Calling all Central Florida QRP Ops… there’s a small group of us in Orlando that like to gather together on the 2nd Saturday of the month for some breakfast, show n tell, and portable ops in a nearby park.
Antenna Tweakers
Operating site
K3RLL in action with KX-1
We just had a nice time of antenna tweaking and operating down by Lake Sylvan. There’s still room for more of you, so mark your calendars and plan to join us on the 10th of December 2010. Leave me a comment if you’d like me to send an email reminder to join us, or if you’d like to get on our list for future outings. Snowbirds are welcome too!
72,
Kelly K4UPG PB #173
Recently I began a project for a wire vertical antenna and it called for a 20 ft fiberglass or non-conducting pole/mast of some sort. Not to worry as I have a trusty 20 ft Jackite pole in a nice green color. I put the antenna together but the vertical wire was too long and so there was considerable slack wire swinging in the breeze. After some head scratching, I measured my 20 ft Jackite and found it was only 18 ft long!!! YIKES! Did it shrink?
Did it shrink? Nope, it is all good to go!
Thanks to the internet, I was able to send an email to Jackite products and ask if that was normal. In a short time, I received a very nice response from the Jackite vp and an offer that was over the top and way more than I was expecting. It was more than I could accept as I’ve been quite happy with the product otherwise. Turns out that it was a small quality control issue that I can tweak and correct personally.
I get no monetary or other gain out of this, but did want to give credit where credit is due. This level of customer support is often lacking in today’s busy world. I am glad to give a shout out to this company and its products! They do the job and the company stands behind them with good service. Outstanding job Jackite!
Yep, it is confirmed now for sure. Compulsive Antenna Disorder has haunted me since I was first licensed and ran a coax fed 80 meter dipole on multiple bands without a tuner. The first time the symptoms were noticed by my family and friends was when I got a couple OO tickets for out of band harmonics. Hmmmm… what’s up with that? So a bit of reading and the antenna tweaking began and that’s when it all started.
Soon thereafter I tried to load up a nifty pin from my Junior Prom Boutonnière that reminded me of a triple stacked halo for 1296 Mc (MHz for the newer ones amongst us). Then it was the handheld yagis for 432 Mc that we used with some military surplus gear that used dynamos so we could chase tornadoes. (We thought if it bounced off the moon, it should bounce off of a tornado!) The saucer sled that became a parabolic for listening to satellite telemetry and on it goes… Compulsive Antenna Disorder has had a firm grip on me for some time now.
Am I dreaming? Thanks wiki images!
As a QRP operator, I am always looking for more antenna power. I know that somewhere out there simply MUST be a silver bullet, that magic QRM and pileup busting antenna that makes my 2 watts output sound like a full gallon.
I can say one thing for sure, I know a lot of non-silver bullet antennas, as I have a box full of them.
But they still make a few QSO’s at times and I’m having fun along with a bit of frustration and disappointment as I deal with my CAD affliction.
I’m told that much like telegraph key collectivitis there is no known cure or relief. I share in your grief brothers and sisters…
Nice weather and an open schedule allowed for some radio time this weekend. The QRP ARCI Fall QSO Party made some buzz so I loaded up the gear and headed out by the lake. I put up an 88ft doublet in an inverted vee. I shoot a line over a tree limb at about 40ft and use that for the center and have two 17ft Crappie Poles that I use for end supports. That allows me to reorient the antenna to suit the conditions.
Ground Mount Closeup
One of the things I threw together is a simple mount for the crappie poles. I use a 2ft piece of PVC with a couple bolts inserted at right angles to one another at the base to keep the pole from going all the way through to the ground. The PVC is attached to a 3ft piece of aluminum angle iron that with 3 stainless steel hose clamps.
Crappie Pole End Supports
The poles are pretty limber and take a bit of a bend but do a good job of handling the 24 gauge teflon wire I use. As you can see in the pictures, the mounts do the job and don’t cost as much as commercial counterparts.
So it was a good day and I made a few contacts, enjoyed the outdoors and had a nice picnic lunch with my XYL down by the lake between QSO’s. The bands were pretty decent and I gave points to 20 of the more serious contestants out there.
p.s. The Polar Bears will be out and on the air next weekend. Give a listen, hear?
Remember when we used to think computers would save us time?
Why did we think the computer would save us time?
I spent the last 6 hours running updates, fixing the problems the updates created and figuring out how to install the updates that would not install automagically. Grrrrrrr!
Think I need some time to play radio, but I won’t be taking a SDR radio with me for a bit. Grrrrr…. need to recover from the 26 reboots and all the time wasted surfing and reading the small print.
Good thing there is a QRP ARCI event this weekend and the following weekend is our Polar Bear Moonlight Madness Event. Grrrr! I’m ready for some CW. CU on the bands!
The Biggest Bird in the Pond
On my morning walk yesterday, I had quite a treat. Sure wish I had taken the camera along. On the shore of the flood control pond that flows out into the golf course, were 4 fine Florida water birds. It is not common to see them bunched together like this. A Great Blue Heron, a Little Blue Heron, a Great Egret and a Comorant were lined up in a space of about 8-10 feet. There was a good bit of shoving and jockeying for position and they were working down the bank fishing in the same small spot.
Cormorant is like a living submarine or scuba diver
Made me think of the pileups a DX station creates… The comorant had a distinct advantage as the only real swimmer and diver of the bunch. It ranged up and down the bank picking off small fingerlings and bullying the other birds by swimming right up to their skinny legs and surfacing. Reminded me of some of the pileup busters I’ve observed from time to time.
At the same time, the little guy, the Little Blue Heron, and the regal looking, very white and tall Great Heron were left to glean around the edges and pick off the fish that were panic striken and confused by the other birds fishing in the midst. This reminded me of all the contests where I have to dodge the big birds and pick off what I can around the edges.
Funny thing is there are tens of thousands of fish all along the bank, not just where these birds were bunched up. What is it about us that piles us up and forces such fierce competition? Hmmm?
Yep, I am a devoted CPG (Contest Point Giver), who had a nice morning walk and got to see a great outdoors show for free. That is why I love operating QRP portable. Being outside and enjoying the free shows only adds to the enjoyment of the hobby and the friendships made on the air.
Tall White Bird is really quite skittish
This little Blue Heron really gets around fast
Wow! Great way to bring together a lot of ham radio ops on a Saturday using all sorts of technology! Way to go! QRPSPOTS.COM is normally used by QRP ops to spot each other when we are out operating portable or to alert others of band openings. It was ALIVE with reports and updates from all over the USA and even a few DX ops adding input too! In addition, several QRP reflectors were buzzing with updates and info. What a great community effort this turned out! Congrats to all and thanks to QRP ARCI for helping get the word out.
Iowa High Altitude Balloon Project
One of the 4 States QRP bunch, Terry WA0ITP, provided the 20m beacon again and has some great info on his informative website.
But for me, the coolest thing was listening in on the streaming webcast of VE3EN and his wonderful IC-7700. Sure wish I had thought of recording a bit or doing a screenshot to share here. But what a treat to listen in and hear the beacon’s signal right up until touchdown. Thanks Kevin for a fun way to eavesdrop on this event since the lawn mowing crew took over my condo’s yard and didn’t allow me to put an antenna out today. There is a ton of info and creative website construction on Kevin’s website and it is worth spending some time looking at the solar cycle data.
Congrats to the team for a successful event today and for bringing so many hams together for a good learning experience and something out of the ordinary. Well done W0OTM, well done indeed!
Here’s my dilemma:
I am a rookie homebrewer. My kit experience is good, but I have struggled to build direct from schematics. Part of it is my lack of ability to conceptualize the physical layout and part of my challenge is lack of building experience and mentoring.
What should I use?
Several of my antenna tuner projects seem to have a TON of hand capacitance effect. They are built in plastic cases, some from the Shack and some from the local surplus shops and hamfests. Most commercial tuners are built in metal cases and I wonder if that would eliminate the sensitivity to the tuning hand?
I have a couple metal enclosures I can use and a great ham friend sent me some thin copper with adhesive tape on the back. I am thinking of slapping some copper tape inside the plastic cases and see how it works.
So, I am putting it to the vote:
Which material should I build with?
Total Voters: 14
And for the record, the vote in the poll for best ham radio QTH in the US was won by West Virgina. Here is the top 5:
Thanks and 72,
Kelly K4UPG
The QRP-L reflector has been buzzin’ with the news and chatter (positive and some negative btw) about a new project to design and build a new transceiver for QRP HF use. YAHOO!
K8IQY Style Test Setup
What I love the most about this is that the QRP community is able to contribute ideas, resources and participate much like the Open Source software community operates. This could really be a fun project for our Central Florida QRP group. After all, we are not that far from Diz W8DIZ who is facilitating and coordinating this project.
If you like to build, experiment and try some QRP operation with a new rig… you should tune in and join the fun.
This is the last week to vote in the poll on my blog for the best US QTH for ham radio… Here’s the standings as of Sunday at 2100 EDT:
You can cast your vote by following this link!
As a bypass survivor, each morning when possible, I go for a brisk walk. We are blessed to live in a nice development in Orlando which has a bit of lakefront and also has some irrigation and flood prevention ponds. This water attracts a good selection of wildlife which makes it fun to be outside and exercising even though the heat and humidity are often both above the 90 mark.
We have ducks, baby ducks, coots, turtles, snakes, eagles, hawks, osprey, sand hill cranes, storks, cormorant, anhinga, raccoon, possum, squirrels, armadillos, feral cats, foxes, geckos, lizards, frogs, toads and all sorts of other neat critters to entertain us at various times of the year. This morning I spent some time watching the water birds fishing on all the new fingerlings from this year’s hatch of bass, bream and tillapia that gather in the grass along the water’s edge.
Learning S & P from a Heron
Today a heron demonstrated how to do catch fish and I realized that the heron could teach me some things about operating QRP style search and pounce.
The heron has a particular style… they spread their wings like this great photo demonstrates so well (thanks Chris Harshaw and http://www.wikimedia.org). So what’s that got to do with ham radio? Like a karate master who learns from the world around him, a good QRP op can learn from the birds! The heron shades the target with its wings to take the glare off the water so it can see better. It also causes the fish to become confused and they can pick off the loner or easiest target.
Same thing with QRP… we need to spread our wings by tuning around a bit more agressively and listening for the ones we can snag. Not always the strongest, but a signal that is decent and an op that genuinely wants to make a contact. When we find that contact we need to pounce on it and not waste time.
Yes, I learned a bit from watching that heron this morning. He caught quite a few fish in a short time using his form of search and pounce. That heron was quick and moved from spot to spot gingerly and didn’t miss his target very often. No wonder he’s grown so large! I want to be more like that heron when I am on the air.
Still time to cast your vote in the poll for the best ham radio location in the USA.
