Friday, February 16, 2018

Video: The KX2 goes for a ride and activates KFF-4415

Yesterday was tailor made for outdoor QRP and motorcycling - partly sunny and 75F (23C). I had been wanting to try an antenna idea suggested to me by W0ZF in a previous comment and am happy to report that it worked quite well.

The antenna was simply a 29-foot wire (hurled into a tree thanks to the amazing powers of nylon-corded Gatorade) and a single 29-foot radial. The KX2 was able to tune it on all bands 10-40m though all contacts were made on 20m for this activation.

The band was in great shape and I easily worked stations around NA as well as in Belgium, Finland and the Cayman Islands from my lakeside picnic table. 25 contacts in all (24 on CW; 1 on phone) in only 35 minutes of operating time.

The KX2's amp-hour meter indicated that only 325 mAH of its 2600 mAH capacity had been consumed. I could have operated for hours - my spare battery was a needless addition to the pack. Output power was set to 10 watts.

I'm hoping to take this same set-up on a motorcycle excursion to West Texas in a few weeks, specifically the area between Del Rio and Presidio TX, along the Devil and Pecos Rivers. Got some things out there I want to see and explore with the camera - and hopefully time/energy for a POTA activation or two while I'm there.
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Posted by John AE5X at

6 comments:

  1. JEAN CHARRONFebruary 16, 2018 at 6:00 PM

    I love your video .. thank you for sharing .. surely other qso ..CUL Jean VE2WFF

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownFebruary 16, 2018 at 6:25 PM

    Nice video John...and a great activation! Glad the antenna idea worked out for you. It'll be awhile before we have 75 degree days here in Minnesota, I'm afraid.
    73 de W0ZF

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    Replies
    1. John AE5XFebruary 16, 2018 at 7:34 PM

      It worked quite well - the 29' length seems to be a sweet spot for the KX2's tuner on the 7 bands between 10 and 40m. A successful experiment and a fun one too. Thanks and 73 - John

      Delete
  3. FlorianFebruary 17, 2018 at 4:56 AM

    Hi John,
    first class short video!!! I had also QSO on 2018.02.16
    with WK2S (12:44 UTC) and VE2WFF (12:48 UTC) on 20m band from DLFF-0052 :) :) :)
    All the best!
    Florian, DL8ECA

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    Replies
    1. John AE5XFebruary 17, 2018 at 6:52 AM

      Thank you, Florian.

      I like the international aspect of POTA. I think there is more interest among EU hams but, over the past year or so, it seems more NA ops are becoming involved. It is a great way to utilize the many small rigs that are now available, otherwise they might end up just sitting on a shelf ;-)

      Perhaps we can have a park-to-park QSO someday. 73,
      John AE5X

      Delete

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