Antenna Launch Success

I lowered my random wire antenna this week so that I could make the length a little less random.  I added 8' to it to help avoid half wavelengths on multiple bands by using a chart I found on this website.  The chart at the bottom shows you the wire lengths to avoid depending on which bands you plan to use.  You can visit the page for an explanation of the chart but basically you want to choose a length where the fewest amount of colour bars are present.  I chose somewhere just above 135'.

I lowered the antenna and added the length of wire to it and I was hoping to get it anchored higher in the tree with the newly purchased fishing reel and slingshot from Canadian Tire (Curbside pickup, of course) so I let the support rope come all the way down.  Bad Idea.  I was quite disappointed at the lack of punch this slingshot gave me.  The wind was also working against me.  I tried a few times and from a few different angles but it just wasn't working.  What I ended up doing was using the fishing reel attached to a screwdriver stuck in the ground (thanks Michael, ve3wmb) aimed at the tree top and I created a sling with a piece of broken brick and 6' of para cord.  I tied the fishing line to the brick also and then I rapidly started spinning the rock in an overhand fashion (think David and Goliath) and let the rope go at just the right time for it to sail towards the top of the tree taking the end of the fishing line with it.  This really did the trick.  It took a few tries before I was happy with the placement and height but once it was there I let the weight of the brick bring it to ground level where I detached the brick from the fishing line and tied a new rope to the fishing line and pulled it back up the tree and over the branch and down to me.  I wrapped some tape around it to help keep it from getting snagged in a notch or branch. I could then attach the antenna to it.  I pulled it up using the antenna rope and it was perfect.  I was very happy.  I seemingly bought a slingshot for nothing but you just never know.



Once my Random wire was back up it was time to get the rope in place for the doublet I plan to put up on Saturday.  Now that I had the method down pat it only took 2 tries to get the fishing line over the top of the tree my doublet support rope will be draped over.  Now on Saturday (tomorrow) I will lower the random wire because the doublet will pass over top of the low end of the random wire.  I'll attach the other support end of the doublet to my TV tower at 40' and once up I can raise the random wire again and I will have 2 antennas up...an all band doublet that I will use from 10-40M and an 80M end fed once I get the final toroid from QRPGuys in the mail, whenever that is.

I'm excited to try this doublet fed with balanced window line and the QRPGuys MultiZ tuner.  I'm hoping for a better match than I was getting on the random wire.  I will know tomorrow and there is also the QRPTTF (To The Field) "contest" all day tomorrow.  I say "contest" with quotes because it's low pressure which is right up my alley.  The theme this year is OPERATE FROM HOME.  Do not go out to parks etc but just go out in the yard instead because of the COVID-19 isolation rules currently in place.

That's all for now,
Cheers es 72/73

NAQCC April Sprint

So I'm not a contester at all.  That requires operating skill, dedication and time to commit to the contests.  The NAQCC monthly sprints, on the other hand, are low stress, fun, short and did I say fun?

I have wanted to take part many times over the years but either didn't have the right band antenna or a good setup...or so I thought.  With the COVID-19 lock down of sorts I have had more time on the radio which has given me more confidence on the radio.  As well, I listened to the Ditdit.fm Podcast on the NAQCC and their contest sprints.  I've had a member number (1967) for years but just never used it.  It was time.  I looked on the NAQCC site this morning to see when the next sprint was and it was tonight!  I have a 130' random wire and my little tuner that will put me on 40 and 20...just not 80.  Those are the 3 bands the sprint runs on.

The toughest part, once it got going at 20:30 Eastern time, was dealing with the congestion.  It took a bit to learn to find a signal and focus on it alone and ignore all the others around you/it.  It makes me wish I had the narrow CW filter in my FT-817.  Anyway, 20M wasn't very good but 40 was full.  My plan was to stay for an hour and take what I got and be happy.  I didn't really feel the need to call CQ NA because I could just dial around and find others calling.  The sprint runs generally between 7.030 - 7.045.  All in all I made 6 QSOs and didn't stumble too much through them.  I was pleased with my effort and results.  The total points score was 144 after multipliers for using a Straight Key and the SPC multipliers.  I know many get dozens of Qs in the log but this was about me getting more airtime.  I used one of the popular loggers called the NAQCC Sprint Logger which was created by Ron Bower, AC2C.  It worked well when I went to enter my contacts after the fact and I was able to do a report that I cut and paste into the log submission page of the NAQCC.  It was painless.  This was a great experience and I hope to take part again next month.

Cheers es 72 de Scott ve3vvf,

Spring is Here Today

With the lengthening days, warmer temperatures and the reality of being stuck at home due to work policies surrounding the COVID-19 "situation" has me thinking about radio a lot more often these days.  Last weekend I decided to do some outdoor operating using my random wire antenna.  The temperature was 4C so it was quite bearable and I also had a nicer view than I would have had I sat inside looking at the barn wall.  Basically I sat just outside the barn window and ran a short length of RG-174 out the window to a chair.  The other end was connected to my LDG 9:1 Unun.  I set up and in 30 minutes I had 3 nice contacts on 30M and two of them were 2xQRP which always makes me extra happy.

 I have my rig, battery, key, clock and ear buds in a small Pelican case which I lined with "Cubed Pick Foam" from the local Canadian Tire store.  This allows me to keep everything organized and works a lot better than the computer carrying case I used to use.  The battery is a 7mAh and is heavy and would crush the other things in my bag.  Now it's held snugly in place by the foam. 

I have a small collapsible camping table and it worked great for keeping things off my lap.   I enjoy being outside again and with the COVID crisis looking like it's not going to end any time in the near future it will give me a chance to operate more often that I otherwise would have time for.  I am also taking some of my spare time to brush up on my code rx speed.  I started out using the standard G4FON program I installed years ago but have been found two other resources that are extremely helpful at increasing character and word recognition which will help with head copying and get past the barrier that exists when you try and write everything down during a QSO.  One of these resources is Kurt Zoglmann's Morse Code Ninja site which is full of links to Youtube videos he's created with all sorts of words, prosigns, call signs, etc at various speeds for aural practice for word and character recognition.  He has learned Morse Code to the extreme where he has even had books converter to code and listens to them.  He's pretty hard core on code.

The second site is called Morse Camp and it is quite simply laid out and easy to use for word recognition.  It plays words for you at a predefined speed (default appears to be 30WPM) and keeps repeating them until you think you know what it is and hit the space bar.  This shows the word or letter/number combination and you indicate with a left or right arrow whether you were correct or not and it moves on.  You can select word length but as you progress it increments on its own.

I think this seclusion we are all experiencing can be a challenge for those who suffer from anxiety or depression, let alone the rest of us who are also feeling the stress of the unknown be it job security, financial security, or even toilet paper security, apparently.  They say the key is to make sure to get out of the house for a walk or a hike or some other stress relieving activity.  Radio is that for me and I plan to do it as much as I can fit it in.  I don't need to sit there for hours...30 minutes is plenty and even just 1 QSO makes me happy when operating QRP.

72/73 de Scott ve3vvf