AmateurRadio.com

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:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.

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:

• West Virginia (17%, 11 Votes)
• Kansas (14%, 9 Votes)
• Texas (8%, 5 Votes)
• Hawaii (6%, 4 Votes)
• New Hampshire (5%, 3 Votes)

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:

• West Virginia (17%, 10 Votes)
• Kansas (16%, 9 Votes)
• Hawaii (7%, 4 Votes)
• Texas (7%, 4 Votes)
• New Hampshire (5%, 3 Votes)

You can cast your vote by following this link!

72,

Kelly K4UPG PB #173

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.

72,

Kelly K4UPG PB #173

Ever see one of those tie bars or pins that say, “IYKDWYBDYKGWYBG”  My dad had one back in the days when men wore ties. The thing used to bug me cause he didn’t tell us what it meant right away. We tried guessing for a few days before he got tired of 7 kids all ganging up on him.

It is the famous “If You Keep Doing What You’ve Been Doing, You’ll Keep Getting What You’ve Been Getting!” Not sure who gets the credit for that one, but it sure stuck with me all these years. Of course, I’ve heard my bosses recite it a few times along the way too.

It only hurts when I laugh, or think, or move, or…use a new antenna in a contest!

That’s what this series of posts is about. Not repeating mistakes I’ve made. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes and save a bit of time. Or maybe you’ll just get a laugh and some relief from knowing someone else made the same mistake you’ve made. HA!

Well, last night, I did not follow my own advice. I put together a new antenna a few hours before the NAQCC Sprint and set it up. LESSON: As previously mentioned, don’t try to use a brand new antenna in a contest.

Ooops I did it again. Strike TWO! It was a disappointing night and too late to try to get another antenna up before the 2 hour sprint was over. So no contacts for me, I’m still scratching  my head. Was it the antenna, me, or the band conditions? BUT… I don’t think I’ll pull that one again. Unless I have a hole in my head…

72,

Kelly K4UPG

p.s. Don’t forget to take the poll on my blog for the best ham radio QTH in the USA! It is on the left side column.

Spent my birthday participating (casually) in the Straight Key Century Club Weekend Sprint. My Lake Fredrica neighborhood site was where I set up my shelter and 3 antennas. I had a 40m dipole fed with twinlead up 40 ft and running E-W. An End Fed Halfwave for 20m was nearly vertical suspended by a nearby tree. A twinlead 44 ft doublet on my 20 ft Jackite with the ends at 16 feet was setup running N-S to give me a bit of a mini-smorgasbord of antenna choices. Since it was really sunny, I hooked up my ACME GC100 Solar Charger and VW Solar Panel.

Bands were decent with 40m quiet and some DX coming through early from Eu stations. Nice to hear that again. 20m came alive and was pretty much the go to band for the majority of the day. I did check 15m a couple times but did not hear much and no one replied to my CQ’s.

In the middle of a QSO, my Jackite pole decided to collapse but I was able to finish the QSO with one end of the dipole about 4 feet above the ground. hi hi

The highlight of the day was my last QSO with EA3NO, Lluis in Spain. As the special station for the sprint there was a lot of competition but Lluis hung in there with my weak signal and pulled me out of the crowd after a couple attempts. THANK YOU FOR THE BIRTHDAY PRESENT Lluis!

Still wondering what a CPG is? Contest Point Giver! I am a really casual contester. Really the only reason I participate is that contests offer a fairly good opportunity to make some QSO’s. When you are QRP you have to do a lot of listening, plus pounce and search, but serious contesters will dig out weak signals to make the QSO’s so it is fun. I enjoy giving out points and reading the mail on ops that are faster than my cw comfort zone. Good practice, eh?

Here’s some photos from the day. Enjoy!

[Show as slideshow]

[View with PicLens]

72,

Kelly K4UPG PB #173 SKCC #5415

Had a great time setting up the C Pole antenna in a tree suspended configuration. My good friend and cohort, Jim Diggs, K4AHO came by with his AIM 4170 Antenna Analyzer and we were ready to tune the antenna and get a feel for it.

LESSON: A good analyzer makes tuning an antenna fast, simple  and accurate! The AIM 4170 gave us a TON of info (most of it going over my head) and let us see how the C Pole was doing in several areas.  Take a look at this output! (Click on the image for a larger version)

K4UPG C Pole Scan Results

LESSON: I followed Niel’s directions, but did not have a small plastic coffee container so used a Quart Coke bottle instead. So I call it a Coke Choke and it seems to work well. Here’s a photo to show it off!

Coke Choke Ready for Duty

I think this one is a keeper. Goes up easily, hears well and loads nicely too. I made a few brief contacts and called it a day, but look forward to more C Pole action in the days ahead.

72,

Kelly K4UPG PB #173

p.s. Don’t forget to vote in the Ideal Ham Radio QTH poll on the blog!

If there were no limits (job, family, taxes, spouse, etc.) on where you could set up your ideal ham shack here in the USA, where would you go?

Think for a minute where the propagation, weather and other conditions create the ideal spot to operate.   Then leave your vote in the poll on my blog and write a comment if you’d like to let us know why…

Nice to dream a bit,  isn’t it?

p.s. Sorry and deepest apologies to the great state of Arizona… must be AZ Brain Freeze at work, it is on the bottom of the list until I figure out how to move it up higher in the software.

72,

Kelly K4UPG PB #173

Orlando, FL btw