Posts Tagged ‘Beach Boys Amateur Radio Club’
Beach Boys ARC | On The Edge Of A Continent
December 29th, 2012 | 
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| Satellite perspective of our operating latitude and longitude on rocky outcropping. |
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| The city sign amplified our ham radio experience in the great outdoors. |
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| Buddipole antenna system configured for 15m CW pointing north to south. |
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| Yaesu FT100 with power supply connected to Bencher Paddles almost ready to launch signal. |
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| Fred, KI6QDH spinning the dial on 15m SSB with Bob, K2YAZ waiting for Ryan, K6RQT to log a QRP contact. |
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| Ryan, K6RQT getting ready to fire up his homebrew 1 watt, crystal controlled transceiver using matched long wire. |
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| Beach Boys ARC participants (L) to (R) Fred, KI6QDH, Scot KA3DRR, Radio Dawg, Ryan, K6RQT, and Bob, K2YAZ. |
We could not wish for a better day while experiencing ham radio in the great outdoors. The temperature did not rise above 60 degrees with sunny skies giving way to partly cloudy and no wind from any direction.
I packed earlier that morning wondering if the park would be full of visitors and locals? Everyone likes taking their dogs for a walk around 10 o’clock in the morning. I wasn’t disappointed. However, not only were we going to experience ham radio in the great outdoors, this was an opportunity at acquainting our general public with wireless communication as well.
Our operating location was chosen for its rugged terrain and proximity to the ocean. I would like to credit PT0S St. Peter and St. Paul Rocks DXpedition for their inspiration. We attempted to a limited degree to approximate operating conditions. I learned that ambient noise level increased substantially at high tide. The noise of breaking waves against rocks is loud making CW copy difficult without cans.
Next time, will wear cans and need to make a box for a speaker and head set jack, when operating near the ocean. It is good practice to share the experience with our general public as well.
I can only praise the performance of the Buddipole antenna system and ease of assembly in the field. Also, for transparency, I’m not sponsored by Buddipole to promote its product line on my blog. The same can be said of DX Engineering as well, however; I’m passionate about both of these companies and want them to continue succeeding into the future.
On the other hand, I’m beginning to understand why DXpeditions spend a great deal of time preparing for their operation and the impact of not being prepared. For example, I could have tweaked the FT100 side band menu settings instead of doing this in the field, lesson learned. Also, I forgot to open the vent valve on the Honda EU2000i gas tank and it stalled about an hour into operation.
Beach Boys ARC participants successfully logged two CW contacts at 100 watts into the Buddipole. We contacted Oklahoma and Florida receiving respectable signal reports from by station operators. Ryan, K6RQT and Bob, K2YAZ called CQ on several occasions without success. However, RQT’s homebrew 40m crystal controlled, one watt transceiver with matched long wire antenna will be back in the field in the near future.
In the meantime, I learned about being prepared prior to actually operating in the great outdoors and, anytime, is a good time, to take ham radio outside of the shack. Overall, Beach Boys ARC participants enjoyed a few hours under the ionosphere operating ham radio from a rocky outcropping while sharing the best hobby on the planet with the general public.
73 from the shackadelic near the beach.
Beach Boys ARC On The Edge Of A Continent
The Beach Boys ARC later this morning will set up wireless gear on the edge of a continent. Currently, beach weather is off the hook and conditions are stellar with blue skies while Cycle 24 rages above our craniums. It is the kinda of day that explains why I love living on the central coast of California.
Our gear list —
- Yaesu FT100.
- Paddles for Morse code.
- Boom microphone for single sideband.
- Buddipole antenna system.
- Honda EU2000i generator.
- Table.
- Chairs.
I want to tweet a few photographs into our #hamr network, high definition video using a small Sony Cyber Shot camera with mini tripod for stabilization, and an Olympus D-550 digital camera for still photography.
- 14.055 KHz plus or minus 10 KHz (CW)
- 21.055 KHz plus or minus 10 KHz (CW)
- 14.300 KHz plus or minus 10 KHz (SSB)
- 21.300 KHz plus or minus 10 KHz (SSB)
The Beach Boys ARC is looking forward to launching their signal from the edge of a continent while experiencing ham radio in the great outdoors.
Beach Boys Amateur Radio Club 2010 Field Day Prep
Photograph 1 Beach Boys Amateur Radio Club located near Pismo Beach, California. Our only requirement for membership is a willingness to enjoy ham radio and wear a Hawaiian print shirt.
Photograph 2 is our field day site and note the arena’s metal fencing.
Photograph 3 is Emerito, N6ETO at the controls of an ICOM ProIII — one of two for this year.
Photograph 4 is Fred, KI6QDH who is our local ham radio motivator and 6 meter grid square chaser.
Photograph 5 taken of John, KG6RWF and I while operationally testing our field day equipment to include a Kenwood TS850S.
Photograph 6 taken while I logged K6D a special event station commemorating donuts in Southern California.
Photograph 7 taken after BBARC successfully deployed our field day tower. It is all about safety when working in and around a tower.
Photograph 8 is our tri-bander waiting for signals. We heard E4X working a 5 KHz wide swarm on 20m Morse code this morning.
Photograph 9 taken while we prepared the tower for deployment.
Photograph 10 taken of Emerito, N6ETO making an adjustment to the tri-bander driven element prior to hoisting operations.
Photograph 11 is the tower after we successfully stowed our tri-bander antenna. Our goal was slow and steady as the tower made its descent. We are planning additional guys at the mid-section as well.
Photograph 12 is the Butternut HF9V at the opposite end of the arena. We will install a counterpoise system and ground to arena fencing prior to official operations.
73 from the shack relaxation zone.
