Author: Admim
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Pebble HF – part 3
Though my mind, all night, was full of thoughts of what I could do with radio today, when morning came around I was just not feeling all that energetic, so I didn’t head out for a park. I hooked up the outdoor EFRW antenna to the Pebble HF and tried tuning across the band, starting…
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Pebble HF – part 2
Building The Kit ! Okay, I cheated a little; instead of clearing my worktable, I moved a few tools downstairs and built the kit on the kitchen table. I used the Raspberry Pi to view the assembly instructions, located here. I recommend using this document rather than the YouTube video, the information there is fresher…
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Pebble HF – part 1
Back in late March I saw this article and after reading it, I followed the link to the Pebble HF website, and got myself on the waiting list. As time passed, I got an email update or two, and last week I got a notice that my kit had shipped ! It arrived yesterday! Woohoo!…
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Pinnacle Rock, US-12358
It’s been almost two months since I last activated a park, so I was happy to get on the road to Pinnacle Rock State Fishery Area. As I pulled into the empty parking area I startled about 100 little yellow butterflies who were soaking up sunlight on the gravel. Wow! No one was fishing on…
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Pinnacle Rock SFWA, US-12358
Last weekend I was feeling like going to a new park, and I thought I would try Pinnacle Rock SFWA, a bit north of Cashton, again. I went there last fall, but the parking area was full; a lot of people out fishing that day! No sign of a pinnacle rock anywhere, however. This time…
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A spontaneous activation of US-1480
Though I planned on doing some shopping for early farm-stand produce (I did buy a bunch of asparagus, cut fresh this morning), I only got as far as Wildcat Mountain State Park today. I had the X6100 radio pack in the car, and when the thought of setting up to do POTA crossed my mind…
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DIY in the 21st century
We have a light fixture from a garage sale that looks like a chrome-plated shrubbery carrying 19 little LED bulbs which failed to light up last week. A bit of checking with a multimeter demonstrated that AC power to the light was okay, but the bulbs were not getting the 12 volts that they needed.…
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Battery testing, part 2
Following up on my previous post, here is some more data: I finally got one data set without interruptions or loss of data; 49 hours of continuous receive by the (tr)uSDX, from an initial 12.36 volts to shutdown at 9.40 volts. The Watt’s Up meter indicated 2.968 amp-hours, 31.2 watt-hours. Now here we have a…
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Sandwich Hamfest, 2026 edition
This year I took a different approach to the 200+ mile drive; after loading a heap of stuff in the minivan on Friday, I left on Saturday around noon and drove to DeKalb IL (a nice little college town), where I had an excellent dinner and spent the night in a hotel. Sunday morning I…
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Back to Mecan River and the IAT !
Operating at Buckhorn last week felt so good, so right, that I was ready for more, and on Sunday I had most of the day free. The radio bag was in the car, I got lots of coffee at Kwik-Trip, and I was off to the spot that I activated back in January. It was…
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A spring afternoon at Buckhorn SWA (US-12077)
Once all the tax paperwork was signed, copied, and in the mail, I could turn to something more pleasant: getting out to play radio! Between weather, household tasks, and the general chaos of life, it has been months since the last time I got out to do some POTA; when I look at my logbook…
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Battery testing, part 1
This is a follow – up to my post in late February, “A battery project”. I was curious about the actual amp-hour capacity of the battery, compared to the nominal capacity printed on the label, and generally interested to learn a bit more about a key element of portable radio operating. The setup: The equipment:…