Equipment – Page 3 – WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio

Puppy Sitting Again

I recently spent six days out in Central Pennsylvania on house- & puppy sitting duty again. I got to spend some quality time with my grand-dog, Belle, and got in some radio time, too.

PA State Game Land 246 (US-8941, KFF-5862)

My first radio outing was early on a Friday morning. Pennsylvania State Game Lands 246 is only about 10 minutes away, so it’s perfect for a quick activation. With an active geomagnetic field, the propagation didn’t look at all promising. I ignored all that and headed out the door. As I was leaving, Belle thought we were going for another walk. Needless to say, I had a very disappointed German shepherd at the window watching me leave.

The parking lot at SGL246 was empty when I got there. I set up my 12-foot whip and homebrew loading coil, along with my trusty Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW). I spent the whole activation—and it was a short one—on 40M.

My truck at PA State Game Lands 246 — State Game Lands 246 (US-8941, KFF-5862)

Given the band conditions and the early hour (around 0745 local) on a weekday, I got off to a slow start. My big issue was the local power line noise. Before I started, I tuned around 40M to find a frequency where the noise was lower. Despite the band conditions and noise, I seemed to be getting out well enough, and the received signals were fairly strong.

After 30 minutes on the air, I finished up with 14 contacts. I packed up my gear and headed back to take Belle for that walk. After that, I think she forgave me for leaving without her.

And Then the Rains Came

Bright and early Saturday morning, I took Belle through the basement to let her out in the backyard. I found myself splashing through puddles of water in the rec room, and the sump pump was running like crazy.

We had some severe thunderstorms the previous night, and according to the local news, we received close to two inches of rain overnight. So, much of the day was spent cleaning up and drying out instead of playing radio. Fortunately, my (far) better half drove out for the weekend and helped with the cleanup effort.

Capt. John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (US-4567)

When I woke up Sunday morning, I saw we were in the midst of a severe geomagnetic storm. Some hams on a local repeater were complaining about the poor conditions on the HF bands. So, what did I do? I headed out for an early morning QRP POTA activation.

For this water trail, I went to a public boat launch on the Susquehanna River. The river was still slightly flooded from the recent rainstorms, but the water hadn’t reached the parking lot.

Some minor flooding of the Susquehanna River — Some minor flooding on the Susquehanna River

Given the poor band conditions, I used my homebrew loading coil and a 17-foot whip instead of my usual 12-foot whip. I was hoping the additional five feet would help my 5 watt signal punch through the geomagnetic storm.

I also used my brand new Pocket Paddles from CWMorse. I neglected to order one with magnets, so I couldn’t attach it to my clipboard. However, I think I have a plan to address that as a future project. On the air, the Pocket Paddles performed flawlessly, and I’m looking forward to using them a lot more in the future.

After my third CQ call on 40M, I quickly logged my first two contacts. The contacts kept coming, but at a slow pace. After nine contacts, I thought that the tenth one might never come. Fortunately, it did. After 45 minutes, I ended up with 12 contacts, including one park-to-park. Not bad for a severe geomagnetic storm. I packed up and headed to a grocery store to pick up a few things for breakfast back at the house.

And Back to PA SGL246

On Monday morning I made another trip over to PA State Game Lands 246. There was a major geomagnetic storm in progress, so I knew this would be another challenging activation.

The parking lot was empty the whole time I was there. No big surprise, given that it was early on a weekday. I went with the same set-up as yesterday, opting for the 17-ft whip.

With a K Index of six and the usual power line noise, it was slow going on 40M. It took a few minutes of continuous CQing to log my first contact. It took almost 45 minutes to get seven in the log. At that point, things stalled for a bit. Around that time, I received a NOAA email alert saying the K Index had increased to seven.

I had allotted an hour for this activation, and I was getting close to the end. Then, out of nowhere, I had three callers in rapid succession that got me to 10 contacts. For good measure, there were three more after that.

I finished up with 13 in the log, with one known park-to-park contact. So, my little five-watt station managed to pull it off again. Take that, Mr. Sun!

And with that, I wrapped up my activations out here. Radio-wise, the band conditions were challenging, but it was still fun. I might be back in central Pennsylvania for another round of puppy sitting next month—with better band conditions, I hope!

72, Craig WB3GCK

First Ride of the Year

It has been quite a while since I’ve done any bike-portable operating. Over the past couple of years, I’ve dealt with medical issues of one sort or another. This year, I’ve avoided any serious issues, so I dusted off the bike and went out for a ride. While I was out, I tested some new gear for the bike. (I purchased all of the products mentioned with my own money.)

Antenna Mount

I make no claims of originality for this setup. I first saw this antenna mount in a YouTube video by VA7BIX. So, I found one on eBay and fired off an order to give it a try.

The antenna mount in question is a Nagoya RB-46. I had been looking for a way to mount my Gabil GRA-7350TC antenna (or any antenna with a ⅜-24 mount) on my bike. Originally intended for mounting on a car’s roof rack, the RB-46 can be clamped to the handlebars on bikes. With the kickstand down, my bike leans a bit. Fortunately, I can the adjust the RB-46 in two directions, so the antenna stays vertical. It accommodates a standard SO-239 to ⅜-24 antenna stud mount, which I had on hand.

Installing the RB-46 is quick and easy—for normal people. My installation, however, required extra time for searching the garage floor for dropped nuts and washers. Hardware mishandling aside, I installed the mount on my handlebars and adjusted it so the antenna would be vertical with the bike’s kickstand down.

Nagoya RB-46 antenna mount attached to my handlebars with my Gabil GRA-7350TC installed.

I also had a protective cap for the SO-239 in my junk box, so I put it to use here. Just in case it rains while I’m riding, I carry a ⅜-24 bolt in my handlebar bag. I figure I could put that in the antenna mount to keep the rain out. That’s probably overkill, but that’s how I roll. (No pun intended.)

New Panniers

I really like the cheap set of pannier bags I have been using for more than a decade. Sadly, they were really showing their age and were being held together with liberal applications of duct tape. Figuring I had gotten my money’s worth out of the old bags, I ordered a set of Bushwhacker Moab pannier bags.

The new bags are slightly larger than my old ones, so there’s more than enough room to carry my radio gear. My Bushwhacker handlebar bag has been going strong for about 12 years, so I’m hoping my new panniers also have a long life.

Schuylkill River Trail

I’m fortunate to live near the Schuylkill River Trail, a beautiful multi-use trail that runs along—you guessed it—the Schuylkill River. Since I haven’t been on the bike in a while, I chose a section of the trail for a three-mile ride that leads to a quiet local park.

Before loading up my bike, I always check the tire pressure. This morning, the front tire had gone flat, despite having fully inflating it a couple days earlier. After installing a new tube, I was finally on my way. Then, as I was driving to the trailhead, it started raining. Geez, what else!? Thankfully, the rain stopped by the time I reached the trailhead.

I rode about three miles to Towpath park, a ride I’ve done many times in recent years. The ride was uneventful, and I was soon setting up the GRA-7350TC on my new antenna mount. I used two 17-foot radials laid out on the ground and 25 feet of RG-316 coax. It was easy to get a 1.3:1 SWR on 20M.

To see how it works, I set up my Penntek TR-35 on a nearby park bench. Tuning around I found some POTA activators to call. I ended up working three of them. It was fitting that one of my contacts was with Jim N4JAW. Jim is a bicycle/ham radio enthusiast I wrote about in a recent post. (Jim told me later that he was also bike-portable. You can read about his POTA activation operation and our QSO on his Ham on a Bike blog.)

Before tearing down, I checked the other bands with an antenna analyzer. I was able to get good matches on 30M through 12M. The 10M band was a little finicky. I didn’t use my longer radials, so I knew 40M would be tough.

Happy with the results, I loaded up the bike for the ride back to my truck.

Wrapping Up

I have a few takeaways from today’s ride:

The antenna mount worked great. However, using a PL-259 to BNC-F adapter on the antenna mount caused some clearance issues. It was a little tricky connecting the coax. I need to try using a right angle adapter next time.
The new panniers were easy to put on and take off the bike. Having a little extra room is a plus.
My short ride today was no Tour de France, but it reminded me how much I enjoy riding my bike. Yep. I definitely need to do more bike-portable outings this year.

72, Craig WB3GCK

My Bulging Battery

Last week I was using one of my Evolve III Maestro E-Books during our local ARES-RACES NBEMS digital net. I noticed the keyboard had developed a hump in the middle. Having seen this once before in another laptop, I immediately knew what was causing it: a bulging battery. As a precaution, I disabled the battery in the Windows Device Manager and continued running solely on AC power.

The next day I opened up the laptop to remove the battery. That was fairly simple to do. I just needed to remove nine tiny Phillips screws to open the case. Then I removed five more tiny screws holding the battery and unplugged the battery cable. It was a painless process.

Searching the Internet, I found some sources for replacement batteries. I ended up buying one on eBay from a seller that ships from New Jersey. Of course, that convenience came at a price. I ended up paying $40 for a battery to put in a $90 laptop. Yikes!

It's not a great a picture, but you can see how bloated the old battery was. In comparison, the new battery is perfectly flat. — This isn’t a great a picture, but you can see how bloated the old battery was. It’s hard to tell with the lousy lighting, but the new battery is perfectly flat.

A week after I first noticed the problem, I had a brand new battery in my mailbox. It took about 15 minutes to open the laptop, install the new battery, and put it all back together again. Happily, it survived the “smoke test” and charged up normally. Back in business!

Yeah, $40 is steep investment for such a cheap laptop, but I really like this little thing. Hopefully, it’s got a couple more years left in it.

73, Craig WB3GCK

Testing a Backup Rig

Whenever I go operate portable, I usually take my old YouKits HB-1B transceiver along as a backup. One thing I learned from back in my working days, is you need to test your backup equipment periodically to make sure it will actually work when you need it. It had been quite a while since I last used the HB-1B, so I put it to use today.

My destination today was Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414). I rolled into one of my favorite spots and set up my homebrew loading coil paired with a 17-foot telescopic whip. This combination covers the 40M, 30M, and 20M bands, perfect for the HB-1B. Along with the HB-1B, I used my Elecraft T1 tuner and my old NorCal keyer.

My YouKits HB-1B transceiver during an activation at Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414) — My YouKits HB-1B in use at Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414)

The A Index was 32 when I started out on 40M. Despite the active geomagnetic field, my four-watt HB-1B still managed 10 contacts in about 16 minutes. The 30M band was a little better, but I made most of my contacts on 20M. The HB-1B only puts out a little over 3 watts on 20M, so I was pleased with that.

The (far) better half and I are puppy sitting one of our grand-dogs this weekend, and I received a text message that he was at the house waiting for me. He knows I’m the designated dog walker at our house, so I packed up to go spend some quality time with a furry buddy.

After operating for an hour, I logged 34 contacts. I didn’t have any DX contacts today, but four of my contacts were park-to-park.

I bought the HB-1B from Ten-Tec almost twelve years ago, and it has seen a lot of use in the field. Although it doesn’t see as much action as it used to, it proved once again it’s a capable little rig.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Captain John Smith Trail with the Gabil GRA-7350TC Antenna

My (far) better half and I spent the weekend in Central Pennsylvania watching the grandkids, while our second harmonic and her husband were off celebrating their anniversary. Of course, I took some radio gear along to do some QRP-portable operating while I was out there.

I had a brief window of opportunity on Saturday morning, so I drove to the Falmouth Access boat launch along the Susquehanna River to activate the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail (US-4567). Since we used the (far) better half’s car this weekend, I used this opportunity to try out my Gabil GRA-7350TC vertical and magnetic mount on her car for the first time. I also brought along my trusty Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW).

The Gabil GRA-7350TC & mag mount on my (far) better half's car, while activating the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (US-4567) — The Gabil GRA-7350TC & mag mount on my (far) better half’s car, while activating the Captain John Smith National Historic Trail (US-4567)

To facilitate tuning the vertical, I used a recently acquired Mini60 analyzer I bought off AliExpress. It’s cheap and a little quirky, but it’s small and its simple SWR readings got the job done. I started on 40M and got the SWR down to 1.3:1 without adding radials. That’s better than I had ever gotten on my pickup truck. I guess the roof on my XYL’s little SUV provides a better ground plane than my truck.

The Mini60 Antenna Analyzer. I found a case on Temu just the right size to hold Mini60 and some accessories. — The Mini60 Antenna Analyzer. I found a case on Temu just the right size to hold the Mini60 and some accessories.

Band conditions were generally lousy, and there was some horrendous local noise in 40M and 20M. I didn’t experience any noise issues the last time I activated from here. Despite all that, I managed to scrape together 17 contacts in about 35 minutes, including one with F4ILH on 17M. Also, thanks to W5KEB for working me on two bands. (My apologies to a couple of hunters I couldn’t pull out of the crazy noise in 40M and 20M.)

Even though the bands weren’t too hot, I was pleased with the performance of the Gabil antenna. It’s another good antenna option when I’m using my (far) better half’s car (or any car, for that matter).

72, Craig WB3GCK

Covering More Bands with My 12-ft Whip

Back in 2017 I built my 19-foot wire vertical, which was my go-to portable antenna for about 4 or 5 years. The concept was simple: It functions as a base-loaded resonant vertical on 40M & 30M and as a random wire on 20M and up. The matching unit contains a tapped toroid for 40M & 30M and is fed through a built-in 1:1 choke. It occurred to me I could do something similar with the 12-foot telescopic whip and homebrew loading coil I’ve been using on my truck of late.

My 12-foot whip setup is resonant on 40M through 17M. You’re probably thinking: “Why not just bypass the loading coil and adjust the length of the whip for 15M through 10M?” Well, being as lazy as I am, that would make band changes a little more involved than I want to deal with. I like having some “frequency agility,” and I’m not above using an ATU to achieve that.

To emulate the scheme I used for the 19-foot vertical, I just needed a choke at the input to my homebrew loading coil. (I could probably go without the choke, but I wanted to keep the coax from becoming part of the antenna.) So, I use the 12-foot whip as a base-loaded resonant vertical on 40M through 17M. For 15M through 10M, I would bypass the coil and use an ATU.

To test this out, I threw together a choke using parts I had on hand. I wound 10 turns of RG-174 on an FT-140-43 toroid. A Radio Shack project box I had in my stash of parts was the perfect size to house the toroid. (I bought it a decade or two ago, and it was still unopened in the original Radio Shack packaging.) Since I installed SO-239 connectors on each end, I had to use an adapter to connect the choke to the SO-239 on the antenna. To hold the coil in place, I wedged a piece of foam packing material between the lid and the core. The completed choke is functional, albeit a little cheesy-looking.

The choke is 10 turns of RG-174 coax on an FT140-43 toroid.

My first test using the 12-ft whip on the higher bands was a success. While activating Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414), I used my KX3 (5 watts, CW) and installed the choke at the antenna feedpoint. On 40M through 17M, the loading coil functioned as it normally does. On 15M, 12M, and 10M, I bypassed the coil entirely and relied on the KX3’s internal ATU to load up the whip.

The choke installed at the antenna's feedpoint — The choke installed at the antenna’s feedpoint

The KX3 easily found matches on all three bands, and my results on the air were encouraging. On 15M, I worked stations in Poland, Belgium, France, Ukraine, Germany (3), and the Slovak Republic. I made two stateside contacts on 12M. Up on 10M, I worked some more DX: Germany (2), Italy, and Czech Republic. One of the German contacts was park-to-park.

I’ve used this arrangement on a few more activations since then, including Winter Field Day. My results have been consistently good.

I haven’t done any modeling, but the 12-foot whip seems to be a pretty good length for operating like this. It’s just a little longer than a ¼-wave on 15M and a little shy of ⅜-wave on 10M. On 12M, it’s somewhere between ¼ and ½-wave; so it isn’t resonant on any of the bands of interest.

Although I was pleased with these initial results, I might do a little more tinkering with this setup. I’m toying with repackaging the choke to make it a little more weather resistant. I encountered some rain during the first activation using it. There was no damage to the choke at all, but I always have a tendency to over-engineer things—it keeps me occupied and out of trouble, I suppose.

No scientific breakthrough here. Just a lazy guy “force feeding” a fixed length whip to squeeze a few more bands out of it.

72, Craig WB3GCK

No-Name Mini Straight Key

I needed another mini straight key like a hole in the head. With my fascination for these things, however, I just couldn’t help myself.

The key in question came from AliExpress and cost me about $18 USD. Although it has no markings on it, it appears to be from the same manufacturer as the QU-21C paddles I bought a while back. The basic design is the same as the QU-21C, and it came with identical packaging and accessories. After modifying the magnetic base, the paddles have served me well. So I took a chance on the look-alike straight key.

My No-name mini straight key from AliExpress during a recent portable outing. The key is magnetically attached to steel strips I glued to my clipboard. — My no-name mini straight key from AliExpress during a recent portable outing. The key is magnetically attached to steel strips I glued to my clipboard.

Out of the box, the straight key’s contact spacing was a little wide for my taste. Using the included Allen wrench, I adjusted the key more to my liking. For a cheap key, it has a pretty good feel to it, and it keys cleanly.

The accessories that came with the mini straight key. (Not shown is an adhesive rubber square that I attached to the bottom of the key.)

Based on my experience with the QU-21C paddles, I had some reservations about the highly polished square magnet on the bottom. However, since the motion of the straight key is the vertical plane instead of side-to-side, the magnet is less of an issue.

I used the key during a recent outing, and I had no major issues with it. I have some a couple of steel strips glued to my clipboard, and I stuck the key there. There was a little movement, but nowhere near as bad as the paddles. I just needed to make sure I didn’t get too vigorous with my keying. After I use them some more, I’ll decide if I want to modify them like I did with the paddles.

Most of the time I get what I pay for, but in this case, I think I got a decent product for the price. I let you know if my opinion changes with time.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Replacing My Broken Whip

During a recent activation, my beloved MFJ 12-foot telescopic whip came apart. I’ve had it for a long time, so I was really disappointed when it broke. I specifically designed my homebrew loading coil to pair with a 12-foot whip. With this setup, I can work 40M through 17M by changing the tap on the coil. I don’t need to adjust the whip. These bands match the bands covered by my Penntek TR-35.

When the old whip broke, I salvaged the parts and tried to put it back together when I got home. No joy was to be had. However, all was not lost.

Although 12-foot telescopic whips aren’t aren’t as widely available as the ubiquitous 17-foot whip, I found one in stock at Ham Radio Outlet. After placing my order, I had the antenna on my porch 24 hours later on Christmas Eve. (I have no financial interest in HRO. I’m just a very satisfied customer.)

This new whip is an MFJ-1977, and it’s distinctly different from my old MFJ-1956 whip. The new whip’s construction is the first obvious difference. Additionally, the stainless steel has a less polished finish. The MFJ-1977 is also a little heavier, and its collapsed length is an inch or two longer than the older whip. In the pictures below, the older MFJ-1956 is on the top and the new MFJ-1977 is on the bottom:

The MFJ-1977 and MFJ-1956 12-foot whips compared. The older, discontinued MFJ-1956 whip is on top.

The new MFJ-1977 had its maiden deployment at Norristown Farm Park (US-4363, KFF-4363). I used the antenna with my Penntek TR-35 (5 Watts) on 40M, 20M and 17M. As expected, the new antenna seemed to perform as well as its predecessor. After an hour and 10 minutes, I had 42 in the log with three DX contacts: two from France and one from Germany.

My old 12-foot whip saw heavy use, and it served me well. In the future, however, I plan to rotate whips occasionally. I extended my MFJ-1979 17-foot whip to 12 feet and marked it with a permanent marker. I did the same with my cheap 5.6M whip from AliExpress. Hopefully, having two other whips available will let me avoid beating up my 12-foot whip and extend its life.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Hacking the QU-21 Mini Paddles

When I bought the QU-21C Mini Paddles a while back, I wasn’t crazy about the small square magnet attached to the base. It didn’t seem to hold very well. When subjected to vigorous keying, the paddles would sometimes move side-to-side. I came up with a quick and dirty hack that resolved the issue for me.

A little backstory is in order. I’ve never been a big fan of “two-handed” keying; that is, holding the paddles in one hand while sending with the other. I modified a small clipboard by gluing two steel washers to it, such that they lined up with the two magnets in my Palm Mini paddles. The clipboard securely holds the paddles and gives me a nice writing surface for logging in the field. I’ve been using clipboards like this for about 10 years now.

In just a few minutes, I modified my QU-21C paddles to adapt them to my clipboards and make them more suitable for “single-handed” keying. The first order of business was to remove the square magnet from the bottom of the paddles. That was almost too easy. I wedged a knife blade between the base and the magnet, and the magnet popped right off.

Magnets glued to the underside of the perf board to line up with the steel washers on my clipboard

Next, I took some perf board from my junk box and cut off a 3.5 x 1 inch piece. I used some Goop® adhesive to attach two magnets on one side of the board. I placed them so they had the same spacing as the magnets on my Palm paddles. Then I glued the QU-21C paddles to the other side of the perf board. Except for the drying time for the adhesive, I completed the project in about 10 minutes.

The QU-21 paddles glued to the perf board and ready for use

The magnets I used are really strong and probably overkill for this application. But, I had a bunch of them on hand, so I put them to use.

Admittedly, this cheesy little hack doesn’t look like much. If I feel ambitious sometime, I might come up with something more elaborate. Maybe something like the base I made for my little MS2 straight key. For now, though, this will suffice.

72, Craig WB3GCK

Adding Radials to a Mag Mount

Reading through some blog posts recently, I came across an interesting idea from John AE5X. In the comments section of a recent post, John mentions adding a ground stud to a magnetic mount. The ground stud allows him to connect two ¼-wave radials (for 20M) for his MFJ-1979 telescopic vertical. So what follows is my implementation of John’s clever idea.

On occasion, I’ve used my Gabil GRA-7350TC vertical with a small magnetic mount salvaged from an old 2M/440 antenna. I plan to use this configuration on my (far) better half’s car while visiting family over the holidays. The mag mount is only 3.5 inches in diameter, so I’m sure it’s not providing much of a ground connection. While the Gabil vertical is certainly usable with this mount, I’ve always felt that it needed more of a counterpoise on 40M and 30M to obtain a better match. I figured John’s idea might be the way to go.

Since I needed to drill a hole from inside the mount, I had to remove the foil covering from the bottom of the mount. This magnetic mount is probably around 25 years old, so removing the foil wasn’t too difficult. Using my pocket knife, I was able to peel the foil off, while keeping it intact.

Next, I drilled a ⅛-inch hole through the ground plate and out through to the top of the mount. It was a tight squeeze, but I was able to get a 4-40 bolt and a star washer in there. On the outside of the mount, I used a nut and lock washer.

Interior view of the magnetic mount. It was a tight squeeze, but a 4-40 screw and star washer just fit in there. — Interior view of the magnetic mount. It was a tight squeeze, but a 4-40 screw and star washer just fits in there.

The final step was to re-apply the foil covering on the bottom of the mount. I used some rubber cement to reattach it. I don’t know how well the rubber cement will hold up over time, but it won’t be seeing heavy use. It seems fine so far.

Exterior view of the old magnetic mount. I later removed the second nut from the screw I installed.

While I was at it, I replaced the PL-259 connector. The years had not been kind to the connector that was on there.

I gave the modified mag mount a try during a recent activation at US-1380, KFF-1380. I used the GRA-7350TC and mag mount on the roof of my truck. With no counterpoise wire attached, the best match I could get on 40M was just a hair under 3:1.

Next, I attached a 33-foot counterpoise wire to the mag mount. I ran the wire off the back of the truck and onto the ground. To avoid creating a trip hazard for others, I wrapped the wire around the side of the truck. In this configuration, I got the SWR down to about 1.2:1. Success!

The Gabil GRA-7350TC and magnetic mount with one 33-foot counterpoise attached. The wire dropped to the ground behind the truck and wrapped around the side.

Using the same counterpoise, the best I could do on 30M was a little under 2:1. I tried two 16.5-foot wires, but the result was about the same. No worries. An SWR of 2:1 is a piece of cake for the Elecraft T1 tuner.

In this configuration, I had two 16.5-foot counterpoise wires attached.

I ran the entire activation on 40M and 30M with great results (40 contacts in less than an hour). In fact, it was the best I have done with the Gabil antenna and mag mount. Was it because of the counterpoise wire? Maybe. Regardless, my five-watt signal was getting out just fine with this thing.

Thanks again to John AE5X for the inspiration.

72, Craig WB3GCK