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Great weather, great site, and despite so-so band conditions but we made over 25 contacts to be able to submit our qualification of Hontoon Island, Deland, Florida as an official island to be listed and activated as a US Island On the Air.

The main picnic area near the ferry landing

The team consisted of Wally Crew, KG4LAL, Jim Diggs, K4AHO and Kelly, K4UPG. We used the special event callsign K4T on operated on 20m cw and ssb, 30m cw and a few unsuccessful attempts at 40m & 15m cw. Jim was our secret weapon on 20m with his good cw, K-1 and a Par End Fed antenna in vertical configuration on a 33 ft MFJ telescoping mast. Without his contribution we would not have been successful! So a big thank you Jim for your good operating skills and equipment that made it happen in less than 8 hours at QRP levels.

FL481 is ready for future activations!

Thanks to the Polar Bear QRP group, QRP-L members, 4 States QRP Group, GORC,  QRP Spots, US Islands organization and HF Packers that helped out by listening and attempting to connect with our effort on Hontoon Island. It was fun to work as a team!

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Look out Hontoon Island the Polar Bear of Florida is coming your way! Good Friday, 2 April 2010 Polar Bear QRP member #173 (aka K4UPG) will attempt to qualify Hontoon Island as a US Island on the Air by making 25 contacts including at least 2 DXCC entities.

Hontoon Island is a beautiful place for some QRP Portable Ops

Activity will start about 1400Z after the ferry ride over to the island. Plan is to use special callsign K4T for recognition.

Look for us on 30m cw (10.106-10.116 MHz) and 20m cw 14.050-14.070 MHz and on the hour we will check 15m 21.060-21.070. If anyone shows up to assist, will also attempt ssb on 14.250-14.260 MHz island corridor. All ops will be QRP so we’ll need your help to pull us out!

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Fishing is good!

If things go well, our Central Florida QRP group may consider this as a new operating site! If you are in the area, come on and check it out with us.

Hontoon Island closes when the sun goes down!

Thanks to Florida State Parks for the fine pictures!

P.S. We did it 4.2.2010!  Over 30 QSO’s update coming! I am TIRED!

A fitting end to this season of PBMME … Saturday the weather was finally decent here in Orlando and with 80F temperature and lots of sun, I certainly earned my red neck for the season! I set up my portable station near the tall pine trees in our neighborhood park on Lake Fredrica. A few curious neighbors came by to find out what the crazy guy with the wires in the tree was doing!

I am really liking the latest antenna launching combo shown in the photo below. I have been using a slingshot taped to a shelf bracket and equipped with a spincast reel, but have been considering other alternatives. The monofilament fishing line is prone to wind knots and tangles and does not always slip through the branches as well as I’d like. I found an old post by Russ Carpenter, AA7QU, a co-founder of Adventure Radio Society, which described using an archery reel and super slick braided line. Sure is nice to learn from those that have gone before! The bright yellow line is very easy to see though very thin, 3x stronger than monofilament and flies through both air and branches with ease! KEEPER!  Think I will do away with the spincast reel and save it for the grandkids!

Antenna Launching options

Here's my site for the event

Great trees for antenna wire hanging!

If you look closely, you can see the 30m half wave going up to the tree on the left. Nearly vertical for 46 feet and is spooled on a Coleman Camping clothes line and used with a 3 ft counterpoise.

To the right is my 20ft Jackite pole and a W3EDP 84 ft antenna with a 17 ft parallel feed with 3/16 inch PET pipe spacers about every 2.5 ft. it tunes 80-15m with my BLT+ tuner.

The Polar Bear QRP Group is a great bunch of guys… (no yl’s or xyl’s that I’ve heard yet) and our monthly outings are something I look forward to each month. The Yahoo Group is a good source of information and laughs as we swap stories and share our adventures. If you like QRP and portable operation, this is the group to join.