QRPTTF - 2004 - Back Yard Portable
April 24th 2004
The theme for this years QRPTTF (QRP To The Field) event was Battlefields. I doubt any serious battles have been waged in my back yard, except fighting over who cuts the grass and so forth, but I didn't have any plans this year for the event, and this seemed like the next best thing. A couple of days earlier, I had been thinking of just operating the K2 out of the shack to hand out a few points (will they be tabulated this year and posted? ;-), but a wind storm took down one leg of my Zepp. Well, that settled that, and I ended up putting up a 22' mast in the back yard, cut 3 sections of wire about 25' in length, used one for a radiator and 2 for ground radials. I figured that this might be a good time to see how well (or not so well) an antenna like this would work with the K1. It would make a nice backpacking antenna if made out of very small gauge wire. I'm sure that I wasn't a very commanding signal on the bands, but I did work 28 stations and 19 SPC's (21 for the contest - OK and TX on 15 and 20 Meters) in just under 4 hours of on and off operating, so I guess the antenna works OK. Best DX was Alaska (Jim AL7FS - sorry for forgetting the S Jim ;-) and Maine (Seab AA1MY). I heard someone replying to AL0HA, but couldn't hear the HI gang...guess the band was too long...oh well that's the way it goes sometimes, at other times HI is a clear shot. Stations that I heard in there and recognized but missed were: Randy K7TQ, Doc W5TB, and Mert W0UFO. I'll get you next time guys ;-) The loudest signals on the band were Doc K0EVZ and Bruce AA5B (I heard a rumor that KK6MC/5 Dr. Megacycle was sharing the helm at AA5B). They were both pounding into Los Angeles! Sure did have a fun time working all of you! Here's a copy of my log:
Here's a couple of shots of the quickly setup station:
Here's a shot of the 22' mast gaff taped to a lighting stand. The wire coming down is some of the 10 Lb roll of #22 Teflon insulated silver tinned stranded copper that I got surplus a while back at Apex Surplus in the valley.
Here's a shot of the station setup on the picnic table out on our porch. Rig is the K1, Palm paddles, Sony earbuds and a gel cell.
Here's yours truly at the rig trying to pounce on other TTF ops. Got pretty warm out there in the sun for 4 hours but was fun.
Weather was nice here in Los Angeles today. Would have been a nice day to head out to a park or similar.
Until next time...
73's Trev