Many thanks to Steve (MW0SAW) who shares the following field report:
Mini Field Report: Testing the Gabil 7350T and BaMaTech TP-III on a brisk SOTA activation!
by Steve (MW0SAW)
Went for an early walk/SOTA activation up Fan Fawr GW/SW-005 (734m) this morning (9/4/23). I think someone said it was supposed to be the hottest day of the year in the UK. It was about 5 deg celsius with a bitter wind chill of -2c on the summit! It’s very close to the highest peak in South Wales, Pen Y Fan (886m).
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in our emails, I wanted to test a new compact antenna I purchased recently, called the Gabil 7350T in the USA, and branded as the Sharman MD-3500 in the UK where I got mine. I also took the Gabil GRA-ULT01 MK2 tripod which I did purchase from the USA on Amazon.com.
The Gabil 7350T Compact Antenna and Gabil GRA-ULT01 MK2 tripod
Another first for the the activation was the Bamatech TP-III ultra compact paddle, Dinos were included
Starting my walk, the lovely view of the reservoir quickly disappeared and was the last view I would see ascending into the mist.
I took refuge in my Decathlon 1 man camping shelter, setting up the tripod and antenna close by.
The wind was howling and turning my back the antenna toppled over. This was quickly resolved with a tent peg on one of the tripod legs. Quick setting of the slider with the analyser got 1.2 SWR and so after a slurp of coffee, I started to call CQ on 20m CW. A nice stream of European qsos ensued with good reports (many 599), it was pleasing to hear with such a small antenna (about 8 ft). Just as the contacts were drying up, I was taken aback by a strong VK station! Always great feeling to get some dx like that but especially pleasing with this tiny antenna on its maiden voyage
I switched to 20m SSB for a few more QSOs but struggled with QRM on two frequencies. My allotted time was running low and my fingers were numb, so I packed up the HF and got the handie out to catch a few local VHF contacts.
So what can I summarise from this activation, well I can safely say I love the Gabil/Sharman antenna and Gabil tripod. They would make a really nice additional to a small go bag, they seemed to work almost as good as a full size 1/4 on 20m. Time was limited this trip and I was too cold to hang about to try more bands, but extremely pleased with the performance so far.
The Bamatech key is a pure work of art, beautifully made, sensitive and precise. Probably my best portable key to date in my collection.
Equipment:
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Many thanks to Brain (K3ES) who shares the following guest post:
The Visitor Center at Kinzua Bridge State Park (K-1366) is well worth a visit. It provides an excellent overview of the history, use, and collapse of the railroad bridge that gave the park its name, and it provides an excellent view of the pedestrian skyway built on the portion of the bridge that remained standing after the tornado that caused the collapse.
Reflections on Activating a Not-so-New Park
by Brian (K3ES)
Monday, April 3 was one of those beautiful, warmish (60ºF or 16ºC) sunny days in northwest Pennsylvania that remind us that spring is really here. Only a week earlier, we had an unexpected snow fall that covered the ground (and it will likely not be our last snow of the season). So my wife, her father, and the dogs all looked forward to getting out of the house to enjoy the weather. We packed for a picnic, and drove through bright sunshine to Kinzua Bridge State Park.
After a picnic lunch, and while Becky and her dad explored the visitor center and walked the dogs, I set up for a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of K-1366. This would be my first activation of the park, but not my first visit. I have been there several times before, including an excursion trip behind a steam engine that took me across the railroad bridge over Kinzua Creek and back.
A view from the visitor center of the pedestrian skyway. It was constructed on the structure that remained after the bridge was struck by a tornado in 2003, causing its partial collapse.
An Historic Park
Kinzua Bridge State Park has an interesting history. The railroad bridge that gives the park its name was originally built of wrought iron in 1882. At the time it was built, the 301 ft (92m) high and 2052 ft (625m) long railroad bridge was the highest in the world. It was rebuilt in place in 1900, replacing iron with steel, to strengthen it for the heavier trains that needed to cross. The bridge remained in commercial service until 1952, and was later sold to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for a State Park. The bridge continued to support excursion trains and pedestrian traffic until 2002, but was struck by a tornado in 2003, causing its partial collapse. Today, the remaining part of the bridge has been rebuilt as a pedestrian skyway, complete with a glass floor at its end to look down at the valley far below.
The visitor center provides an excellent multimedia overview of the economics, technology, and history of the structure. It is well worth a visit. Similarly, the skyway gives a spectacular view of the structure, the collapsed towers, and the surrounding Pennsylvania forest. The park has picnic facilities and hiking trails, and a trailhead for the rail trail that has repurposed the old railroad right-of-way.
This is a view of the picnic pavilion from my operating position. The picnic area also has a number of other open picnic tables and a playground area for the younger crowd.
The Setup for Activation
I stopped into the visitor center to let the staff know of my intention to activate. I found them to be friendly and accommodating, which always makes activating a pleasure. I do my best to be a good ambassador for amateur radio and the POTA program.
For activating, I set up at a remote picnic table. Three tosses got the throw line over a good branch to support my Tufteln 9:1 random wire antenna. A 15 ft RG-316 cable connected the antenna to my Elecraft KX2. Completing the station were a 3 Ah LiFePO4 battery, a set of generic earbuds, and VK3IL pressure paddles. I used a clipboard to keep my notepad from blowing around in the breeze, while I logged with a mechanical pencil.
The picnic table operating station used to activate K-1366. Included are the KX2, VK3IL pressure paddles, clipboard and log.
The Activation
As I finished getting the station ready to go, it occurred to me that I had a frequency-agile-antenna and rig, a bit more than an hour to operate, and no other operators in the area. So, I took the opportunity to try for contacts on as many bands as possible, inching my way toward the POTA N1CC Activator award for making contacts on 10 bands from 10 parks. The park has good cell coverage, so I was able to use my phone to spot myself. After that, I mostly left things to the Reverse Beacon Network and the POTA spotting gateway, but I was able to use the phone to confirm that my changes in frequency were picked up.
In 70 minutes of CW operation at 5 watts, I made total of 26 contacts, including at least one contact each on the 10, 12, 15, 17, 20, 30, and 40m bands. An apology to the hunters may be in order, because I was harder-than-usual to contact. After making a contact on each band, I would QSY to the next at the first significant lull in the action. I look forward to another trip back to K-1366 to try for contacts on the 3 additional bands needed to complete its activation toward my N1CC.
As you might guess, by using multiple bands, the contacts came from both far and near: as far as Spain to the east and Oregon to the west, and as near as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan. Middling distances were also well represented in the log.
It was a good day in the park, and here is the contact map from a 7-band activation of K-1366.
Equipment
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This outing made for a fun and productive afternoon that was all the more enjoyable for sharing it with my family.
It also made for a great opportunity to shake off the winter blahs, and it held the promise of beautiful spring and summer days for more park activations.
Best 73 de Brian – K3ES
Here is a bonus picture of another semi-famous bridge in northwestern Pennsylvania (it actually has its own Facebook page). This is Nebraska Bridge, which provides a convenient shortcut across Tionesta Creek. We knew we would have to take the long way around, but stopped for a look anyway. Unfortunately the bridge floods several times a year (sometimes becoming completely submerged), because it is located in the upstream end of the reservoir behind the Army Corps of Engineers’ Tionesta Creek Dam. We had over an inch of rain last week, so the bridge is partially under water. On the brighter side, 100 miles downstream, the City of Pittsburgh did not flood.
You may, or may not, know the situation when you are invited for the birthday of your mother-in-law and the whole day is just a chain of meals. As the SOTA activation of the Wasserberg the day before was rather short, I needed to escape and do something outdoors. An antenna test at a nice POTA location would be perfect.
When I started with amateur radio, many fellow hams told me that a real ham must build its own stuff. This is not easy when you have 10 thumbs like me. However, from time to time I try smaller projects. When I am operating portable, I usually have a 10 m / 33 ft mast with me. I have a 30/15-meter- and 12/17-meter band antenna, both with coils and shorter than my mast, and a homemade 10-meter band antenna which I can raise vertically on my mast. A mast with one of these wire antennas can be used on most of the locations I have visited.
However, I was missing something for the 20-meter band. I have a 10 – 80-meter 5 band antenna that covers 20-meters, but raising it as a sloper with a length of app. 24 m / 79 ft is tricky sometimes.
Building
So, I thought it would be a good project for me. As a half-wave for 20-meters is exactly the length of my mast, and I did not want the feed point at or too close to the ground, I wanted to add a short coil. I had a finished 1:49 mini-impedance transformer from K6ARK available from a project I’ve never finished. So, I just needed a screw, a cable and a piece of a PVC electrical conduit.
I have cut the PVC electrical conduit in three parts, one for the coil, one for the upper-end to allow easier mounting at the mast, and one for a simple strain-relief. My wife was a bit nervous when I used her best knife for cutting it, not sure if she worried about me or her knife. The dimension of the coil is based on pure guess. Bringing the whole antenna then into resonance was easy – just cutting step by step. After completing, the antenna still looks a bit makeshift.
Testing
So, I used an opportunity between two meals to leave my mother-in-law’s birthday and drove to the next POTA park, which is the Kaltes Feld (DA-0410). However, this time I did not go to the SOTA southern activation zone for Kaltes Feld (DM/BW-659), but to the opposite direction, where I have not been before.
The weather was nice, and the way was without any ascent. Behind me, a bit higher, was the SOTA summit Kaltes Feld and on the right the SOTA summit Bernhardus (DM/BW-848).
Many thanks to Scott (KK4Z) who shares the following post from his blog KK4Z.com:
Georgia Parks on the Air at FD Roosevelt SP K-2173
Friday evening, Mary K4SEZ and I traveled to FD Roosevelt State Park for a weekend in a very nice cabin. The cabin is located on Pine Mountain with some exceptional views. As you can guess, I brought some radios with me. I went QRV right before 1800 hrs. local to make sure all my equipment worked prior to the contest. Besides, the contest I had a regional HF net that I needed to check into Saturday morning. The contest starts at 0800 hrs local Saturday and the net was also at 0800 and lasted about 20 minutes.
Friday night was amazing! Twenty and forty meters was wide open. Using FT8, I made 223 contacts between 1800 hrs Friday and 0300 hrs Saturday morning. I worked stations as far west as Japan and Australia and as far east as Rwanda, Ukraine, and European Russia. Unfortunately, the rest of the weekend was not near as exciting. Between 0800 hrs Saturday morning and 1230 hrs Sunday, I made an additional 477 contacts. The bands were up and down and the pace was a little slower. I worked 48 States and 34 countries when it was all said and done. Sunday morning had an opening on 10 meters and I made 19 contacts many into Europe. In total, I had 700 contacts.
My antenna was my tried and true homebrew 28.5-foot random wire antenna which I named my K4SWL antenna as the original idea from Tom. It uses one 17-foot counterpoise. On this trip, the wire I used was 14 ga (I think), coated Flexweave I got from The Wireman many years ago. I was using some 20-something gauge I got from SOTABeams but because I use this antenna a lot, I worried about the thin wire breaking. I use a 9:1 UnUn with a 1:1 current BalUn to help with matching. The antenna is matched by an LDG RT/RC 100 matching unit. This is fairly new to and so far I like it. The tuning circuit out by the antenna helps keep stray RF out of the shack. It was also quite windy here Friday night and Saturday. The antenna held up well. The only issues I had were some of the sections on my MFJ push-up pole would collapse affecting the tuning. This pole is probably nearly 20 years old and should be replaced.
The radio was “The Rock” my IC-7300. I ran FT8 the whole time at 35-45 watts and the temperature gauge on the radio never moved past cool. Now that the FTDX10 has found a home in the shack, it’s nice to have my old friend back in the field with me.
The cabin is located on the ridge line of Pine Mountain, elevation ~1250′ ASL. Besides great views, it also gave my antenna a large aperture which may account for the many DX contacts I made.
I mainly worked FT8 as I also had to listen to a couple of conferences on the Internet and didn’t want to disturb my wife when she was doing things other than radio. We had a nice weekend away and of course, being able to bring radios is a huge bonus. When I get back home and settled, I may send the log to the GA POTA people. I don’t really contest anymore but they might find it useful for cross-checking.
Nearly a week has passed since my last activation and the AWS–the Activation Withdrawal Symptoms–started to kick in. Furthermore, I received an antenna during the week which I wanted to try. However, the weather was unsettled, and showers were forecasted over the whole weekend. This did not prevent me to try at least an activation with the new antenna.
So, I started to the Wasserberg (DM/BW-664) on an early Saturday morning. The summit has a height of 750 m / 2460 ft and a wooded peak. The parking place is already elevated, so there was only 1.6 km / 1 mi left to walk with an ascent of 166 m / 540 ft.
The peak is wooded, but you can enjoy the view at the beginning of your hike, just after parking.
The trail is well-developed and easy to walk, except for the high incline at the beginning.
You come along something that looks like an old wall, but it is probably a place where stones have been taken from in earlier times.
The forest still looks like winter, and you can see the landscape through the trees
But if you look close enough, you see that the spring is not too far anymore.
Although the way to the peak diverts from the well-developed trail half way, I followed the way to visit the Wasserberghaus (it basically means “house on the water hill”, with “water hill” being the name of the hill).
Many thanks to Lee (K2LT) who shares the following guest post:
Fishing Hole Reflections
by Lee (K2LT)
Last week, I completed my 80th activation of a state forest very close to my home – Deer River State Forest (K-5199). That earned me what in POTA is called the “Fishing Hole” activator award. Compared with the achievements of other activators within POTA, it’s not at all a big deal. Yet as I sat on my camp stool in the snow in the middle of the woods last week with my radio, I realized how big of a deal it has been for me. There was no wind, I was surrounded by huge Red Pine trees, and the only noises were an occasional airplane, woodpeckers, ravens, and my CW signals. I was happy!
All of my activations of that spot haven’t been QRP but as I look back at my favorite memories from ham radio (I’ve been licensed for about seven years), they’ve been when I’ve put my gear into a backpack, found a secluded spot in the woods, sat on my campstool and operated from there.
This time of year is also my favorite. Our winters in Northern New York State (I’m only about 20 miles south of the Quebec border) are LONG. In late March when winter starts to lose its iron grip on our region, we’re all “chomping at the bit” for spring to arrive. Yet, as things get warmer in late April and May, the Adirondack black flies, mosquitoes, and deer flies will come out in force. In the fall, deer hunters populate the state forests and can make activations dangerous, and deep winter doesn’t often work unless I operate from my truck – numb fingers and CW operation don’t do well together. So, early spring is often the perfect time to be able to operate outdoors.
A couple of times, I’ve had POTA hunters inquire why I don’t post my activations prior to heading out. My wife and I have an adult disabled son in his twenties. We’ve made the commitment to keep him home with us as long as we can. As with all things in life, this decision comes with a cost. It means that I often only know at the last minute whether I’m going to be able to get out for a few hours. Having K-5199 so close has been a real blessing – I can get there and back quickly and do something that brings me a lot of enjoyment at the same time.
Learning CW in my fifties was a challenge, but the first time I saw a video of someone working an MTR-3B from a summit, I knew I had to try it. If I’m working a CW pile-up, I can’t be thinking about anything else. Deciphering signals and logging them correctly takes all the mental “bandwidth” that I’m able to muster; however, in an odd way, it’s also very refreshing – I get a vacation from the things that I’m usually preoccupied with. I always come back mentally refreshed. I’m sure my wife and family appreciate the break I’ve had as well!
Even though I’m retired, I’ve been taking some online classes. One question that often comes up in the “Introduce Yourself” section is – “tell us something unique about yourself.” Years ago, I always struggled with this request, but not anymore. I sometimes respond by saying, “For me, being out in the woods with my radio making contacts is like an afternoon at the beach for someone else.”
Ham radio and portable operating have truly been a blessing for me and I’m thankful for them.
Many thanks to Dennis (WQ7O) who shares the following article:
POTA – Getting There
by Dennis (WQ7O)
POTA activity seems to be popular and growing. I have been a ham since the 60s and I am excited by how fun POTA hunting and activating this “new” radio sport can be. I have heard it called “Field Day” every day.
Drawing on decades of hamming experience, I contemplated how we got here. I remember my first field day and the effort required. Basically, equipment meant to be used in an indoor and fixed environment was adapted for portable use. Let’s take a look at what that might mean.
Power supplies that operated on DC were available but expensive. Looking at say, a Drake
TR-4, a popular transceiver at the time, the rig cost $700 in 1968 dollars. The power supply and speaker ran another $200 or so. You’ll need a mic and key, which were not included. Few tuners were available. You could go for a Johnson Matchbox. Drake made the MN-4 and
MN-2000 to match your TR-4. Count on another $200 or so. If you are a CW op and you want a keyer, the Hallicrafters TO keyer and a Vibroplex paddle were another $200. The gear described here would just fit on an office sized desk and don’t ask about the weight.
Now just gather that up and take it to the park, right? Well for starters the DC supply was for mobile use not portable use. You won’t operate for long off a battery with the amperage needed to warm all those tubes. So, bring along a generator and that’s what we did. BTW, we used a truck to transport it all because we needed it. Backpacks weren’t useful.
Antennas were all for fixed use as well. We brought a tri-band yagi and lashed it on a mast to the truck. We ran some wire antennas and we were on the air. Antenna analyzers simply did not exist, we tuned around and graphed it by hand.
Image Source: RigReference.com
This may sound much like a modern field day but hardly the “light and fast” deployment of a SOTA/POTA activation. Also, take it from me, running tube gear in the field is tough. I had a Gonset Communicator (2 meters) issued to me by our ARES group. It was about 100 times the displacement of your trusty handheld and many times the weight.
So since the 60s, the microprocessor, large scale integration and SDR technology have reduced the size and power requirements for all the gear we use. Today a radio that fits in a pocket can include a rechargeable power source, an antenna tuner and run from 160 meters through UHF offering all modes.
From lead acid, NiCads, NiMH, Lithium Ion and now LiPO batteries, the availability of reliable and portable power sources to power rigs and accessories is a fairly recent development. The increased efficiency coupled with decreased power demand have set us free. How many of us have quick deployment solar panels to keep those batteries topped off during extended operation? It beats the noise, smell and mess of gas cans and a generator. Also, you do not want to backpack a lead acid battery for a SOTA activation. Too much weight and not enough power.
Then there is the internet. If you do POTA like I do POTA, you go to the web page and look for spots. How many would you find without the spots and the RBN? When an activation is deployed one of the first actions is to spot it on the POTA app. Thus, as with other digital modes, the internet becomes an integral part. We could do POTA without the internet, but it would be a whole lot harder. And our taken for granted cell phone brings the internet right to the picnic table.
Image Source: Universal Radio
What about the gear? What should we use and how available is it? Early rigs for portable and QRP use were not plentiful or feature rich. The styling of the popular Penntek TR-45 is reminiscent of the Heathkit “Benton Harbor Lunchbox.” At the risk of understatement, the features do not compare.
The manufacturers responded. We weren’t all going to home brew our QRP rigs. So came the Yaesu FT-817. In 2001, Yaesu introduced the 817 which did all modes, 160 through UHF, ran on batteries, fit in your backpack and was affordably priced. Suddenly, portable operation was possible, versatile, affordable, reliable, practical and fun. We were freed from attics, basements and garages and embraced nature.
I recently built a QRPLabs QCX mini. This tiny rig has more features than we ever knew we needed when we were operating that Drake TR-4. If you want more bands the LNR Mountain Toppers are wildly popular. Other manufacturers, large and small, increased the offerings with different form factors and features.
This included antennas. An early entry was the Buddipole. Many cottage industry entrepreneurs followed and today the selection of quick and easy deployment antennas is broad and deep. From a whip antenna to attach to the rig itself to wire antennas for 160, there are a lot from which to choose. Don’t forget that 3D printing also accounts for a lot of our accessories like keys, cages, stands and winders.
Want to add a tuner to your station? The Elecraft T1, I built mine as a kit, is a superb, self contained tuner and offers broad, automatic matching running on a 9 volt battery. Since the T-1, LDG, MAT MFJ, Icom and others have offered great tuner choices that travel easily as part of your kit.
Anyone who owns a Baofeng knows that the Chinese have entered the ham radio market. While the quality and availability of these rigs can be an issue, they are quite affordable. This brings in new users who learn the hobby and progress to greater things. I have heard hams criticize the quality of MFJ products. MFJ makes the accessories the major manufacturers don’t and at popular prices. When there are more licensed operators, the manufacturers can offer more products at better prices as markets expand. Xiegu HF radios have powered many activations with its built-in battery, tuner and microphone. If POTA and QRP were not driving activity would Icom have brought out the IC-705? The Elecraft KX-2 and 3, the Lab 599 TX-500 and these types of boutique radios answer market demands.
The “Prepper” movement evolved from natural disaster “EmComm” and operating “off the grid” has increased the demand and thus the supply of gear. Building a portable kit has gotten easier and more affordable with a broad selection of choices and options. More is better.
Lots of other simple things have come together to bring us to the “10 minute setup” of the QRP SOTA/POTA activation of today. A whole room full of heavy, power hungry gear has been reduced to a device that literally fits in a pocket. Add a wire and you are on the air. My ham career began as a boy with a tube driven Heathkit transmitter with crystal control fixed frequency in the attic of our family home. I don’t think anybody appreciates more than me opening a backpack and in a few minutes setting up a modern station, wherever I am. QSOs around the country and around the world roll in with a few watts and a wire.
Many thanks to Adam (BD6CR) who shares the following guest post about his latest project:
From Open Source Project ADX to Kit ADX-S
by Adam (BD6CR)
BD6CR @ CRKits.COM
Original Design: WB2CBA
Modification and Kitting: BD6CR
I knew Barb, WB2CBA from his uSDX design a few years ago and I introduced both DL2MAN and his designs in my blog. So, when I came across the ADX – Arduino Digital Xcvr a few months ago, I immediately ordered both the ADX (through hole) and the ADX UNO (surface mount) PCB samples.
I started building the ADX UNO and put it in a dental floss case and made a few contacts on park bench. However, the soldering is too much for my eyesight. So, I turned back to the ADX because I don’t need to solder any SMD parts, since both the M328P and SI5351 are module based. I could build the project in 3 hours and it worked the first time.
However, I felt unsatisfied with the strong BCI since the CD2003 radio receiver chip was connected as a direct conversion receiver. JE1RAV mentioned in his QP-7C modification project that he tried JA9TTT’s idea to build a superhet SSB receiver with the TA2003 or CD2003, so I tried and it worked very well. I have decided to name the new circuit as ADX-S, where S stands for Superhet.
I shared the great news with Barb and he encouraged me to carry the flag to make it a kit, since my design D4D was his first digital radio and he loved it.
My hardware modification can be outlined in this schematic. I have added an FL1, PFB455JR ceramic filter by Murata and a C25 coupling capacitor from CLK2 of SI5351 module. The RX audio comes from pin 11 instead of pin 4.
Many thanks to Keith (KY4KK) who shares the following report:
Extreme QRP – Testing the AX1 with WSPR and 20mW
by Keith (KY4KK)
Thomas, thanks for all of your activation videos related to the Elecraft AX1 antenna. I ordered one the day you announced the package deal, and it arrived in less than a week. I’ve activated a few parks with it already (20m SSB). Like you and many others, I’m impressed.
About a year ago, a friend (NG4S) loaned me his pair of WSPR transmitters and suggested that I explore building and comparing antennas. I’ve been hooked on antennas of all kinds and WSPR since then.
I began doing WSPR tests on the AX1 the day after it arrived. With two transmitters set to the same frequency and power output, you can do direct comparisons between two antennas under identical propagation conditions.
I’ve already done a couple of comparisons between the AX1 and other commercial antennas. But I think the test I just completed might be of particular interest because it pits the AX1 against an antenna I’ve seen you use many times – a 28.5’ end fed with a 28.5’ counterpoise. I used 24 AWG silicone insulated wire. The end of the radiator was placed on a 19’5” telescoping fishing pole. This is my preferred POTA mast when I can’t use a tall tree.
I spent some time trying to control other variables so that the only significant difference during the test would be the antennas themselves.
For example, the SOTA Beam WSPRLite Classic transmitters don’t have an ATU. So, I had to make the antennas resonant on the 20-meter WSPR frequency of 14.097 MHz. For the AX1, Thomas’ videos helped a lot. I used a clip-on capacitance hat and adjusted the counterpoise to 15’ 2”. This gave me an SWR of 1.17:1. For the end fed, I tried the two UNUN’s I had available and settled on the 49:1, which got me the closest (2.2:1). I then used a manual tuner to achieve an SWR of 1.29:1.
I also wanted to deal with the difference in power output between the two transmitters. Although they’re identical, and both set to 20 milliwatts, there is no way to ensure both are actually producing that output level. Based on tests by NG4S, one of the transmitters runs at 19 milliwatts. The other actually outputs 27 milliwatts. So, my plan was to run the test for 48 hours. At the end of 24 hours, I would switch the transmitters (and callsigns) so that both antennas would benefit (relatively equally) from one of the transmitters being stronger.
At the end of Day 1, I reviewed the data from the two transmitters on dxplorer.net/wspr. The end fed averaged a 5.7 dB gain over the AX1 based on reports from receiving stations that spotted both transmitters in the same 10-minute block (simultaneous spots).
On Day 1, the stronger transmitter was on the end fed. The maps below are from WSPR.rocks.
If you have read my previous activation reports, you may remember that the temperature was more often than not below 0° C / 32° F. I am tired of the winter. So I was very pleased when the weather forecast indicated 18° C / 64° F on a Saturday.
In one of my previous posts (How I found the best antenna for my SOTA/POTA activations) I have outlined, that I like using the 30-meter band for being reliable on short and medium distances – in my case, Central Europe. However, I wanted to try an activation with an antenna that is more appropriate for DX. The wire winder for my 30-meter antenna had plenty of space left, so I decided using a commercial 12/17-meter band wire antenna that I have discussed briefly in the report linked at the beginning of this paragraph.
The day before, I built a 20-meter end-fed with parts that I found in my basement and a tiny 1:49 transformer from K6ARK. I added a short coil, so the feed point wouldn’t be at or too close to the ground when using my 10 m / 33 ft fiberglass mast. I know it needs some polish.
The Limburg
The Limburg is a conical summit about a 30-minutes drive from my home. It can be activated for a couple of programs like SOTA (DM/BW-110), POTA (DA-0203), WWFF and COTA.
The Limburg is, or better was, a volcano; technically, a volcanic vent of the Swabian Volcano, a volcanic area of 50 km / 31 mi radius with over 350 volcano vents. Seventeen million years ago, it produced massive gas and dust explosions. Be careful when ramming your antenna groundspike into the ground ;-). So it became a steep summit, elevated around 200 m / 650 ft over its surrounding area.
Earliest traces of population around the summit date to 3000–1800 BC.
Around 50 years later, his son Berthold II. built a new castle some 150 km / 90 mi away and moved the seat of the family. Shortly thereafter, the castle was destroyed (probably, nobody knows exactly). It was rebuilt and destroyed again in 1130 and rebuild again. After the year 1150 a new, larger castle was built not too far away and this castle lost its importance and, eventually, gave up. Continue reading A story about a gluttonous dragon, a princess, a knight, and many DX contacts to the US from a volcano in Germany→
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