Tag Archives: Field Reports

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA, QRP, SOTA

My One Day Mini-DXpedition to Switzerland

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View from the Swiss Radegg castle over the valley towards Germany

My wife and kids were with her parents for some days, the weather forecast 25° C / 77° F and the following Monday was a public holiday in Germany – perfect condition for an activation day trip during the weekend. With France and the Czech Republic already visited this year, there were two other neighbor countries waiting to be visited: Switzerland and Austria (the one without kangaroos).  Austria is on my schedule for the Ham Radio fair in Friedrichshafen, so it became Switzerland.

The area northwest of the Swiss town Schaffhausen was perfect.

The region has been inhabited for more than 10,000 years.  Schaffhausen started as an independent city-state around 1000 AD and became a Canton later. A canton is a type of administrative division similar to a state, but in European dimensions. The Swiss Confederation, as a whole, is smaller in size compared to West Virginia and has a slightly smaller population than New Jersey. Anyways, in 1330, the town lost all its lands and its independence, but regained its independence back in 1418. Schaffhausen joined the Swiss Confederation as the twelfth member in 1501. In 1944, Schaffhausen experienced a bombing raid by aircrafts from the US Air Forces, which misidentified the town in the neutral Switzerland as their target Ludwigshafen in Nazi-Germany.

The region is not too far from my home, it has a SOTA summit, which is in a POTA and WWFF area, is history-rich and has a second, although German, SOTA summit not too far away.

OpenTopoMap, OpenStreetMap CC-BY-SA, STRM

I started early on that Sunday morning at 8 a.m. The autobahn was nearly empty and just like an invitation to drive a bit faster. Since Corona, I haven’t been using my car very often, so I still had winter tires on, which are limited to 160 kmh / 100 mph.

Since 2008, Switzerland is in the European Schengen Area, so there are no regular border checks. Even before, it was a so-called “Green Border”, i.e. you could often pass it without checks. Without this old, unused border station, you would barely notice that you have crossed the line.

Some minutes later I approached the area, where the first summit is located.

The Wannenberg / Wannebärg (HB/SH-002) is a wooded mountain with an elevation of 661 m / 2168 ft. The peak is rather flat and also wooded. The way from the parking place at the foot of the mountain to the top is rather short and easy, with 2.1 km / 1.3 mi and an ascent of 140 m / 460 ft. Continue reading My One Day Mini-DXpedition to Switzerland →

Articles, Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, Portable, QRP, QRP Radios, QRPp

Guest Post: Lake Thunderbird (K-2792) with a homebrew transmitter!

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Activating (sort of) Lake Thunderbird (K-2792) with a homebrew transmitter

Sam Duwe WN5C

When I dove into radio a couple years ago a few sub-hobbies caught my attention: QRP, portable ops, CW, and homebrew. Of course, these all fit nicely together, but in my mind there was a huge leap between soldering an unun and a building a radio. But why not try? What’s the worst that could happen by melting solder and then sitting at a picnic table? This is how I built a simple transmitter and kind of activated a park.

The Michigan Mighty Mite

Nearly everyone has heard about the Michigan Mighty Mite (MMM), a QRPp transmitter popularized by the Solder Smoke blog. There are countless YouTube videos and posts across the internet. It’s very simple: a single transistor, a variable cap, a coil, a crystal and some resistors and a cap. Supposedly one can get up to half a watt of output (I couldn’t). But with a small purchase from Mouser one can oscillate. That seemed pretty cool.

I hadn’t touched an iron until I started playing radio. But I’ve been drawn to homebrew projects. I built a regenerative receiver last year which was very rewarding. I’ve also put together kits (a QCX mini and a TR-35). But my dream has always been to construct a transmitter/receiver combo, or a transceiver. I thought a good place to start was the MMM.

I built the transmitter based on the common schematic for the 40-meter band. The MMM is crystal controlled but I opted to solder in a socket and buy a handful of crystals, so I have the luxury of operating on 7056, 7040, and 7030 kHz. I made a few other improvements, too. The first was to build a low pass filter to attenuate harmonics. Second, although I haven’t finished it yet, the switch on the right will be to choose between multiple crystals. And third, I added a BNC jack to connect a receiver, with a transmit switch. When not in use the transmitter will dump into a dummy load. This receiver switching idea was lifted from the design of the MMM that QRP Guys produces.

When I tested the transmitter at home the best I could get with my charged Bioenno 3 Ah battery was about 300 mW output. The filter is reducing things somewhat, but maybe I need to look into a different transistor or rewind the coil. But I was able to get a 339 signal report from Illinois (no sked) in the midst of distance lightning crashes, so I had a little confidence going forwards. School is out for me this summer, so I decided to head to the park. Continue reading Guest Post: Lake Thunderbird (K-2792) with a homebrew transmitter! →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, QRP, SOTA

SOTA on Hibriten Mountain: Testing my new backpack and working a little QRP DX!

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On Friday, April 28, 2023, the clouds lifted and I was eager to fit in a brisk hike.

We’d had a few days of wet weather and, in fact, the previous day I performed a POTA activation with my entire station and antenna under the roof of a picnic shelter.

I was visiting my parents and didn’t want to venture too far afield, but still wanted to fit in a good summit activation. The goal was to stretch my legs and to test my Mystery Ranch Scree 32 backpack. Before taking this pack on a difficult summit hike, I thought it might make sense to check the pack’s suspension and fit with it loaded down a bit heavier than I normally would.

This would actually be my second SOTA activation with the Scree 32 pack (here’s the first) but on that first hike, the pack was so light, I barely noticed it was on my back.

Hibriten Mountain (W4C/EM-093)

Hibriten was an easy choice for the day. It’s only a 25 minute drive from my parents’ home and the trail has modest elevation change over the 5.6 mile round trip hike.

The trail is basically a wide, gravel access road for the crews who maintain the communication towers on Hibriten’s summit.

I remembered from my previous activation of Hibriten that the hike was very pleasant.

It certainly was that Friday!

It wasn’t a terribly hot day, but it was very humid as the sun burned off all of the rain we’d received over previous days.

I hiked at a brisk clip to make the most of my workout and, if I’m being honest, I was pretty darn happy to see the summit. Continue reading SOTA on Hibriten Mountain: Testing my new backpack and working a little QRP DX! →

Antennas, Field Reports, POTA, QRP

Pit Stop Style Activation with Elecraft KX3 and AX1

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(As is my usual, this article has a bunch of links – click on as many as you wish to receive the full experience)

by Vince (VE6LK)

In May of 2023 I embarked on a two week vacation to Hamilton Ontario, the city of Waterfalls. And I found myself with a spare 30 minutes so I decided to squeeze in an activation.

And as I am an opportunist, I made this decision at 23:25’ish z and I had not yet arrived at the park but the target was only a few minutes away! I would have until 23:59:59z to complete it if I were to be successful. “It’s time to break out the Elecraft AX1 antenna I bought at Hamvention last week“ I think to myself. It would be my first time using the antenna. I had pre-read the instructions and knew what had to be done in order to set it up.

The whole thing would unfold like a Formula 1 pit stop, albeit a wee bit slower <grin>.

Battlefield House

I arrived at VE-5351, The Battle of Stoney Creek National Historic Site and began to scout a location. Pausing only long enough to snap a few photos, I parked and immediately got to work. Continue reading Pit Stop Style Activation with Elecraft KX3 and AX1 →

Antennas, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Rainy Day POTA: Setting up the Chelegance MC-750 Vertical Antenna Inside a Picnic Shelter?

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On Thursday, April 27, 2023, it was pouring rain, so the perfect time for a little POTA, right–?

Right!

Actually, I had an idea: in the past, I’ve been known to play POTA under the roof of a picnic shelter on rainy days. I’ve even been known to use my AX1 antenna inside the shelter, under a metal roof. Quite a few times, actually.

Of course, it’s not optimal to operate with your antenna under a metal roof, but with POTA? Let’s just say that you can get away with a lot of less-than-optimal antenna deployments.

That’s the benefit of being the DX!

The MC-750 Tripod

An in-the-shelter activation was also the perfect opportunity to test the new Chelegance tripod that fits both the MC-750 and the JPC-12.

A number of readers have reached out asking about this tripod, so when Jesse at Chelegance asked if I’d like to test it, I agreed to do so.

To be clear, he sent this to me at no cost for evaluation. It’s actually quite affordable ($30 on the Chelegance website, $40 at DX Engineering, for example) so purchasing it would have been easy enough, but Jesse also wanted me to evaluate their new FT-818 ATU, so he sent both at the same time (you’ll see the ATU in a future field report).

The tripod feels very sturdy and is simple to deploy. It’s also a little heavy, so keep that in mind if you plan to pack it in for a long SOTA hike.

A number of you have purchased this tripod and have only had positive comments. I now see why.

I speak about this in more detail in the activation video below.

Lake Norman State Park (K-2740)

I decided that it had been too long since I had activated Lake Norman State Park, so I hopped in the car and headed to Troutman, NC! Lake Norman has a number of picnic shelters and covered areas thus a very safe bet.

It was a rainy day so, of course, I pulled into the Lake Norman picnic area only to find one other car there. In fact, by the time I had taken my backpack to the picnic shelter, that other park visitor appeared at a trailhead, hopped in her car, and left.

The picnic shelter sign wasn’t set to “reserved” either, so it looked like I had a green light to claim it for POTA! Continue reading Rainy Day POTA: Setting up the Chelegance MC-750 Vertical Antenna Inside a Picnic Shelter? →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, QRP

Park and Castle activation at the medieval Helfenstein castle

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

The last weekend was too rainy to operate outdoors. So I welcomed the public holiday on Thursday, which allowed me to take a day off on Friday and have four days off. We call such days “Bridge Day” in Germany, they “bridge” a public holiday to the weekend.

Some time ago, I have suggested a new protected area to the WWFF, the World Wide Flora and Fauna program. The nature reserve Eybtal covers an area of over 1331 hectares / 3300 acres and is the largest nature reserve in the Stuttgart administrative district. The nature reserve is on the edge of the Swabian Alb, and the ruins of the medieval castle Helfenstein are well within the WWFF activation zone.

The Helfenstein Castle is a historic fortress can be traced back to around 1100 AD when it was constructed as a strategic stronghold to protect the surrounding territories.

Coat of Arms

During the 13th and 14th century it was the seat of the Earls of Helfenstein. After a lost battle in 1372 things went south and in 1396 the family of Helfenstein had to sell a large part of its territory, including its family seat.

The new owners expanded the castle into a formidable fortress. They extended the castle walls to include a fortified tower and a second ring of walls.

Around the year 1400, a tower was built on the nearby rock. It served as a lookout and was intended to prevent the castle from being cannon-fired from that location.

During the Second Margrave War in the 16th century, Helfenstein Castle was besieged and heavily damaged. It was subsequently abandoned and fell into ruins.  In the 19th century, there was a renewed interest in medieval architecture, and efforts were made to preserve and restore Helfenstein Castle. The ruins were partially reconstructed, and today, visitors can explore the restored sections. Continue reading Park and Castle activation at the medieval Helfenstein castle →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Postcard Field Report: Pairing the Elecraft KX2 and MM0OPX EFHW to face dubious propagation

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Welcome to another Postcard Field Report!

I’m still in Dayton after Hamvention weekend, but didn’t want to skip my field report and activation video, so a hope you enjoy the slightly shorter report below:

Zebulon Vance Historic Birthplace (K-6856)

On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, I once again stopped by my weekly POTA spot, the Vance Birthplace.  By mid-May, I will no longer be passing by this excellent little POTA site on a weekly basis, so my activations here will be much less frequent. A shame because I do love this site and its staff!

For this particular activation, I’d planned to test my almost perfectly trimmed QRPguys Tunable EFHW antenna, but I left it at home. Not a problem, actually, because after this activation, I discovered it’s not as resonant as I’d like on the 20, 15, and 10 meter bands, so I may tinker with the toroid windings a bit–perhaps removing one.

Instead, I deployed my MM0OPX EFHW which I thought was actually a great choice considering propagation had been incredibly unstable the previous few days.

Since I also had my Elecraft KX2, I knew I could use its built-in ATU to move to non-resonant bands like 17 and 30 meters.

This activation video is a long one because I had quite a lot of time to play radio and, frankly, it was nice taking things at a casual pace.

After deploying the antenna (twice!) I set up the radio, connected my Begali Traveler, and hopped on the air! Continue reading Postcard Field Report: Pairing the Elecraft KX2 and MM0OPX EFHW to face dubious propagation →

Field Reports, Hacks and Hints, Kits, Portable, Skills

Are you prepared for Radio First Aid?

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by Vince (VE6LK)

(As is Vince’s usual, this article has a bunch of links – click on as many as you wish for the full experience)

Before I go too far into this topic, I wish to first offer hearty congratulations to Thomas Witherspoon for having one thousand posts on QRPer.com! Woo-Hoo!

Do you pack a Radio Field First Aid kit?

On my recent trip to VE3-land I had a few opportunities to practice set-up with my gear–away from the safe place that is my truck–to ensure I’d brought everything for my trip to Hamvention and activations along the way. I did forget an audio cable, however a visit to a local dollar store solved that problem inexpensively.

So, unless you pack two of everything -because two is one and one is none– you should expect that something’s going to fail or break along the way. What you never know is when or how that’s going to happen. I wouldn’t be writing this story if it had not happened to me before.

This time it was on a Sunday outing to VE-1512, the McLaughlin Bay Reserve Wildlife Area in Oshawa Ontario and far away from the comforts of my shop at home. Tucked away not far off of the 401 Highway, this nature reserve is a calm and peaceful oasis just minutes from urban life. I saw kayakers, hikers and trail runners during my visit.

Setting up my Comet HFJ-350M, I added the jumper cable to set the antenna for 20m and then I started to push the antenna down into the ground onto the stake. And that’s when my hand slipped and I broke the jumper cable connector, busted off in the hole.

Broken pin that triggered my outward potty mouth

For the inquisitive among you, my inner potty mouth made a brief outward appearance, ahem. Continue reading Are you prepared for Radio First Aid? →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Postcard Field Report: Pairing the Elecraft KX2 and Packtenna 9:1 Random Wire at Holmes Educational State Forest

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Well, I’m off to Hamvention in two days and trying to prepare for the trip. There’s so much to do!

If you are attending Hamvention this year, I’d love to meet you. Stop by the Ham Radio Workbench/Halibut Electronics table (#3011) and introduce yourself.

Since my travels this week are imposing on my field report time, I’m going to share another, shorter, Postcard Field Report. I hope you enjoy it:

Holmes Educational State Forest (K-4856)

On Friday, April 21, 2023, I had a short window of time to fit in an activation while my daughter was attending her high school robotics class.

Her robotics class lasts nearly two hours, but it’s 30 minutes away from all parks and summits, so traveling to/from a site takes about one hour.

I didn’t care because I had a particular park in mind: Holmes Educational State Forest (K-4856).

It had been one year almost to the day since I last activated Holmes.

I arrived on site around 13:30 local, and there were only a few other people floating about.

I walked up the main loop path in search of a good picnic table that was out of the way and with ample trees about.

In a pinch, any of the picnic table sites would have sufficed, but since I practically had the whole park to myself, I could afford to be picky!

The sign above reminds me that Educational State Forests in North Carolina have hours that vary by season and truly cater to school groups, thus are primarily open during the school day. Always check those hours before embarking on a journey to this type of park.

One great thing about our Educational State Forests is that they almost always have a nice covered picnic shelter for school groups. If they’re not occupied, they’re perfect for POTA activators who’d like to escape heavy rains. You can see the one at Holmes off in the distance in this photo:

I ended up choosing the same picnic table I used last time–it had more room around it to set up an antenna without crossing the path.

I didn’t have a lot of time to set up and operate, so I chose to use one of my speedier deployment combos: the Elecraft KX2 and PackTenna 9:1 Random Wire. Continue reading Postcard Field Report: Pairing the Elecraft KX2 and Packtenna 9:1 Random Wire at Holmes Educational State Forest →

Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Postcard Field Report: Pairing my new-to-me Palm Pico with the TX-500 at K-6856!

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I finally snagged one.

In the world of lightweight, super-compact QRP radio kits, there is one key that is, essentially, a legend: the venerable Palm Pico.

The Palm Pico has a stellar reputation because it’s super lightweight, can retract into its housing to protect it in transport, and can be directly attached to various radios with a specific mounting assembly or via Velcro or magnets.

The Palm Pico has been out of production for some time now and, they’re so highly desired, they often fetch the original purchase price or even higher on the used market. Truth is, so few Pico owners are willing to sell that very few of these keys ever enter the used market.

I was very lucky, indeed, when a long-time Patreon supporter reached out and offered to sell me her Palm Pico and Palm Mini paddles along with a KX2 mounting assembly. She had noticed how my eyes lit up when Josh (KI6NAZ) showed me his Palm Pico paddle on an HRCC Livestream in February.

The price she offered was amazingly low. She told me that she favored some of the other keys in her collection and wanted to give me the opportunity to own them. They were like-new with all original boxes and accessories.

How could I resist? I’m so grateful.

I really look forward to using the Palm Pico and Palm Mini this year. I’m especially eager to hook up the Palm Pico directly to the KX2 with its custom mounting bracket.

I decided to take my Palm Pico on a maiden POTA activation at the Vance Birthplace on April 18, 2023.

Postcard Field Report

I’ve got a load of videos in the pipeline and to keep from falling behind publishing them, you’re going to see more of my slightly shorter “Postcard Field Reports” for the next couple of weeks during my travels.

These postcard reports contain all of the core information, just less wordy.  (In theory!)

Zebulon Vance Historic Birthplace (K-6856)

I arrived at the Vance Birthplace and checked in quickly with the park staff. There were no picnic shelter reservations that day but there was a family with children eating a picnic lunch when I arrived. Continue reading Postcard Field Report: Pairing my new-to-me Palm Pico with the TX-500 at K-6856! →