Tag: X6100
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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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Off to Oak Island!
Up early, final packing (and unpacking!) almost finished. This is just a quick post before I turn this off and pack it up. This Lenovo Chromebook running Linux Mint is the only device that I have no means of charging for the next couple of days, so battery conservation will be crucial (assuming that I…
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I made a knee board
This is a great example of the kind of “just good enough to do the job” work that I do when I am in a big hurry; this whole thing took me one hour to make. First, how big to make it? A couple of minutes with a tape measure and (in this order) my…
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I made an “octopus”
I got a little scare a few weeks ago as I was setting up; the power cord for the 6100 was not in its usual location! I found it only seconds later, attached to the external battery, but it got me thinking about backup for critical parts of the station equipment. This is one of…
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X6100 and EFHW at Wildcat Mountain
The weather today was a lot more pleasant than when I last activated K-1480, but I was using the same equipment. I planned to trim a few inches from the QRPguys EFHW to improve the SWR while I was setting up but it seemed to have the opposite effect … now I am wondering what…
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Devil’s Lake State Park, K-1449 and Ice Age National Scenic Trail, K-4238
After a weekend of chilly and rainy weather there came a day where the forecast promised slightly nicer conditions, and I had scouted out this location a few weeks earlier on a trip to the Menard’s in Baraboo. I got there early and considered operating outdoor portable for the first time this year, but a…
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It was snowing lightly on Wildcat Mountain …
as I worked 24 hunters this morning at Wildcat Mountain State Park, K-1480. It drizzled all night, on & off, it was still drizzling as I loaded the car and drove to the park; as I was unwinding the antenna wire I saw the first few snowflakes. There was a brief period of snow pellets,…
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Dell Creek SWA, K-4281
I needed to visit the Home Depot in Lake Delton today, and I really wanted to do another activation, too. I brought the dream and the reality together by stopping at Dell Creek State Wildlife Area, K-4281 along the way! Once I found an access with parking, (off Town Hall road, north of North Avenue),…
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Coulee Experimental State Forest, K-5578
Woke up this morning thinking “activate a new park today”, but which one? In the end I decided to try Coulee Experimental State Forest, K-5578 again. (for my previous attempt, click here). It was an ideal day for a wire antenna and I quickly hung my 20 meter dipole from some sapling trees and turned…
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Wildcat Mountain, K-1480
Well I got lucky with the weather on Tuesday; though it was 26 degrees overnight the forecast called for a daytime high in the upper 40s. I decided to keep everything simple, so equipped with plenty of hot coffee, I headed for Wildcat Mountain State Park, K-1480. Setting up the Buddipole 20m vertical took about…
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Mirror Lake SP, K-1464
On Saturday night I was musing over the POTA map and my road maps, wanting another new park to activate and it struck me suddenly that Mirror Lake State Park, K-1464 which I really only knew of from a sign and a quick glimpse of water when driving by on the interstate, was actually right…
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Activating Kickapoo River SWA, K-4296
For a while now, I have been wanting to activate a new park, and last Tuesday offered the opportunity to do so. An overcast day in the low 40s with a chance of some rain in the afternoon was the forecast, and that’s good enough for operating from the car. My last try for a…