Month: September 2016

Peanut Power Sprint 2016

I operated in the Peanut Power Sprint for the first time today.  This sprint is sponsored by the good folks of the North Georgia QRP Club.  It’s a short, two-hour sprint, which works nicely with my short attention span.

I headed out to a nearby park to operate portable.  Since the Peanut Power Sprint is a short contest and I was pressed for time anyway, I kept my setup simple.  I used the same setup I have used for some recent NPOTA activations.  I operated from my truck with a 29.5-foot vertical wire supported by a 31-foot Jackite pole on my bike rack.  I fed the vertical wire with a 9:1 unun and 18 feet of coax.  I set up my KX3 on the passenger seat of my truck.

My "stationary-mobile" setup at the Upper Schuylkill Valley Park. The Jackite pole is mounted on the rear of the truck.
My “stationary-mobile” setup at the Upper Schuylkill Valley Park. The Jackite pole is mounted on the rear of the truck.

Before the sprint started, I worked AB7RW who was doing an NPOTA activation from the Curecanti National Recreation Area (RC06) in Colorado.  So, it looked like the antenna was working.

Propagation on 20 meters was a little flakey and 40 meters was plagued by wall-to-wall RTTY contest stations.  Despite the challenges, I ended up with 19 contacts in the log.  Even though my operating location was along the Schuylkill River and I didn’t have the benefit of altitude, I managed to work the west coast (WA).  I also worked N8XX and WD8RIF who were both operating from the North Country National Scenic Trail (TR04).  My last contact was with Greg N4KGL who was operating pedestrian-mobile from Florida.

I’m glad I decided to operate in this year’s Peanut Power Sprint.  It was a fun way to spend a beautiful Fall afternoon.

72, Craig WB3GCK

QRP Afield 2016

My XYL and I were long overdue for a weekend of camping.  We towed our old pop-up camper to one of our favorite campgrounds, French Creek State Park near Elverson, PA.  It was a happy coincidence that the New England QRP Club’s QRP Afield contest was being held while I was camping.  OK, so maybe it wasn’t just a coincidence.

Our pop-up camper and sometimes portable radio shack.
Our pop-up camper and sometimes portable radio shack.

I operated from inside the camper using my KX3 on battery power.  The antenna was my “Pop-up Vertical” that I have used with the  camper for years.  Basically, the antenna is a 27-foot wire vertical fed through a 4:1 unun.  I use the body of the camper for ground.  The wire is supported by a 31-foot Jackite pole attached to the side of the camper with some velcro straps.  I run a 10-foot length of coax into the camper to the radio.  The KX3’s internal tuner will easily load up the antenna from 40 meters through 6 meters.  The KX3 can also tune it on 80 meters but it isn’t very efficient on that band.

The "Pop-up Vertical" fastened to the camper.
The “Pop-up Vertical” fastened to the camper.

During the contest, I didn’t hear much activity on 20 meters.  I made one QRP Afield QSO there.  I made the rest of my contacts on 40 meters.  I ended up with only 11 contacts in the log.  It wasn’t a great showing but I had fun.

Outside of the contest, I worked several Route 66 special event stations, along with a few National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) stations.  I also worked TM77X, a special event station in France.  There were a couple of nice rag chew QSOs in there, too.

My operating position inside the camper. The coffee cup. of course, is a mandatory accessory.
My operating position inside the camper. The coffee cup. of course, is a mandatory accessory.

We have one more outing with the camper scheduled for October.  Not only will this be the last camping trip of the year for us, it will be the last camping trip with our old camper.  It has served us well for the past 19 years but, like me, it’s starting to show its age.  My XYL and I decided it’s time to retire it and replace it with something new for next year.

I’ll miss our little tent-on-wheels.  My family made a lot of memories with that camper and I made a lot of fun QRP QSOs from it.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Murphy and MacGyver

My XYL and I traveled out to the Harrisburg, PA, area over the weekend to spend some time with our daughter and her family.  Yesterday, I set up my KX3 and Alexloop in the backyard to make a few SKCC Weekend Sprintathon (WES) contacts.  Ol’ Murphy was certainly with me.

First, I had a problem with my little American Morse MS2 straight key.  Well, not the key itself, but rather a bad connector or cable.  I spent some time playing around with it but I had no multimeter to  troubleshoot it and no parts to repair it.

Tuning around the bands, I couldn’t hear a lot of activity.  The SKCC stations I heard seemed pretty weak and I wasn’t having any luck making contacts.  I checked the Band Conditions website and saw that the bands were in bad shape.  At that point, I threw in the towel and chalked up a win for Murphy.

Tough going on the bands
Tough going on the bands

Today I decided to give it another shot.  The bands sounded better and I could hear some WES activity.  I remembered a trick that Burke N0HYD employed to pull off an SKCC contact with me a while back.  So, I channeled my inner MacGyver and set up the KX3 for a straight key and connected my Palm mini paddles.  I turned the paddles over on their side and used one lever as a straight key.  The straight key workaround worked surprisingly well.  The “feel” wasn’t half-bad, actually.

My sideways paddles. The top paddle was used as the straight key.
My sideways paddles. The top paddle was used as the straight key.

With the improved band conditions and the straight key workaround, I made several SKCC WES contacts, including one with Bert F6HKA.  Bert has great ears and has managed to pull my puny QRP signal out of the noise on several occasions.  I finished my session with a nice two-way QRP QSO with Mac NN4NC down in North Carolina on 40 meters.  I was only on for an hour or so but it was fun.

Despite my lack of a functioning straight key, I managed to put a few new SKCC stations in my log today.  MacGyver would have been proud.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Quick Labor Day Outing

I had some plans for the Labor Day holiday but I wanted to get out to play radio for a bit.  I threw my KX3 and Alexloop into my truck and drove to nearby Upper Schuylkill Valley Park.  Although there were more people picnicking than usual, I found an isolated spot along the river.

It only took a few minutes to set up.  It was a little breezy along the river, so I clamped the Alexloop to the picnic table.

My set-up along the Schuylkill River in Upper Schuylkill Valley Park.
My set-up along the Schuylkill River in Upper Schuylkill Valley Park.

I started out on 30 meters and gave KB6NU a call.  Dan heard me out in Michigan but the QSB was really bad.  He gave me an RST of 229.  Next up was a nice chat with John WW4DX in North Carolina.  He was really booming into Pennsylvania this morning.

I moved up to 20 meters and had a short QSO with Sam WZ4L in Tennessee.  I wrapped up with a nice two-way QRP chat with Grady AJ4YA in North Carolina.  We experienced some QRM but managed to complete the QSO.

The bands seemed to be a little “short” this morning and I definitely had a pipeline to the South.  I have used the Alexloop at this location a few times before and it always seems to favor a southerly direction.

Although I could have stayed out there all day in this great weather, I needed to get home to throw some chicken on the smoker and make sure the beer is cold.  As always, I have my priorities in order!

I hope all of my U.S. friends have a safe and enjoyable Labor Day holiday.

72, Craig WB3GCK