Summer Weather Preview

The temperature climbed into the 80s (F) today, giving southeastern Pennsylvania a taste of the warmer weather to come. It seemed like a good day for some QRP-portable operating.

I had a couple of end-fed halfwave (EFHW) antennas I built last night that I wanted to try out in the field. So, I headed out to my daughter’s property and set up on the top of the hill. I set up my KX3 on a small table and set up a 40M EFHW antenna as an inverted vee. (I’ll do a separate post on these antennas.)

The band was somewhat noisy. I suspect it was coming from the power lines that cross the property. Undeterred, I started calling CQ on 40M near the Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) calling frequency. I soon received a call from WA2JMG in New York. Pete was operating outdoors from his deck.

Next up was a two-way QRP SKCC QSO with WN1MB in Connecticut. Jeff was running 2 watts and cutting through my local noise. I finished up on 40M by working a New England QSO Party (NEQP) station in Maine.

At this point, I took down the 40M wire and replaced it with a 20M EFHW configured as a sloper. Thankfully, the noise was slightly lower on this band. When I wasn’t playing around with the antenna, I worked a couple more NEQP stations.

At this point, I had lost my shade and had the sun beating down on my neck (and the KX3). It seemed like a good time to pack up and head home for lunch.

I’m looking forward to more weather like this. Next time I’ll set up in a spot with more shade.

72, Craig WB3GCK