Category: field gear
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Saved by the “octopus”
The big surprise on a a recent activation was the missing power cable for the X6100. No worries, there in the tangle of assorted cables was the “octopus” I made last year; a power connector for every field radio to a pair of powerpoles. After returning home I found the missing cable on my bench,…
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The “pink card” :
or, always be prepared for emergency communication. Reading a post by K4SWL about his experiences during (and after) Hurricane Helene got me thinking about ham radio’s more serious side: being the when-all-else-fails backup mode for communications when the infrastructure goes away. I could go on at some length about all the different ways that we…
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Compasses
I have seen so many changes in navigation technology over the last half-century or so; it’s really quite amazing … back in high school I learned map & compass land navigation; a few years later I was studying celestial navigation with sextant and chronometer at the Planetarium for a sailing trip that never happened. 25…
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A post about many things
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…