JEEP Field Day

Well another FD has come and gone think it is number 37 for me. They have come in all forms, full up big efforts with many operators, QRP, backyard, and Jeep trips. The last time we had a real Jeep FD was in the 1980's in one of my CJ5's in Owyhee Co. in SW Idaho running my trusty FT-301 mounted between the front seats....great time we spent five days jeeping and had a great time.

Due to time constraints this year there was only a plan for pal K7BUY to arrive from Ore. and we would take the Jeep and head to the hills exploring some of our old stomping grounds and stop and radio from several places along the way.
It was a great day wonderful visit with old friend and beautiful Idaho...First radio stop and lunch was on the south fork of the Boise river below Anderson Ranch Dam, great lunch and a few contacts...however the mosquitoes loved us a little to much so off to higher ground with less water.

Next stop Cow Ck. summit with wide open views in all directions we set up the Jackite Pole antenna and went to it, the band conditions were soooo bad but we worked many western stations with a few 8's 2's and 4's thrown in. The setup worked well with the FT-897 LDG tuner Hustler mobile antenna for 40,20, and 15. The Jackite Pole Antenna is a carbon fiber pull up that is in 4ft sections and holds a 32 foot wire fed with a 9 to1 UnUn...it preformed great on 20m.

At the days end we had driven over 100 miles had a great time and proved our portable/mobile setup works just fine...I hope you all had a good FD if you went out and enjoyed good friends and the great outdoors like I did....Everything is more fun in a Jeep.....Get on have fun and 73

Tear Down

Blogs are a funny thing we just set here and talk about things that may or may not be of interest to others. You have seen photos of my station and it is nothing special, no new $10k radios on the desk but many old classics that I use on a regular basis.....It seems to be what ever turns us on so to speak.

My new rigs are now 7 years old a pair of FT 897's one is set up for general use SSB, CW and 6M the other is set up for CW and RTTY...and mobile in the summer in my 2001 Jeep YJ. The rest are old rigs from the 70's and 80's TS 940s my main SSB rig, TS 430 a like new rig I seldom put on the air and a TS 180s that I use for other band RX in contests but is like new also....A FT 301 and all that goes with it that dates back to the 70's and it works great, and a bunch of boxes that switch PTT functions, noise bridge, keyers, meters and tuners....You get the idea.

In about a month this all has to be torn down and removed as the entire house is getting new flooring....what a job, not to mention everything else in the house that has to be moved...I plan to rebuild the station with better wire routing, better cooling for the four power supplies and the computer. A constant problem here is grounding so will work on that too.....

I will set up a 6m station in the garage and that will be about it for the month of July....Wish me luck get on have fun and best 73...

June Contests

Well I have never gone out of my way to work the ARRL VHF contest which will be June 8th this year....but. We always seem to do something for ARRL Field Day and this year it was decided to keep it simple.....Jeep road trip to visit some old stomping grounds and to do some radio along the way.....
Let me start at the beginning, I will soon have to tear down my station for new carpet in the shack so...I decided to remove one of my FT 897 stations and install it in the jeep a bit early...ok now we are caught up.....I am now ready for our rolling FD and the June VHF contest so think I will do both I prefer the CQ VHF in July but have another obligation with Search and Rescue that weekend so why not.....
The Jeep is set up with the 897 one of my LDG auto tuners, a home brew antenna switch, dual headset intercom and the following antennas. an old Hustler mobile setup to use while rolling and a 31 foot collapsible vertical for stationary work, I will add a mast for VHF contest later but for now I have a dual band vertical for 2m and 70cm......
We should have a fun time and a good road trip Idaho is a beautiful place in June....get out, get on and have fun....73

6M DX

It is possible...even with low power and bad antennas, 6M can be magic. My first South America 6M DX was great fun....Get on keep trying and have fun ...73

6M Friday

Wow what a great 6M day, had not been up long when bud K7BUY sent a text ...Hearing double hop E on 6 .....So I turned on the rig and computer WOW....what a morning worked from MT. to NY and all points in between....Wound up with 25 good contacts not to list all but Canada, MT, KS, OH, NJ, NY w.VA, VA, GA. Well you get the idea although I had much to get done today I spent way to much time on 6 this morning....What fun, Thanks Larry for the text message and remember it is E season. Get on have fun and 73....

SPRING HAS SPRUNG

It seems that we all mark the seasons one way or another, baseball starts, school is winding down and so on. Well in the weird world of Ham Radio it seems to be E-skip season. Today May 4, 2013 was that day for me....We planted tomatoes that's a sign, we had our new grand daughter out side and 6M opened a little for us deprived operators in the North West....All good signs of spring..

I have said enough about my operating conditions with the CC&R thing but it is so fun when I get in on good stuff like the big guns....My 6m beam is painted camo and installed about 18 feet up with an armstrong rotor ( I turn it by hand) I also use my Hustler 4BTV on 6 for a omni antenna and it works well. I hear a station in Florida calling and on the vertical I respond and work him, I then hear a station in Cuba call and I switch to the beam pointing East and work him...it was great.

About an hour later I see on the reflector a local station which I know has big antennas and big power working Chile, I run out arm-strong my antenna in that direction and on CW work CE2AWW great fun for my puny little station....so spring has sprung even in the North West.

So as always my point is no matter what your operating situation is, get on the air and try...believe nothing is out of reach and you will be surprised with the results.....I have also installed a QRP HF rig at my garage work bench for the times I am out there....running 10W to attic dipole on 10 / 15 M and have had some great contacts even a few JA stations......Get on have fun and 73....

POST WPX

Well my trip to Ore. was a pleasant surprise as the weather was very spring like and I did not have to drive in the snow this year. However the band conditions were very poor with only a few bursts of very good low noise band openings.
The normal throng of JA stations did not ever show up I think we only had four in the log, one VK and only two KH6 stations. But we had a couple of pleasant sunrises with fair openings to Russia, and Northern Europe and one middle East contact with A71AM.

Our score was very low this year even low for us low ball contesters we did about a third of what we did last year. But as always a nice visit with my old friend and some hours of setting on the deck with a drink enjoying the fabulous view and the spring sun. We even managed to do a little antenna work during the slow times so we made the best of it.
Hope some of you managed to work a few this weekend, about time to get some spring yard work done and put up the 6 meter antenna in hopes of a good E-skip season....73 and enjoy the spring.