To The Rim, Finding My Grid Square And Then On To 20 Meters.

Crater Lake

Since arriving to our new surroundings, the weather has been very overcast with rain in the lower elevations and snow up here in the higher elevations. Relocating to Crater Lake has one more check box marked on my bucket list. And when the sun finally came out on Saturday, it was time to go explore my surroundings. My wife and I made a morning of driving up to see what Crater Lake had to offer and she did not let us down. A breathtaking landscape surrounded by her mountainous rim. After taking lots of photos and hiking where we could (no snowshoes as of yet) we headed back to the house for lunch. Afterwards, it was time to break out the portable HF ham radio equipment to see what I would be able to hear.

CN82wv

First things first. I have been impressed with the APRS coverage here primarily due to the STUKEL Mountain Igate and KFALLS Digi relaying APRS data from up here at Crater Lake. As mentioned in my previous blog, I have an old Garmin GPS III in my truck that has been losing its memory (hopefully due to needing batteries replaced). I have a Garmin GPS III Plus that I use when I'm operating portable. I love the old Garmin units as they show our highly used Maidenhead Grid Square Locator. I'm not sure if there are any more modern units that do the same but I snagged a few of these a few years back on eBay just for this reason. I fired up my Garmin and set it in the snow bank in front of our residence and after finding the satellites, it was not long before I had my Grid Square! 

Internal Antenna Setup

I snagged my Buddipole out of its case and began to assemble the antenna. I ran this same indoor setup at our previous residence in MA, and it seemed to do pretty well considering. I had it set up in the 2nd floor hallway back there and thankfully, our current residence has an open floor plan on the second floor which works well for my current indoor setup. While at the Dayton Hamvention this past year, I picked up a few accessories from the Buddipole booth. I was excited to finally put them to use. 

Assembly went well and before I knew it, I had the antenna ready to be hooked to my Icom 703+. Since most of my equipment was still in storage with the moving company and many of my tools were in the tool compartment of our camper, I only realized my oversight when I was ready to tune the antenna. You see, I wanted something smaller than my MFJ-259B to use when I was portable. For obvious reasons, the MFJ uses a Kazillion batteries and it's very easy for the power button to be depressed when you are carrying it in a backpack. It's saddening to find out your MFJ has no life left by the time you get to your operating location. Been there, done that.

IP60z

Enter the iP60z Portable Antenna Analyzer! I looked at a few small analyzers while at the 2014 Hamvention and after talking with my friend Steve, wG0AT at Dayton, I opted for this model. Ironically, my mini screw drivers and 9 volt batteries were back in our camper which was about an hour away from our residence. So, for my Saturday operating, I would have to resort to tuning the antenna the manual way. Having an antenna indoors makes tuning an antenna a bit more challenging so I was hoping to have my iPortable analyzer to help me. That now would not happen until Sunday, when I made the trip to get batteries and screw drivers (I now have a dedicated set with my portable gear box). 

Anyhow, I was able to tune my Buddipole antenna indoors and I first listened to 10 meters. More irony as the first station I heard on 10 meters happened to be W1NA, in my old state of Massachusetts. But signals seemed low and not that strong but not uncommon with indoor equipment. Since this was the first time I had set up the equipment here, I've not had the time to grasp what normal propagation sounds like from this location. After listening to 10 meters for a bit, I jumped up to 20 meters where I originally tuned the Buddipole.

J-37 Straight Key with Icom 703+

It was so nice to once again hear the activity on the ham bands and be decoding Morse Code (CW). My main focus was to make a few contacts in the SKCC Weekend Sprintathon. Thanks to Curt, WA2JSG for posting reminders to Facebook! I enjoy manually sending code just about as much as I enjoy higher paced CW contests. No records broken here and I only logged a few manual contacts with my first being Tony, K6ELQ. Tony was very strong (in California) so it was an easy QSO for me. I followed up by working Ed, W7GVE in Arizona, John, K0AE in Colorado, the power station Ted, K8AQM in Michigan and finally, Brian, WB4IT in Alabama. Not bad I guess, considering my indoor antenna and rig set at 10 watts. When I checked the antenna SWR on Sunday, it was a bit high (see iPortable photo above) so in all reality, I was nearly QRP.

Drivers Seat

Even though I only made a handful of QSO's, it was great to finally get on the air from my new QTH. My goal is to get on the air more frequently, especially since I won't be stuck in a vehicle for several hours a week commuting to and from work. That can now be transferred to radio time! But I still have plenty to do yet as we continue to get settled at our new location. I'm hoping this will be the last move for a very long time. Now to work on finding a place where I can put something more robust together and get back into contesting. Not that it can't be done with my current set up, but I prefer external antenna's and computer aided contesting accessories (again, all of which are in storage at the moment). 

Digital JT65A

Taking a bit of a break from listening to CW, I hooked up the mini laptop to decode some JT65A. It took me a bit to get the laptop tuned and the clock set for decoding but it was not long before I was seeing stations populate my software screen. I made sure I was uploading my reception reports to PSK Reporter and it was fun to see how far away I was hearing with my indoor set up. I decided to just decode and not attempt to work any stations. Again, getting acquainted with the propagation in this neck of the woods is my first strategy. I believe there was a bit of solar activity this weekend that did not help but at least I know I can make contacts! 

PSK Report for AK2MA

I would classify my Oregon maiden voyage onto the ham bands a success, although not earth shattering. As time allows, and now that I have a battery in my iPortable iP60z, I plan to get on as often as possible and play on the HF bands. I will tune the antenna for the best SWR possible and make my first QRP contacts. Because my antenna is indoors, I have no desire to run anything more than what my Icom 703+ will exhaust. My Yaesu FT-857D will remain in it's box until I get outdoors and do a bit of portable operating from some local vantage point. 

AK2MA

Since we won't be going any where for the holidays and we are across the country from our families, I expect the next few weeks will allow me to spend even a bit more time than normal on the bands. Straight Key Night is not far away and since I missed it last year, my plan is not to miss it this year. There is just something exciting about communicating using one of the oldest forms of communication. Since that first message in 1844, it's still a very popular way to communicate. Even with all the high tech forms of communication we have available to us at this time, just listening to any contest weekend will make you realize that Morse Code is far from extinct. And manually sending Morse Code to me is like driving a car that has the high beam switch on the floorboard, a separate key for the trunk and an 8-Track radio!  Okay, maybe a crude comparison but you get my point. Either way it's fun and it's certainly nice to be back in the game!

Indoor Antenna Trial. Success!

AK2MA Kitchen Shack

While living in Alaska, I worked many stations all over the lower 48 with many on them East Coast using indoor antennas. Let's face it, when the propagation is favorable, you can work the world with little to nothing. I pulled my portable station equipment out of the storage container and set it up on our kitchen table over the long weekend. I set up my Buddipole antenna in the upstairs hallway (3rd floor). Indoors, this would have the antenna at around 25 feet in height above ground. After setting up the Buddipole in the hallway, I decided to try 15 meters first. Once I got the antenna tuned, I headed down to the kitchen to fire up my Yaesu FT-857D. I unpacked my J-37 Straight Key along with my Vibroplex keyer. I turned on the rig and immediately heard my first DX using my indoor Buddipole antenna.

Buddipole antenna set up indoors

My first QSO was with Rade, E77W in Bosnia Herzegovina. I had my FT-857D output at 100 watts, so I was at full power. It was an easy QSO and it was great to get my first European DX in the logbook. I checked upstairs after the QSO to make sure I was not hurting any of the electronics and all appeared well. No clock radio explosions or unexplained toilet flushes. I decided to tune all the bands and see what I could hear. I was surprised to hear activity on all bands, 10 meters thru 40. I logged into the SKCC Sked Page and hooked up my straight key to the FT-857D. I ended up making a straight key QSO with Joel, W4JBB in Alabama. I monitored the SKCC Sked Page where online conversations led to propagational QSO's. I worked Jim, WA5KMA in Texas. I was asked to head to 40 meters for a QSO with Dan, K3DRQ in Pennsylvania. After running upstairs and setting the Buddipole up for 40 meters, I was able to snag Dan on 40, fulfilling his request. After working Dan in PA, I worked Art, WK2S in New Jersey upon his request for 40 meters as well. Art had a great signal into Eastern MA. After our QSO, I headed back upstairs and retuned the antenna for 15 meters.

Antenna Tuning Life Saver!

Thankfully, my MFJ Analyzer makes short work of getting the antenna tuned for a new band. The Buddipole is a good portable antenna but if you want a respectable SWR, you will need to take a few minutes to tweak the coils and change the element lengths. If I had to run back downstairs each time to check my SWR, it might have great physical results but not a great ham result. 

After retuning my antenna for 15 meters, I worked Tony, K6ELQ in California for another SKCC QSO. It seemed my 100 watts and the Buddipole were going to work. I would obviously be roughing it, but it's better than no radio! I have no plans of drilling any holes or putting up any tower at this location for various reasons. So, a less permanent antenna will be my radiator of choice. Not that I will be doing much contesting but at least I can make an appearance in the contests making a few QSO's. Maybe chase Worked All States? When I heard Les, KL7J on 15 meter CW this past weekend, I had hopes of even landing my old state of residence, feeling the irony of ham radio role reversal. 

10 Meters From Today

When I woke up this morning, I had decided to set the antenna up for 10 meters. I also decided to try making contacts at less than 100 watts. I enjoy QRP operating and the Yaesu would allow me to dial down my output power to 5 watts. For anything less, I would have to bring out the Icom IC-703Plus. But for now, 5 watts would work.

My first QSO was with a very loud Ted, CT7AEQ on 10 meter CW calling CQ. I had dialed the rig down to 50 watts for that QSO. Not far from Ted, I found Filippo, IZ1LBG calling CQ. I set the FT-857D for 5 watts and to my surprise, Filippo came back with my call. A few minutes later, I had a valid QRP QSO with a station over 3,800 miles away (using QRZ information). I also shot a short video of that QSO with my cell phone. Since I was running a full 5 watts, it only calculates to a bit over 700 miles per watt. Had I been using my IC-703Plus, there is no doubt in my mind that I could have worked Filippo with less power and achieved my first 1,000 Mile Per Watt award from the QRP ARCI Club. At least I know it will sure be doable! And to top off my afternoon, I heard a weak ZS6JBJ calling CQ on 10 meters looking for SKCC QSO's. I answered his CQ and I was extremely excited to hear John come back with my callsign. Of course, I had increased my power output to 100 watts as I felt I would need at least that to make a contact with John. 

This past weekend got me reacquainted with using and tuning my Buddipole antenna system. It also allowed me to become more familiar with the menu system on the FT-857D. I hate reading manuals but I finally had to break down and read the manual to get the FT-857D to do a few things I needed for it to do. Having a few days to become familiar with this rig, I'm liking it even more. I'm actually thinking of using it as my full time portable rig as the IC-703Plus only has a high power output of 10 watts, where I can have 100 watts if needed with the Yaesu. Also, the Yaesu is smaller so it would be pack friendly. The only difference is, I would have to haul an external tuner (I have an LDG) if I did not want to fine tune my Buddipole for a flat SWR. 

I plan on experimenting with a few more bands but I think for now, my activity  will be on an indoor antenna. This is something new to me as I've always used outdoor antenna's. This was a very humbling weekend experience for me. I've left behind my AL-1500 and 4 element tri-bander for low power and an indoor antenna. I'm ready to take on the challenge and join many that have, or are, currently doing the same. I plan on being more active with QRP and once I find a few good higher elevated locations to operate from, I'll be doing some winter time /p operating as well. I have to admit, winter here is a bit more balmy than I'm used to. I'm sure the locals don't feel that way but for this ex-Alaskan, I'm enjoying the many more hours of daylight and warmer temperatures.