The Weather Was Cold – 40M Was Hot

I drove out to French Creek State Park (US-1355, KFF-1355) for an early morning activation. While I was there, I wanted to do some initial testing on an antenna I’ve been working on. With the near-freezing temperature, I picked the wrong day for antenna testing. Fortunately, the activity on the bands made the trip worthwhile. 

I designed the new antenna to be attached to a picnic table, so I parked by a picnic area near a boat launch. My original plan was to set up the antenna and take some antenna analyzer readings after my activation. My impatience got the better of me, so I decided to brave the freezing temperatures and test the antenna right away. That wasn’t a smart move. By the time I got the antenna set up and took some SWR scans, my fingers were numb. I should have waited for it to warm up a little.

I was hoping to hook up my Elecraft KH1 and see how it worked with the antenna, but that wasn’t happening. After tearing everything down and packing up, I sat in the truck with my gloves on and the heater running until my fingers thawed out. Then it was time to get on with my activation.

I quickly set up a 17-foot whip and my homebrew loading coil on the back of the truck. Up in the cab, I set up my trusty Penntek TR-35 (5W, CW). I went with a 17-foot whip because my band conditions app showed an unsettled geomagnetic field and poor daytime conditions on 40M. I figured the extra length couldn’t hurt.

When I fired up the TR-35 on 40M, I heard lots of activity and some very loud signals. In fact, I had to search around for a clear frequency. Once I started calling CQ, the hunters immediately pounced. I had constant pileups for the first 20 minutes. I had my first 10 contacts in about eight minutes. 

About 30 minutes in, I had worked 29 stations on 40M. The 20M band wasn’t quite as productive, but it still produced 22 more contacts. Among those was one with IZ2UUG in Italy. When I pulled the plug after an hour on the air, I had 52 contacts (before removing a dupe). The moral of the story is: Don’t always go by the band condition predictions. 

Now that I’m back home, I have some tweaks to make to my experimental antenna. Once I’m convinced it works and will be useful, I’ll do a separate post on it. That might take a while, though. I plan to wait for some warmer weather for the next round of tests.

72, Craig WB3GCK