lighthouse. Unfortunately, the lighthouse is on private land, so I couldn’t operate from there. Instead, I chose a spot on the west side of the lake, from which I could see the small lighthouse. It was a very nice spot, and like the first park, I made 18 contacts in a little over an hour.

The adventure started after I packed up to go. While finishing up the activation, I noticed that battery in my phone was draining quicker than usual, but I still thought that I had enough battery power to get to Dayton. I started out on the route that Google Maps gave me, but I only got about ten miles, before the phone went completely dead. I plugged it into the car’s USB port, but it just didn’t want to charge up. I kept driving going first south, then east, then south again, reasoning that I’d eventually hit I-75.

That strategy worked quite well, and I evenutally ended up in Fort Loramie, OH. I stopped for a bite to eat, hoping that I could charge up my phone there, but the battery was completely dead. It wouldn’t take a charge at all. I lost that POTA logs and all of the photos I had on the phone.

After eating, I headed south on I-75, hoping that once I got to Dayton, I could figure out how to get to the hotel in Fairborn. That was wishful thinking, of course. After getting off the freeway, I asked for direction several times, but even so, I wandered around northeast and nothwest Dayton for at least an hour before I got to where I was going.

Fortunately, the hotel was close to several stores that sold Tracfones, which is the cell phone service that I use. I was able to purchase a new Samsung for $50, and after some wrangling with their tech support was able to get my phone number assigned to it. I was back in business. At that point, it was time to hit the sack.

Stay tuned for more of my Hamvention 2024 adventure. Tomorrow, I’ll be blogging about the Four Days in May talks and Vendor Night.

It’s a POTA road trip! I head out to activate three new to me parks while using a different antenna at each one. Ride along with me for an epic Parks on the Air activation as we find out which one will be the best

As a bonus, patrons can view the full, unedited phone contacts for this Parks on the Air activation. Visit my page on Patreon for details: https://www.patreon.com/kb9vbrantennas

I do return QSL, if you made a contact with me and would like a QSL, please send me one. Return postage not necessary, but always appreciated. As they say, KB9VBR is ‘good in the book.

Coffee and Ham Radios Apollo End Fed Half Wave: https://coffee-and-ham-radios.square.site/product/cahrtenna-apollo-end-fed-half-wave-/8
Chameleon CHA F-Loop 3.0 Magnetic Loop: https://chameleonantenna.com/shop-here/ols/products/cha-f-loop-30
213 inch whip antenna: https://amzn.to/3O3Bvkm
Feather Flag Base: https://amzn.to/3O6O7al
Antenna mirror mount jaw clamp: https://amzn.to/48yzRPL
3/8×24 SO-239 stud mount: https://amzn.to/3Sjre69
Aluminum window screen: https://amzn.to/3Sii0Ho
Faraday cloth: https://amzn.to/3vCru7r
Yaesu FT-891 transceiver: https://amzn.to/3RSg4DO
Heil Ham Radio BM-17 Dual headset: https://heilhamradio.com/product/bm-17-2/

How I record my contact audio: https://youtu.be/tOqzZPphE7k
My headset trigger switch: https://youtu.be/b5Wu8BlrSF0

Bill Cross was a fascinating ‘character’ in pioneer history: https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Newspaper/BA1204

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