Posts Tagged ‘KX3’
A Tip o’ the Hat
June 17th, 2016 | 
Author: 
I really have to extend a hearty "tip o' the hat" to all you QRP SSB guys out there. Not being used to SSB operations, not being used to QRP SSB operations has provided me with a learning experience. In your writer's most humble opinion, QRP SSB has a difficulty factor of 10X compared to QRP CW.
Today during lunch time, I was hunting around for NPOTA stations on 20 Meters. Not hearing anything on the CW bands, I moved on up to the realm of voice - foreign territory, indeed!. There I heard two stations. K0USA on 14.260 MHz and K0RP on 14.340 MHz. K0RP was very weak, with QSB making it worse. K0USA was a good 5X5 into NJ and even 5X7 when QSB would let up. I decided to concentrate on Mary, who was the op behind the mic. It took the better of 15 minutes, but I got in the log - and it was a new one for me, MN46, the Homestead National Historical Monument in Nebraska.
For her part, Mary did a superb job dealing with my weak signal. Only 5 Watts to the Buddistick has gotten me decent results on SSB in the past, but today, with the monstrous QSB, it was their beam (which was pointed south, by the way - I was off the side) and her great ears that made the difference. I owe her a ton of gratitude for sticking with me and granting me the ATNO.
Getting back to the topic of SSB vs CW ..... I'm pretty confident in my CW skills. From past practise, it's pretty easy for me to gauge who is workable and who isn't. I still get surprised from time to time; but I've gotten pretty good at figuring out who I am able work and who I am not..
QRP SSB is still a crap shoot for me. Like I stated, it's foreign territory. To make things even worse, shall we say that patience is a "hard won virtue" for me? Living in New Jersey all my life, I'm used to the fast pace of the Northeast. Things, especially at work, are wanted yesterday. I'm used to dealing with that, and delivering those kind of fast results. The downside is, that I've come to expect that, in return. Waiting is still a battle for me. Not in all situations, but in many - especially when I am dealing with myself.
QRP SSB is an extra hard challenge for me and will be for quite a while. The upside is hopefully, I'll become more skilled at it; and I'll also gain more patience, because of it..
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
If at first you don’t succeed try try again!
Well, here we are once again trying to get the portable ham radio setup going.
My first attempt was to place one of my mono band whips on my bike and set out a counter poise. It was with mixed results, the SWR was sometimes all over, there was a TX error message now and again on my KX3 and basically frustration trying to get it to work. So if at first you don’t succeed try try again.
Last week I was online searching again for another way to get my portable op’s on the air. I was looking for something that was easy to deploy, was portable and worked!
My interest has gone toward the Endfed antennas. I was looking at LNR’s antennas and then I came across the Endfed 40-6m antenna by Steve W1SFR. I shot him some questions regarding the antenna and he got back to me right away with the answers. His Endfed seems to be very well built using Wireman “silky” 18 gauge wire which I have used in the past and been very happy with. There was a nice noticeable quality in both the wire connections and the 9:1 unUn.
The antenna is only 35 feet but you do need about 25 feet of coax to act as a counter poise. Also your rig needs to have an antenna tuner (mine does) to get the benefit of 6m-40m with only a 35′ antenna and no traps. Also it was nice to see on his web site a link to purchase his antenna including shipping to VE3 land.
The shipping was super reasonable the total came to 67.00 U.S. Steve also mentions that his price includes handling as well. Other sites I had gone to being very interested in their antenna to only find out the shipping at times was either 1/2 or more of the price of the antenna.
There was lots of positive reviews on Eham about Steve’s antenna as well. I put some items I am not using in the shack sold them very fast and the funds were in place so I have placed my order and waiting for it to arrive.
I have the 25′ of coax on hand but I do have to head out to the hardware store for some rope 1/8″ nylon rope. Then I’m thinking of placing a water bottle with some sand it it as a weight to get the rope up and over a tree branch…..that is going to take some practice!
A great weekend for portable op’s
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| The setup by the Lake |
This past weekend the weather was great and the propagation seemed to be fair. So that meant it was time to take the Elecraft KX3 along with my bike and hit the trails again. I went out on Saturday and Monday (It was a long weekend up this way) to see if the Ham god's would smile on my QRP signal. On Saturday there was a CW contest in full swing which meant there was contesters with keen ears wanting to make contacts. On Saturday I setup at the same location I blogged about on Friday. The park located where we live was not too busy and I was able to scoop a nice picnic table. I was using the same setup the KX3 and mono band 20m whip mounted on my bike. I heard DL2SAX calling CQ test but I was not able to raise a contact from him. I did make contact with CO2RQ from Cuba who was in the contest. This contact told me my signal was getting out as up to this point I had not made any contacts with this setup. I then hung out at the QRP watering hole calling CQ there did not seem to be much action and I was beginning to wonder if Cuba would be the only contact. Then WL2LG came back to me, Len and I had a very nice QSO my report was 229 and I gave him 559. We had a nice QSO talking about antennas, rigs and weather. For Saturday that was it for my contacts.
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| A visitor |
On Monday I got out a bit later and the park was very active and finding a picnic table proved to be very challenging. The spot I had been at for the last couple of days was taken. I did find another spot about 15 minutes away from my first spot but again it was on the lake with a nice breeze. I setup and was on 20m in no time calling CQ at the QRP watering hole again. I did hear K4BBH and VE4AK but they did not come back to me when I sent out my call. I did notice on Monday the conditions had changed to the point where an S8 signal in no time was down at the noise floor. I did make one contact for the day with W2KJ, Joe was in North Carolina. He has a good signal that without warning would fade down to the noise floor. The Audio Peak Filter (APF) on the KX3 saved the contact for me as I was able to dig Joes fading signal to readable levels. We both were QRP at 4 watts and both of us were using Elecraft KX3 rigs. My RST was 329 and I gave him 559 and that seem to be it for my contacts for the day. I packed up and when back home satisfied with only one contact considering the conditions and my minimal setup.
Out on the trail with the KX3
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| The bike all loaded up |
After loading up the bike the first thing I found out was the kick stand on the bike would not support the bike and the loaded side bags. It turned out to be a fine balancing act when it
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| Diamond K400 mount |
Here is a list of the items I am packing:
KX3-on it's own with no Pelican case
Extra battery just in case- The Tracer battery pack
18 gauge counter poise- only for 20m at this time
Pens, paper and 3x5 cards with programming Kx3 instructions
Headphones- I don't use ear buds as my hearing is not that great and any noise around me tunes out CW.
Trunk lip mount base for antenna- Diamond K400
Miscellaneous items- antenna connectors, adjustable wrench, tire repair kit for bike, hat, sunglasses and so on.
Lets get to the trail adventure..........I was able to bike to one of my pre picked spots down at the Lake where a nice size picnic table was available. The antenna mount setup worked great on the bikes rear rack which I mounted back at the condo in case there was issues. I attached the counter poise via a male female 14 gauge connectors. The rig setup was straight forward as I have done this many times in the past. I fired up the rig and I wanted to see at this point if the counter poise was sufficient for a decent SWR and it was. BUT after
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| The setup |
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| The surprise error code |
It was an NPOTA weekend …..
in more ways than one.
I worked about 5 or 6 new entities between Friday night and Saturday, so I am getting really close to my personal goal of working 100. The bands have been good the past couple of days, after totally stinking during the middle of the week, so that was a good thing.
I have lived relatively near Morristown National Historical Park my entire life. I think I've been there once before NPOTA. Yesterday, I decided to take Marianne and our dog, Harold up there for the afternoon, as dogs are welcome there. It was a beautiful Spring day, Marianne had an extremely rare Saturday off; and I wanted to do something with her. It seemed like a good opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous weather, walk the dog and get some good exercise in for ourselves. It's because of NPOTA that I discovered that dogs are welcome there. If I didn't see that while I was up there, activating the park, I wouldn't have known otherwise.
Much to our surprise, when we got there, we found out that a Revolutionary War re-enactment was taking place:
The highlight of the day was when one of the re-enactors came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. He pointed to the American flag that is embroidered on the left sleeve of my jacket and he said to me, "Kind sir, a question, please. It appears that you have a United States flag on your coat; and yet there are so many stars? Certainly more than 13!"
I answered, "It's a long and sometimes bloody story, and I don't think we have time to go through it all, but I would like to thank you and your fellow soldiers for giving birth to the finest Nation on Earth."
He chuckled, and I chuckled at our impromptu time travelling scenario. In the end, it was great NPOTA day, even though this one didn't involve Amateur Radio. So hats off to the ARRL for reminding me about some of the really cool places that there are to visit around my QTH.
In the evening, I decided that I would go out early Sunday morning to activate Sandy Hook, which is part of the Gateway National Recreational Area - RC08.
I used the Jackite pole and my homebrew mast holder and the PAR END FEDZ 40/20/10. In a little over an hour, I made over 40 contacts on 40 and 20 Meters. Bext DX was Alberta, Saskatchewan and California. Not bad for 5 Watts, and if at all possible, the PAR will be my preferred antenna for future activations.
I would have stayed longer, but I had somewhere to go with my daughter Cara, so I made due with the time I had. It was a bit brisk while I was there, but it was sunny and clear. If you click on the bottom photo, you just might be able to make out the New York City skyline in the distance, on the horizon.
Sandy Hook was my third activation, and I hope to do at least two more in New Jersey - the Pinelands and the Appalachain Trail in the Northwest part of the state. When we go up to Lake George this Summer, I also hope to spend one day at Saratoga and activate HP42 while I'm in the neighborhood.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
I worked about 5 or 6 new entities between Friday night and Saturday, so I am getting really close to my personal goal of working 100. The bands have been good the past couple of days, after totally stinking during the middle of the week, so that was a good thing.
I have lived relatively near Morristown National Historical Park my entire life. I think I've been there once before NPOTA. Yesterday, I decided to take Marianne and our dog, Harold up there for the afternoon, as dogs are welcome there. It was a beautiful Spring day, Marianne had an extremely rare Saturday off; and I wanted to do something with her. It seemed like a good opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous weather, walk the dog and get some good exercise in for ourselves. It's because of NPOTA that I discovered that dogs are welcome there. If I didn't see that while I was up there, activating the park, I wouldn't have known otherwise.
Much to our surprise, when we got there, we found out that a Revolutionary War re-enactment was taking place:
The highlight of the day was when one of the re-enactors came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. He pointed to the American flag that is embroidered on the left sleeve of my jacket and he said to me, "Kind sir, a question, please. It appears that you have a United States flag on your coat; and yet there are so many stars? Certainly more than 13!"
I answered, "It's a long and sometimes bloody story, and I don't think we have time to go through it all, but I would like to thank you and your fellow soldiers for giving birth to the finest Nation on Earth."
He chuckled, and I chuckled at our impromptu time travelling scenario. In the end, it was great NPOTA day, even though this one didn't involve Amateur Radio. So hats off to the ARRL for reminding me about some of the really cool places that there are to visit around my QTH.
In the evening, I decided that I would go out early Sunday morning to activate Sandy Hook, which is part of the Gateway National Recreational Area - RC08.
I used the Jackite pole and my homebrew mast holder and the PAR END FEDZ 40/20/10. In a little over an hour, I made over 40 contacts on 40 and 20 Meters. Bext DX was Alberta, Saskatchewan and California. Not bad for 5 Watts, and if at all possible, the PAR will be my preferred antenna for future activations.
I would have stayed longer, but I had somewhere to go with my daughter Cara, so I made due with the time I had. It was a bit brisk while I was there, but it was sunny and clear. If you click on the bottom photo, you just might be able to make out the New York City skyline in the distance, on the horizon.
Sandy Hook was my third activation, and I hope to do at least two more in New Jersey - the Pinelands and the Appalachain Trail in the Northwest part of the state. When we go up to Lake George this Summer, I also hope to spend one day at Saratoga and activate HP42 while I'm in the neighborhood.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
It was an NPOTA weekend …..
in more ways than one.
I worked about 5 or 6 new entities between Friday night and Saturday, so I am getting really close to my personal goal of working 100. The bands have been good the past couple of days, after totally stinking during the middle of the week, so that was a good thing.
I have lived relatively near Morristown National Historical Park my entire life. I think I've been there once before NPOTA. Yesterday, I decided to take Marianne and our dog, Harold up there for the afternoon, as dogs are welcome there. It was a beautiful Spring day, Marianne had an extremely rare Saturday off; and I wanted to do something with her. It seemed like a good opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous weather, walk the dog and get some good exercise in for ourselves. It's because of NPOTA that I discovered that dogs are welcome there. If I didn't see that while I was up there, activating the park, I wouldn't have known otherwise.
Much to our surprise, when we got there, we found out that a Revolutionary War re-enactment was taking place:
The highlight of the day was when one of the re-enactors came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. He pointed to the American flag that is embroidered on the left sleeve of my jacket and he said to me, "Kind sir, a question, please. It appears that you have a United States flag on your coat; and yet there are so many stars? Certainly more than 13!"
I answered, "It's a long and sometimes bloody story, and I don't think we have time to go through it all, but I would like to thank you and your fellow soldiers for giving birth to the finest Nation on Earth."
He chuckled, and I chuckled at our impromptu time travelling scenario. In the end, it was great NPOTA day, even though this one didn't involve Amateur Radio. So hats off to the ARRL for reminding me about some of the really cool places that there are to visit around my QTH.
In the evening, I decided that I would go out early Sunday morning to activate Sandy Hook, which is part of the Gateway National Recreational Area - RC08.
I used the Jackite pole and my homebrew mast holder and the PAR END FEDZ 40/20/10. In a little over an hour, I made over 40 contacts on 40 and 20 Meters. Bext DX was Alberta, Saskatchewan and California. Not bad for 5 Watts, and if at all possible, the PAR will be my preferred antenna for future activations.
I would have stayed longer, but I had somewhere to go with my daughter Cara, so I made due with the time I had. It was a bit brisk while I was there, but it was sunny and clear. If you click on the bottom photo, you just might be able to make out the New York City skyline in the distance, on the horizon.
Sandy Hook was my third activation, and I hope to do at least two more in New Jersey - the Pinelands and the Appalachain Trail in the Northwest part of the state. When we go up to Lake George this Summer, I also hope to spend one day at Saratoga and activate HP42 while I'm in the neighborhood.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
I worked about 5 or 6 new entities between Friday night and Saturday, so I am getting really close to my personal goal of working 100. The bands have been good the past couple of days, after totally stinking during the middle of the week, so that was a good thing.
I have lived relatively near Morristown National Historical Park my entire life. I think I've been there once before NPOTA. Yesterday, I decided to take Marianne and our dog, Harold up there for the afternoon, as dogs are welcome there. It was a beautiful Spring day, Marianne had an extremely rare Saturday off; and I wanted to do something with her. It seemed like a good opportunity to enjoy the gorgeous weather, walk the dog and get some good exercise in for ourselves. It's because of NPOTA that I discovered that dogs are welcome there. If I didn't see that while I was up there, activating the park, I wouldn't have known otherwise.
Much to our surprise, when we got there, we found out that a Revolutionary War re-enactment was taking place:
The highlight of the day was when one of the re-enactors came up to me and tapped me on the shoulder. He pointed to the American flag that is embroidered on the left sleeve of my jacket and he said to me, "Kind sir, a question, please. It appears that you have a United States flag on your coat; and yet there are so many stars? Certainly more than 13!"
I answered, "It's a long and sometimes bloody story, and I don't think we have time to go through it all, but I would like to thank you and your fellow soldiers for giving birth to the finest Nation on Earth."
He chuckled, and I chuckled at our impromptu time travelling scenario. In the end, it was great NPOTA day, even though this one didn't involve Amateur Radio. So hats off to the ARRL for reminding me about some of the really cool places that there are to visit around my QTH.
In the evening, I decided that I would go out early Sunday morning to activate Sandy Hook, which is part of the Gateway National Recreational Area - RC08.
I used the Jackite pole and my homebrew mast holder and the PAR END FEDZ 40/20/10. In a little over an hour, I made over 40 contacts on 40 and 20 Meters. Bext DX was Alberta, Saskatchewan and California. Not bad for 5 Watts, and if at all possible, the PAR will be my preferred antenna for future activations.
I would have stayed longer, but I had somewhere to go with my daughter Cara, so I made due with the time I had. It was a bit brisk while I was there, but it was sunny and clear. If you click on the bottom photo, you just might be able to make out the New York City skyline in the distance, on the horizon.
Sandy Hook was my third activation, and I hope to do at least two more in New Jersey - the Pinelands and the Appalachain Trail in the Northwest part of the state. When we go up to Lake George this Summer, I also hope to spend one day at Saratoga and activate HP42 while I'm in the neighborhood.
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
I had hoped for better results
As planned, I went and activated Morristown National Historical Park (HP28) for NPOTA. Things didn't turn out as well as I had hoped; but it was still a good time nonetheless.
I got to the park on time, right before Noon (1600 UTC). I allowed my TomTom GPS unit to bring me up to Jockey Hollow via a new route which I had never taken before. This brought me up through the Great Dismal Swamp, which is designated as a National Wildlife Refuge. It is truly a beautiful area and as I was driving through, I could see herons and egrets and all sorts of birds in the marshes. Seeing that the Great Dismal Swamp is designated as a National Wildlife Refuge, I was wondering why it's not listed as one of the NPOTA WR entities. A little Googling revealed that the Swamp is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and not the National Parks Service. That's a shame because that would be a really beautiful area to set up a portable operation from.
Anyway, I got to the Park and got set up, which by now, only takes me a few minutes. After so many lunch time QRP sessions, I could do this in my sleep, or with my eyes shut.
Since I was planning on operating some SSB in case there was a lack of activity, I brought along my big, heavy Werker deep cycle battery. I figured that this way, I could operate for an extended period of time at the 10 Watt SSB level if I needed to. And boy, did it turn out that I needed to!
The first thing I did after setting up was tune to around 14.061 MHz - the neighborhood of the QRP Watering Hole. I was shocked by what I heard - wall to wall CW signals! There was literally nowhere to sit where there wasn't a station calling "CQ TEST". I didn't realize that today was the RUDX, the Russian DX Contest - and boy, it filled the band!
I went on up to 17 Meters and heard some Europeans that were very loud. Knowing that meant the band was wide open, I easily found a clear spot at 18.082 MHz and proceeded to call "CQ NPOTA". The band was wide open, but as it turned out, there wasn't much if any activity. I worked K0IG right off the bat and then ...... nothing.
Not wanting to waste too much time, I got out of the Jeep and switched from the Buddistick to my 40 Meter Hamstick. I went down to 7.037 MHz, called CQ and was greeted by the normal NPOTA pileup. I was stoked and began to work station after station. The only bad thing was that the initial pileup lasted for only a few minutes, and then I began the monotonous routine of calling "CQ NPOTA" and waiting minutes in between answers.
Getting bored, I decided to give 20 Meters another try. Off came the Hamstick and up went the Buddistick. I called CQ for a bit and got a couple of QSO completed on 14.060 MHz, but it was tough. The stations calling me were loud, but their calls were being blanketed by even louder DX stations. Those guys had to be using mondo power. How much do they allow over in Europe, anyway?
Sitting there, disappointed as heck, I was ready to pack it in and head home a bit early. Then an inspiration occurred that maybe I should give 20 Meter SSB a whirl. Even though I'm not an avid fan of SSB, I decided to give it a shot. I was rewarded with a small run of about a dozen stations before that too, ended up petering out.
I had gone up to HP28 with a spiral notebook, thinking I would fill pages with call signs. After all, my outing to TR23 in January netted me over 80 QSOs. For some reason. I was thinking I would break that record easily. Just the opposite happened! I ended up with only 27 QSOs - but you know what? I discovered that a bad day of Amateur Radio is STILL better than a good day at work. So I'm a happy camper, anyway.
This only gives me more incentive to go back up to HP28 later this year, but this time throw a wire into a tree. I know that's kind of verboten, and on Facebook, someone actually related how they were asked to leave a park the other day for doing that. With that in mind, just before I left, I went to the visitor center and explained that I was an Amateur Radio operator and what NPOTA was (she knew what it was, by the way) and asked if there was any prohibition about wires in trees. She said as long as it was temporary, and would cause no damage and would not interfere with anyone else's visit, that they were OK with it.
So when I got back to the car, just for the heck of it, I attempted to launch a line over a limb just to see how it would go. 30 plus feet on the first try.
I'll be back, Jockey Hollow!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
I got to the park on time, right before Noon (1600 UTC). I allowed my TomTom GPS unit to bring me up to Jockey Hollow via a new route which I had never taken before. This brought me up through the Great Dismal Swamp, which is designated as a National Wildlife Refuge. It is truly a beautiful area and as I was driving through, I could see herons and egrets and all sorts of birds in the marshes. Seeing that the Great Dismal Swamp is designated as a National Wildlife Refuge, I was wondering why it's not listed as one of the NPOTA WR entities. A little Googling revealed that the Swamp is administered by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and not the National Parks Service. That's a shame because that would be a really beautiful area to set up a portable operation from.
Anyway, I got to the Park and got set up, which by now, only takes me a few minutes. After so many lunch time QRP sessions, I could do this in my sleep, or with my eyes shut.
Since I was planning on operating some SSB in case there was a lack of activity, I brought along my big, heavy Werker deep cycle battery. I figured that this way, I could operate for an extended period of time at the 10 Watt SSB level if I needed to. And boy, did it turn out that I needed to!
The first thing I did after setting up was tune to around 14.061 MHz - the neighborhood of the QRP Watering Hole. I was shocked by what I heard - wall to wall CW signals! There was literally nowhere to sit where there wasn't a station calling "CQ TEST". I didn't realize that today was the RUDX, the Russian DX Contest - and boy, it filled the band!
I went on up to 17 Meters and heard some Europeans that were very loud. Knowing that meant the band was wide open, I easily found a clear spot at 18.082 MHz and proceeded to call "CQ NPOTA". The band was wide open, but as it turned out, there wasn't much if any activity. I worked K0IG right off the bat and then ...... nothing.
Not wanting to waste too much time, I got out of the Jeep and switched from the Buddistick to my 40 Meter Hamstick. I went down to 7.037 MHz, called CQ and was greeted by the normal NPOTA pileup. I was stoked and began to work station after station. The only bad thing was that the initial pileup lasted for only a few minutes, and then I began the monotonous routine of calling "CQ NPOTA" and waiting minutes in between answers.
Getting bored, I decided to give 20 Meters another try. Off came the Hamstick and up went the Buddistick. I called CQ for a bit and got a couple of QSO completed on 14.060 MHz, but it was tough. The stations calling me were loud, but their calls were being blanketed by even louder DX stations. Those guys had to be using mondo power. How much do they allow over in Europe, anyway?
Sitting there, disappointed as heck, I was ready to pack it in and head home a bit early. Then an inspiration occurred that maybe I should give 20 Meter SSB a whirl. Even though I'm not an avid fan of SSB, I decided to give it a shot. I was rewarded with a small run of about a dozen stations before that too, ended up petering out.
I had gone up to HP28 with a spiral notebook, thinking I would fill pages with call signs. After all, my outing to TR23 in January netted me over 80 QSOs. For some reason. I was thinking I would break that record easily. Just the opposite happened! I ended up with only 27 QSOs - but you know what? I discovered that a bad day of Amateur Radio is STILL better than a good day at work. So I'm a happy camper, anyway.
This only gives me more incentive to go back up to HP28 later this year, but this time throw a wire into a tree. I know that's kind of verboten, and on Facebook, someone actually related how they were asked to leave a park the other day for doing that. With that in mind, just before I left, I went to the visitor center and explained that I was an Amateur Radio operator and what NPOTA was (she knew what it was, by the way) and asked if there was any prohibition about wires in trees. She said as long as it was temporary, and would cause no damage and would not interfere with anyone else's visit, that they were OK with it.
So when I got back to the car, just for the heck of it, I attempted to launch a line over a limb just to see how it would go. 30 plus feet on the first try.
I'll be back, Jockey Hollow!
72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!
