QRP Portable from The Outer Banks July 7-13, 2001 |
For the first time in several years, our vacation plans took us back to one of my family's favorite places -- the Outer Banks of North Carolina. This time, we rented a house in the scenic town of Corolla. Corolla is in the very northern end of the Outer Banks. Having seen some pictures of the house beforehand, I pretty much knew what the antenna situation would be. So, I was able to plan accordingly. On the day we arrived, I suspended a 40 meter doublet from the third story deck. I used a partially-extended Black Widow fishing rod to support the center insulator. To tie off the ends of the doublet, I enlisted the support of my nephew, Kyle, an 11 year old Little Leaguer. I taped some nylon line to a baseball and Kyle tossed it up over the tree limbs I pointed out to him. I ran 25 feet of 300 ohm ladder line down to the second story deck, which would be my operating position. The equipment for the trip included a Small Wonder Labs SW-40 (1 Watt) and a Wilderness Radio SST-30 (2 watts). A built-from-scratch Z-match tuner, NorCal paddles, and an old homebrew Curtis Chip keyer rounded out the station. This was the first real field test for the Z-match tuner and it performed flawlessly. I primarily operated early in the morning while enjoying a cup of coffee and watching the wildlife around the nearby lake. The most memorable QSO was with OK1GS. Mirek answered my 2-watt CQ one evening on 30 meters. He's a county hunter and I was pleased to give him Currituck County, NC, as a new one. Although operating from a fully-appointed house with a swimming pool and a hot tub is not exactly roughing it, it was a very enjoyable trip. I'm hoping to get back down there again one of these days. Early morning operating |
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Log:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATE TIME STATION FREQ MODE SENT RCVD QTH NAME ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 07-08-01 11:40 AF4PP/QRP 7 CW 589 559 MARIETTA, GA CHUCK 07-08-01 12:16 KE3WN 7 CW 579 459 MURRYSVILLE, PA PAT 07-08-01 13:24 W3DWI 7 CW 589 469 CHAMBERSBURG, PA ED 07-08-01 14:31 K4ODI 7 CW 559 459 MACON, GA JOHN 07-09-01 14:31 OK1GS 10.1 CW 559 559 CZECH REPUBLIC MIREK 07-09-01 11:26 W8HFJ 7 CW 459 559 OH GLEN 07-09-01 13:19 W8DEP/QRP 7 CW 579 559 NR COLUMBUS, OH DAVE 07-09-01 14:07 NS2H/QRP 10.1 CW 599 599 GREENSBORO, NC DICK 07-10-01 12:00 WD8JOL/4 10.1 CW 549 NAVARRE BEACH, FL PARKER 07-10-01 12:07 WB9JOX 10.1 CW 599 589 NR CHICAGO, IL TED 07-10-01 13:49 K1PUG 10.1 CW 569 589 HARWINTON, CT HANK 07-11-01 11:33 VE3JTP 7 CW 589 569 TORONTO CAN JOHN 07-11-01 11:47 WA4KDO/M 7 CW 559 539 NR FT KNOX, TN ALAN 07-11-01 19:10 W4ATL 7 CW 599 459 SUNSET BEACH, NC SHERMAN 07-12-01 14:24 AA1MY 7 CW 449 549 ME SEAB 07-12-01 19:56 K3MZY/4 7 CW 559 229 SC LEO 07-12-01 20:11 W1NSS 7 CW 579 459 LORTON, VA TOM 07-13-01 12:15 W3DOY 7 CW 579 NR PHILA, PA U.S.A. TOM 07-13-01 12:45 N3YWQ 7 CW 589 559 GREENSBORO, PA STEVE