Plan B with the (tr)uSDX

I planned to activate two parks at the other end of the county this morning. Given the travel time involved, I figured I’d need to leave the house around 0700 local time, to get back home in time to take care of a few things this afternoon. I’m always up super early, so I didn’t need an alarm clock. Hah! Of course, I slept in this morning. 

I needed a Plan B, so I stayed close to home and headed up to Evansburg State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351). To switch things up a bit, I opted to give my (tr)uSDX another shot at a POTA activation. Along with the (tr)uSDX I used my 12-foot whip, homebrew loading coil, and my Elecraft T1 ATU.

Although I got off to a slow start on 40M, things picked up significantly when I moved to 30M and 20M. An hour and twenty minutes later, I had 30 contacts in the log. No DX today, but I did have one park-to-park contact. Thanks to WA2QLK for hunting me on two bands.

The little (tr)uSDX got the job done. Since my last activation with it, I tweaked a couple of settings, which made the receiver a little easier to listen to:

• AGC = OFF
• ATT2 = 1

I also calibrated the frequency. The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) confirmed that the frequency readout is right on the money. The sidetone still has some clicks and pops, but overall the little rig was better this time. It’s a fun little radio, although probably not my first choice for POTA activations.

I’ll have to get down to those other two parks another time. Next time I’ll use an alarm clock. 

72, Craig WB3GCK