We enjoyed decent weather, though cold for us southern types at 60F. The bands were in pretty good shape too but we had a good bit of competition in the QRP section of the bands with several state QSO parties on the air at the same time.

Setup started a bit before 9 am local time.

KJ4BR K3RLL KG4LAL setting up 40m SSB Station

Wally calling CQ on 40m SSB

Jim K4AHO is ready to go on 20m CW

Jim's got one for the log!

Don K3RLL (ex-WA3ZBJ) working 20m on Kelly's Sierra

Kelly K4UPG working 20m CW

We spent more time talking than operating, but this was a fun event for us and none of us thinks we are heavy duty contesters! We love to make qso’s and shoot the breeze about our antennas and homebrew gear.   In between conversations and coffee breaks we did work a few stations.

Final Score  29 QSO’s X 22 SPC = 638 X Temp Multi (x2) = 1276 x Field (x4) = 5104 X (alt pwr dna) = 5104 + WQ7RP (+100) = 5204 measly points

We moved to the larger pavillion of picnic area A at Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford and had more trees and space to hang wire and put up verticals. This spot seems to be a winner for us and we are planning to hold GatorCon 10 there in July. We’ll be recruiting more active QRP ops for that one. Stay tuned!

GatorCon Mascot

WANTED: QRP Ops fer CW or SSB

This Saturday 6 Feb 2010 1400 -2400 UTC

Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford, FL

PLS RSVP if you can make it!

The WX guesser’s are predicting a very nice day for our annual FYBO Event (Freeze Your Buns Off!). RULES HERE

Some of the gang will meet at 0700 for breakfast at the Sanford Cracker Barrel (I-4 & SR 46 on the NE corner)

We could use some operators to fill time slots and loggers to help us keep up with the logging chores. If you like Field Day, you’ll like this event. (it’s just more fun!)

Shifts are available… PLEASE let us know if you can attend and help us in our first Multi-Station Multi-Operator event. The NM QRP guys are offering a PRIZE to the QRP Multi-Multi challengers with the best score.

The GatorCon guys need your help to put us over the top.

Leave a comment or send an email and let us know if you will be attending!

Thanks and 73,

Kelly K4UPG Jim K4AHO Don K3RLL (ex WA3ZBJ)

Wally KG4LAL Larry KJ4BR Matt W1MDG

on behalf of The Central FL QRP Group (aka the GatorCon guys!)

GatorCon Guys Luv QRP! How about you?

Kelly demonstrates the strong arm method (aka sore arm)

Today a post by an unnamed fellow Polar Bear QRP op (and antenna tweaker) inspired me. His post about multiple sockets and yellow string hanging in the tree in his back yard generated a good bit of fun as others reminisced and told their own funny story about the perils of getting wire up into a tree.

So, in a followup to the favorite antenna poll of the last two weeks, I decided to open a poll to determine the QRP portable operator’s  favorite method of getting your portable antenna up in the tree.

Most of us have a sore arm or other memory as we learned our own preferred method… so here’s your chance. Vote for your favorite and leave a comment and share your antenna launching story.  Come on now… let it out!

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Having fun playing radio in the backyard at my in-laws! Extra fun since I cannot keep an antenna up full time so being able to get on the air when I can is a treat.

Entered my first SKCC SKS Sprint and the rain drove me to cover but managed to make a decent first showing for a QRP guy with rusty CW.

I put together a W3EDP antenna of 84 feet and a parallel 17 foot countepoise that sloped up to about 35 foot high branch. I used #24 teflon wire and some 1/4 in plastic tubing cut into 7 in pieces which I taped to the wires as spacer. Lightweight and nearly invisible in the air makes it a good candidate for QRP portable ops. It’s long, but seems to hear well and worked even after I bent it into an L when I had to get under cover from the rain! Hope to do more testing  with this one.

Earning my Polar Bear wings by being out in the COLD. This Florida Bear ain’t used to below 40 degree wx. Brrrr and Grrrrrr!

Nite Ops from the backyard

Nite Ops from the Deck

Several Polar Bears gathered at Lake Sylvan Park, Sanford, Florida and heated up the airwaves with their beary strong QRP signals! Grrrrrrr! Who says global warming is upon us?

Central Florida QRP Group members, Jim Diggs K4AHO, Don McBride WA3ZBJ, and Kelly McClelland K4AHO are also known as PB#185, PB #183 and PB #173 and were looking for BSO’s with fellow Polar Bear QRP Club members. We are still working on some of the other guys including Wally Crew KG4LAL,  Matt W1MDG,  and Larry to get PB numbers and get involved with the pack on the ice floes of Central Florida.

The Novembear Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event turned out to be a fun time. Our group had our traditional very early breakfast and headed out to Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford, FL. Our normal pavillion was already taken so we moved to the B (for BEAR) area and setup shop. It was a bit more difficult to setup antennas but we managed to get 3 verticals, a 40m inverted V and a mini-bac delta loop into the air. We also managed to stomp on each other with cross mod from time to time.

Almost time for another Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event! Grrrrrrrrr! This coming weekend, Saturday 14 Nov 2009, Polar Bears will be clamoring for position in the ice field and slammin pawerful signals into the air. Bring a rig and join us.

K4UPG Bear pounding brass and gittin' ready for the PBMME!

K4UPG Bear #173 is excited because some other bears is gonna be gathering with the Central Florida QRP Group which is scheduled to meet that same day!  So come on out to the Cracker Barrel in Sanford, FL for some sammin pancakes or sumpin else at 0730 EDT breakfast time. If you cannot make the feeding, then meet up with the rest of us bears at Sylvan Lake Park in the A Pavillion area at around 0900 EDT. Ya’ll come, hear??? Grrrrrrrrr!

72,

Kelly K4UPG

Since I was not feeling well, I did not push myself too hard. But I did set up my Buddistick in the back yard between the condo’s here in Orlando. There is a bit of QRN from the TV’s, Computers and Air Conditioners, but it is tolerable.

I used a step ladder for a support for the painter’s pole and that seems to work fine in this location. It is fast and simple though I do guy the pole just to make sure it doesn’t blow over in the frequent gusts of wind.

40m was in poor shape so I quickly shifted to 20m and got tuned up easily with a 1:1 to 1 SWR.  Sweet! Made a handful of QSO’s with NY, CT, TX, PA and heard CA, ME, WA, IA and a few others but did not make the connection.

Lord willin’ I’ll be able to make a few on Sunday too. Here’s some pics from today’s effort with my Sierra and J-47 key.

Buddistick in the backyard between condos

Back Porch portable at my condo

Grrrrrrr! Brand new Polar Bear #173 ventured out to Lake Fredrica today to stir up some fellow PB’s on the air. Setting up the mini bac Delta Loop Beartenna went well and I started on 40m. The band was OK, but I couldn’t seem to raise any BSO’s with my fellow Polar Bears. After a few minutes I switched to 20m with my Wilderness Sierra and WOW! The band was full of California ops in some sort of contest. Most of them blew me away with their fast CW and very strong signals but it was good to hear so much cw activity and the band was pretty good.

I setup my trusty Buddistick for 30m and almost got a perfect SWR. My Wilderness SST on 30m was hearing a good bit of activity and I managed brief qso’s with fellow Polar Bear QRP members W05X and N9SKN despite pretty heavy QSB on both signals. I heard W6BBQ and WG0AT but could not get a reply when I called them.

A bit later the band opened to Europe and I also was hearing West Coast (California and Washington) stations. I came back to S57MU and he gave me a 559 into Slovenia! Not bad for 2.1 watts out and it was a good way to end a fun day.

Thanks to the Polar Bear QRP Group for allowing this baby bear to participate. I look forward to future portable events and I’ll keep workin’ on a super-duper Beartenna so I can hear ya’ll even better. Grrrrr!

PBMME Oct 09 portable site at Lake Fredrica Orlando, FL

Tuning for Bears on 30m

My project this week was a Ten Tec 1051 Noise Bridge. I used a Ten Tec enclosure and it all went together quickly and even worked on the first try! It is a sweet tool for tuning an antenna when using a tuner without putting a signal on the air. I think it will help me and my BLT+ find the sweet spot a good bit faster than doing it otherwise. In the future, I plan to upgrade it to a full RX bridge so I can do some measurements too. Here it is…

TT 1051 rear view

TT 1051 Noise Bridge simple front view

I took my radio with me to St Louis and tried my hand at Hotel Portable ops. The conference schedule did not allow me much time, but I did get a break one afternoon and took 30 min to play radio in the courtyard. I threw my Coleman Clothesline reel over a tree limb at about 15 feet and paid out about 30 feet of wire and placed about 16 feet of wire on the ground as a counterpoise. It loaded well on 40m with my BLT+ and I worked three stations in about 20 min. Not bad!

St Louis Hotel Portable Airport Hilton

St Louis Airport Hilton Loading the Window frame!

After returning home, the weather in Orlando was great and I hit the nearby lake park for some antenna testing with a Mini Bac in various configurations. I was really happy with the Delta Loop which loaded well on 20m and 40m. This antenna is a keeper and I’ll be doing more testing and learning about how to deploy it.

Lake Fredrica operating position

Buddistick deployed for comparison

Here is the Delta Loop! Can you see the 26 gauge teflon coated wire? Here is a link to an outlined view of the Delta loop. CLICK HERE.  The Red line is the feed line which is twisted 1 turn per foot and held together with masking tape. Pretty slick. The “insulator” I used is also masking tape, as are the corner point markers and peak of the Delta. As I measured it I stuck a small piece of tape on the wire.

Mini Bac antenna in 14MHz Delta Loop Configuration

The antenna restricted condo dweller (me) continues to look for a viable alternative to get on the air without having to go outside (think rain) and setup and tear down a portable antenna. I built a new frame for the magnetic loop and tried a few different styles of feed and resonating.

Ended the day with a 1.12 swr on 30m with this setup. I tried (fingers crossed) a dual section polyvaricon cap that I had on hand. It is mounted on a lexan square just below the gap on the mag loop at the top. After some time spent with an exciter loop, I decided to try the gamma match approach and regrouped. Using two stainless steel hose clamps to clamp the 12 guage solid copper wire I used for the gamma match. (actually the same wire I used for the exciter and 1/5 of the  10 ft. length of the tubing used) I cleaned up the copper tubing with a bit of fine grit sandpaper and tightened the braid to the main loop. Then I connected and soldered the center connector to the 24 in 12 guage wire for the gamma match. I drug the end of the gamma match and watched my antenna analyzer for a dip. Once I found the sweet spot, I cleaned up the copper tubing with sandpaper and clamped the wire while adjusting for best match. I then adjusted the distance of the gamma match wire from the loop and fine tuned for the lowest swr on the analyzer. After a good match, I put my Wilderness SST on the antenna and though the band was not loaded and had lots of QSB, I tried to answer a CQ from WB3YIP and getting no answer called CQ myself just to see if anyone would pounce on me! No contact yet, but at least the capacitor did not blow up yet! Sort of fun seeing what it will handle. More later as I get further along in the project. Thanks to CW-Code Warriors Yahoo Group for the help and encouragement they have offered.

Here is the 2nd iteration of the mag loop in my living room

The gamma match in test state

The polyvaricon capacitor-- will it last or burn up from high voltage?