October: ZA/AE5X update

I've been getting a few emails asking for more info on our upcoming trip to Albania.

Thanks to Col at DX World for the image and to Bernie at the Daily DX - and to both of them for publicizing this holiday style operation that will begin in October.

I'd like to emphasize that this is a vacation, not a DXpedition. All radio ops will be a bit on the spur-of-the-moment but I will be able to pre-announce them on my blog and the POTA website a couple hours beforehand.

 

Rig:

Video: As much DX as domestic! POTA with the QMX+

The Crystal River area of west-central Florida contains several POTA sites within a small area. Crystal River Preserve State Park is my favorite for activations due to the covered picnic table and proximity to manatee-rich waterways.

Kayaks can be rented at the park but my purpose today was to exercise the QMX+ on the high bands and the bands did not disappoint. Contacts were made on all 5 bands 10-20 meters, including a good amount of EU DX and one station in Chile.

Several people have told me that previous videos that include text overlays of the callsigns being heard are helpful so I've included those in the video below. CW speed of myself and most callers is around 22 wpm.

 

Directly on YouTube

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Video: Iceland by drone and operating as TF/AE5X

I am amazed at the stunning scenery of Iceland - the trip was bucket-list incredible.

The video below is about 2/3 drone video (followed by 1/3 radio) of the places we saw as we drove around the country.

In all, we put 950 miles (1500km) on the car and I activated 4 parks. Each park was a first-activation for that park. I had no trouble making contacts but my time at each park was limited. The KX2 at ten watts into a roof-mounted vertical worked well and was portable enough to travel with easily.

Today's park activation from Iceland

I've activated two parks in Iceland since arriving 4 days ago - both times were first activations for those parks. It's been tough to put the camera down. Iceland is an amazing country and I'll have more to say about it later.

Today's activation of IS-0092 Blábjörg Natural Monument was a lesson in Exceeded Expectations 101. Just when you think you can predict certain aspects of this radio stuff, the unexpected happens.

The park is located near the small town of Djúpivogur on Iceland's eastern coast. It's pretty much a straight shot into parts of Europe but many mountains block the path to the US...or so I thought.

I called CQ POTA on 15, 17 and 20 meters and worked both continents on all bands.

Many US stations were quite strong and I worked a number of familiar calls. The QRN that I worried about was non-existent - the bands are quite, propagation over salt water works like a charm and my 10 watts was doing the trick.

DXing: KX2 masquerading as a KH1

A cheap 51" (130cm) telescoping CB walkie-talkie antenna and conditions on 10-15 meters gave me the idea to treat my KX2 like a KH1.

Tuesday mornings can offer slow POTA activity but I was pleased with the results anyway from a peaceful little park about half an hour from home.

The weather was perfect and this project served as the perfect excuse to be outside.

In the following video, I made 10 contacts in 20 minutes. Those 10 contacts included 7 DXCC entities - all with a short whip antenna and a single ground radial.

When the bands are hot, amazing things are possible. Earlier this week I was able to work 4W8X on 10m CW from home with the KX2.

This weekend I'll be building a short coil to supplement the CB whip's internal coil with the idea of using the whip on 17/20 meters.

Various online calculators say I'll need 30 turns on a 1-inch form.

YouTube

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The new POTA rig goes DXing

20m HamStick

My old-school way of activating parks is more fun and I'll continue to operate that way. But, for some locations, shooting a slingshot and fishing line into a tree is gonna draw attention - and sometimes, that's negative attention.

And some places have no convenient trees. Such was the case on my recent trip to Colorado.

The new method is with my resurrected FT-891 and Bioenno 12V 12AH battery. I have HamSticks for 17, 20, 30 and 40 meters. Today's test went well and I learned that:

• the FT-891 sucks the juice out of a battery so rapidly that the barometric pressure along the Gulf Coast dropped by 20 millibars.
• a 40m HamStick has a 2:1 SWR bandwidth of only 100 kHz. This means either CW or phone - not both.
• the FT-891 is a good (not great) CW rig when set up as per N4HNH's video

The benefit: I can operate anywhere that I can park and draw no attention. The disadvantage: no  one comes over to inquire and get a demo of ham radio.

I've gotten into many conversations while operating from picnic tables, some of which resulted in email exchanges with links to the ARRL and other "What is ham radio all about?" types of websites. That won't happen anymore.

This new (for me) type of operation trades the personalization of ham radio for a greater number of places from which to operate and the ability to more quickly get on the air.

This morning I was tuning the 20m HamStick for lowest SWR on CW and heard a very strong CQ. I was very surprised when I heard the callsign: JE1RZR, calling from Tokyo - 7000 mi/11,200 km away. I was even more surprised when Manabu answered me.

БЕЛКА-DX

Codewheel not included!

 

The Belka-DX arrived here about three weeks ago from Minsk, Belarus. It is an updated version of the Belka-DSP, both of which were designed by Aleksandr Buevkiy EU1ME. The photo above was inspired by the "spy radio" theme of a review of the older Belka-DSP (link below).

About the price: if you want one of these diminutive and highly capable receivers, you'll have to decide which of three prices you want to pay. At the time of this posting:

• $245 on eBay
• $180 on Mobimax
• $134 on Belrig

All three options include shipping.

I chose Door Number 3, the Belrig option.

Evidently, some people are uncomfortable using their VISA card for international transactions. I have confidence that my bank will support me and therefore had no such worries. My opinion of PayPal (which isn't available in Belarus) is such that I much prefer using my credit card over using PP anyway.

I received my Belka-DX in 11 days. A tracking number was provided one day after I placed the order and I was able to track it from Minsk to New York to Houston.

CQWW (CW) with the RGO One

I've never been much of a contester. My participation in them has mainly been due to the DX opportunities they provide - or for their unique ability to put a radio through its paces on what amounts to an RF battleground.

WG5G: QRP DXCC Honor Roll

A re-posting from 2012:

In 2012 I met with Dan WG5G at his home in San Antonio to talk about his experiences as a QRP DXer. The contents of our conversation were written up as an article that was published in QRP Quarterly in June 2011. Here is that article:

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Me, pointing down the street in the direction the quad was pointed: “What direction is that?”
Dan WG5G: “South Sudan!”

Until recently, I’d never actually met anyone on the DXCC Honor Roll. I imagined such operators as being blessed with rural, mostly coastal locations and antenna farms that were far out of reach of the average ham. In my mind’s eye, they also had state of the art equipment which had been frequently upgraded over the years, thus enabling a DXer to reach that ultimate DXing goal.

I was therefore quite surprised as I drove up to the QTH of Dan Walker WG5G. I was even more surprised when I saw the simplicity of the equipment that allowed Dan to achieve Honor Roll status – with 5 watts!

Dan lives in a typical residential neighborhood in San Antonio, Texas and is still using a rig he bought second-hand many years ago. That station consists of Kenwood’s QRP-only TS-130V, external VFO, remote coax switch and Heathkit QRP wattmeter & tuner.

Upgrades to WG5G over the years have been limited to the antenna and, although Dan currently has an enviable quad at 50 feet, that wasn’t always the case. But regardless of the antenna in use, rare DX callsigns have been a permanent feature of his logbook.

Licensed in 1978, Dan didn’t become active on the ham bands until 1984 when he upgraded to Extra. His first rig was Doug DeMaw W1FB’s  Sardine Sender for 80 meters, followed very soon thereafter by the TS-130V. Less than a year later, 216 countries had been confirmed using a 2 element Yagi at 35 feet from a house at the bottom of a hill.