Category: field gear
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Omnibus and variorum in K minor, Op. 7_1beta
re: Field Day 2023 The December issue of QST arrived a while ago and I invested maybe 15 minutes looking through the fine print for my score: 440 points. I think that my claimed bonus for Public Information Display was rejected; not unfairly mind you, it was a bit skimpy. Eh, surest way to fail…
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Cut down my knee board today
When I made this I cut it to fit in a good-sized backpack, never thinking that I might want to use it with any of the smaller packs that I more often use for portable operating; this is why it gets carried hanging outside the pack from a carabiner. Today I had a few moments…
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Okay, that’s it, I want an Elecraft KH1
It has been on my mind, on and off, ever since Saturday, when I heard the news about the new handheld HF rig from Elecraft over at qrper.com but I just watched this video: “Wayne Burdick N6KR Elecraft Cofounder Talking About the New KH1 Transceiver at SOTA Luncheon” and I am completely sold. Everything about…
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A day at Wildcat Mountain
I mainly went out to Wildcat Mountain to test and adjust my wire antennas, so I brought a couple of radios, all of my antennas, and a variety of test equipment. I set up just off the upper parking area near one of the trailheads of Old Settler’s Trail, which is one of my favorite…
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K6ARK Mini Mic kit for the (tr)uSDX
Next-to-last (for now) in the current series of kit-build posts, the K6ARK Mini-Mic: Time for a functional test! This mic has lots of nice features like being tiny and lightweight; another one that I plan to take advantage of is that it uses a standard double-ended 3.5 mm 3 conductor cable. My next project will…
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Building the QRPGuys Digital Power/SWR Meter w/Dummy Load
Next up in my series of kit builds; the QRPGuys Digital Power/SWR Meter w/Dummy Load: QRPguys kits have excellent instructions, and as soon as it arrived I printed them from the website. I followed them precisely, checking off each component as it was inserted and soldered. I made one minor error; placing c 4, a…
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Building the QRPguys Multi-Z tuner kit
Building this kit was good exercise; if it works properly when I try it out in the field it will be entirely due to the truly excellent and detailed instructions that I downloaded and printed from the QRPguys website! Get ready for lots of pictures and discussion as we go through the process! The whole…
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Wrapping up some kit building …
The workbench has been developing a backlog of kits that need to be finished; a QRPguys Multi-Z Tuner, a QRPguys Digital Power/SWR Meter w/Dummy Load, and a K6ARK Mini-Microphone are the principal ones (there are others, but … ). QRPguys Multi-Z Tuner This one got stalled right out of the bag! Step one is assembling…
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A gear bag post
All winter, and well into the spring, I was operating from the car; only rarely was my radio pack used for anything but carrying to and from it. I wasn’t entirely satisfied with either of the existing packs, they exemplified the old saying about “the two standard sizes; too big and too small”. Operating portable…
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If it’s mid-June, then Field Day is right around the corner
is the thought that occurred to me this morning. Fourth weekend in June, yup, 24th and 25th, okay; I think I’m going to try for something a bit more organized than last year. But what, exactly? Well … weather permitting, definitely QRP, definitely carried in the pack (see the upcoming post about my current station-in-a-bag),…
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Oak Island
Wow, got an excellent connection from the borrowed Verizon hotspot! I can kind of understand why Oak Island was “not yet activated” now. Getting here was not trivial, and neither was getting to the summit! 9 hours in the field and a bit more than 4 on the air, on and off, only got 13…
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Oak Island, W9/WI-041 ATNO and K-0764, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore
Well, I’ve been hinting around it for long enough. The big activation that I have been planning is coming up rapidly, (maybe, even after all my planning, a little too rapidly)! It will be Oak Island; K-0764 and W9/WI-041, June 2nd and 3rd. I will be preparing this post over the next few days, to…