Wednesday, May 31, 2006
OK quick update.
Last night, a good QSO with Louie, KB7DEL, up in Sitka, AK. My second AK QSO and first "real" one as the first one was my contact during the Spartan Sprint.
Monday night was W7AMA's first CW contact. He did GREAT for a first time, including solid copy of one of our exchanges. I love being able to do that!
Sunday a pair of QSOs with Mike, KA5REJ and Jason VE7FXY. Jason was my first Canadian CW contact.
Sunday afternoon was spent putting up wire antennnas at Jim's, K9YC, house in Bonny Doon. A Chicago native, who now has 8.5 acres with redwoods, is really looking forward to putting up an antenna farm.
The slingshot launcher broke, so I gave a several hour long demonstration of what can be done with a water bottle and rope. His 10/15/20m fan dipole went up about 25' (double what it was). And his 40/80 trap dipole is probably closer to 30-35'. (Triple what it was). Plus the orientation is better. He still has room to double those heights once he finds a "real" launcher.
Saturday I played at the WPX CW contest. My goal was 5 contacts. The contest speeds were too fast for me, so I picked out a couple of stations and did the best I could. One of those stations was KF6A, who is actually Bob, K6XX across the valley. He's a big contester who is a local "nice guy." I whipped off an email when I realized who it was and got a really nice, classy note back. Even during the contest when he was trying for 1000 QSOs.
Part of Saturday was also spent trying to get on 6m. A roundly frustrating experience. I can't hear anything. Not on the G5RV, Not on the loop, not on a homebrew 6m delta loop I threw together. Whaa! Oh well. As JV says, improvements can always be made.
OK, that's all I have time for.
73 de WyreRider
Last night, a good QSO with Louie, KB7DEL, up in Sitka, AK. My second AK QSO and first "real" one as the first one was my contact during the Spartan Sprint.
Monday night was W7AMA's first CW contact. He did GREAT for a first time, including solid copy of one of our exchanges. I love being able to do that!
Sunday a pair of QSOs with Mike, KA5REJ and Jason VE7FXY. Jason was my first Canadian CW contact.
Sunday afternoon was spent putting up wire antennnas at Jim's, K9YC, house in Bonny Doon. A Chicago native, who now has 8.5 acres with redwoods, is really looking forward to putting up an antenna farm.
The slingshot launcher broke, so I gave a several hour long demonstration of what can be done with a water bottle and rope. His 10/15/20m fan dipole went up about 25' (double what it was). And his 40/80 trap dipole is probably closer to 30-35'. (Triple what it was). Plus the orientation is better. He still has room to double those heights once he finds a "real" launcher.
Saturday I played at the WPX CW contest. My goal was 5 contacts. The contest speeds were too fast for me, so I picked out a couple of stations and did the best I could. One of those stations was KF6A, who is actually Bob, K6XX across the valley. He's a big contester who is a local "nice guy." I whipped off an email when I realized who it was and got a really nice, classy note back. Even during the contest when he was trying for 1000 QSOs.
Part of Saturday was also spent trying to get on 6m. A roundly frustrating experience. I can't hear anything. Not on the G5RV, Not on the loop, not on a homebrew 6m delta loop I threw together. Whaa! Oh well. As JV says, improvements can always be made.
OK, that's all I have time for.
73 de WyreRider
