Sunday, March 20, 2011

N4LA ... My Other Hobby !!

The fish are biting ... Spring is here !

No... I didn't make my 15 meter sked on Saturday.
Guess you want to know why ?
I went Fishing !!!
We had a spring like day here in NC on Saturday  ...
So I decided to leave the radio off ...
and go search for BIG LARGEMOUTH BASS !!
I had a great day...  as you can see in the picture above.
Me and a buddy of mine spent most of the day fishing ..
and caught a total of 67 fish... most were largemouth bass
The trophy in the picture weighed in at 
8 lb 1 oz
and yes ... I practice catch and release
this big largemouth is still alive and swimming
 I guess the next question is...
"Where did you catch that monster" ?
YES ... I will tell you ..................
......................................................
.......................................................
...............................................................
IN THE MOUTH !!

73 de N4LA


Monday, March 14, 2011

N4LA ... Testing a wire buddipole

Backpacking with my Wire Buddipole
We had a spring like day in North Carolina on Sunday ... 
So I decided to put the little Elecraft KX1 to good use.
As I was packing for a short hike ... 
I was trying to decide what antenna I should take with me.
Of course, I needed something that was small ... 
easy to pack, and most of all light weight.
I decided on my Buddipole ...but in order to reduce size and weight... 
I switched my shock cord vertical radiator to a 12 ft wire radiator.
I had never tried this ... and had no idea if it would work ... 
but in theory it should work just fine.
So... what I did was take my rig expert antenna analyzer along 
to do some testing.
From top to bottom in the picture above ... here is the parts list.
1. 12 ft piece of 24 guage wire
2. Buddipole shorty coil
3. Buddipole versatee
4. TRSB Balun
5. One radial / elevated
6. Small telescoping painter pole .... 
I use this a both a antenna base and hiking staff
7. tent stake ... to secure painters pole antenna base.
8. 6 ft of small coax
As you can see in the 2nd picture...  
I also take a ultra light stool and table as well.
I picked both these items up at REI .... 
they are super small and extremely light weight.
The entire station including table and stool ...
will easily fit in a small Walmart backpack 
The entire set-up including backpack weighs in at only 10 pounds !!
It will be a little more if you add snacks and water of course.
I like to take a clipboard along as well .... 
I use it upside down. 
That way it secures my notepad .. 
and the pages don't flap around in the wind.
I also put Velcro on the top to secure my CW keyer ... 
or any other items I choose.
Well I guess you are wondering if the wire Buddipole worked ?
Yes it did
After a little tweaking ...
My SWR was perfect on 20 meters ...
 and I did make a couple of contacts at only 2 watts.
If you need a resonant multi-band antenna...
and don't want to take a tuner along ...
this set-up works quite well.
plus
It's smaller and lighter than the traditional Buddipole 
and in my opinion ... has a smaller footprint.
downside ...
You will need a support for the wire radiator...
a tree limb at 20 ft 
or 
20 ft fishing pole works well.
I haven't tried tis set-up on 30 or 40 meters yet ... 
but, you'll probably need the regular Buddipole loading coil 
instead of the smaller shorty coil.
I also plan to experiment with a longer radiator ( 16 ft ) soon.

Have Fun and get 
"Radio-Active"

73 de N4LA






Monday, March 7, 2011

New Solar Activity


M-Class Flares and two CME's - Several M-Class flares took place on Monday around Sunspots 1164, 1165 and 1166. Two Coronal Mass Ejections (CME's) did take place however both do not appear to be fully earth directed. These expanding clouds could deliver a minor blow to earths geomagnetic field within the next 72 hours. The largest flare thus far was an M3.7 which took place at 20:12 UTC Monday.
Solar Flux Update: Not to sound like a broken record, but the Solar Flux reading on Monday is 153.  This is yet again another high for Cycle 24. The last time the solar flux was as this level, was July of 2004. Please note that this flux reading is an estimate due to the Flare activity in progress.


Tuesday, March 1, 2011

NX8L ... Hope you enjoy your ( Soon to be ) retirement !!

Five Up .... Spread-em  Out !!


Here's a pic of my good friend Gary/ NX8L operating portable
with his Buddipole ... from the middle of a graveyard !!
NO JOKE

Gary ...Is this what pastors do when the get ready to retire ?

NX8L 
is 
"Radio-Active"