Amateur Radio WB3GCK QRP Portable from
The Outer Banks

August 1-6, 2005

Once again, we made our nearly-annual vacation trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  This time we rented a house in the Corolla Light area situated right on Currituck Sound.  Ham radio was a small part of the vacation but I managed to squeeze in 2 or 3 QSOs each day.  I worked 40 meters in the morning and moved to 30 meters later in the afternoon and evening.

As is my usual practice, I started out the week operating outdoors in the shade on the lower deck.  I enjoy operating outdoors in the morning hours while downing my morning cup(s) of java.  By mid-week though, the temperatures climbed and I moved my operations indoors.  I set up in a small, unused game room and ran the feedline out through the door jamb.  This turned out to be a convenient location; I could leave the equipment set up all the time and had the luxury of operating in the comfort of air conditioning.

The antenna I used this time was a simple 52-foot doublet installed as an inverted vee and feed with 25 feet of cheap 300-ohm TV twinlead.  This very simple antenna uses a small piece of fiberglass perf board for the center insulator.  Each end of the doublet has a small loop made in it for tying off; no end insulators are used.  I suspended the center of the antenna from the railing on the upper deck (about 25 feet up).  One end was secured to the lower deck and the other end was tied off in a tree.  With this combination of antenna and feedline, matching was a little touchy on 40 but very easy on 30 meters.  Performance on these two bands (where I operated most of the time) was great.  

The rest of the equipment setup was also pretty basic stuff.  I used a Yaesu FT-817 at 5 watts along with a NorCal keyer, NorCal paddles and a homebrew Z-match antenna tuner.  

Some highlights included working fellow EPA-QRP member W3EEK, Carl, one afternoon on 40 meters CW.  Carl was operating mobile near Tamaqua, PA.  I also managed to work a station in Belgium one evening on 30 meters.  


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Antenna mount
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Antenna mount
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Feedline routing
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Sunset over Currituck Sound


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Rental house.  Antenna was on the upper deck on the left side. 


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Outdoor operating
position


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Outdoor operating position

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Indoor operating position

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Feedline routed through the door

  

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