[qrp-l.org] [GP] camping contacts on Willamette

[Jason Milldrum]

Hey Chris, that's great news, I'm always pleased to hear reports of
how the rig works out in the real world! About how high up was your
antenna? I tried to make some contacts on 17 and 20 meters this
weekend and bombed out horribly (I brought the FT-817 instead of the
Willamette; I didn't want to damage it since it's not in an enclosure
yet). I had planned to deploy the EFHW & tuner but the campsites were
so close that I was afraid that I would shoot a weight right into a
neighbor's tent or camper. So I went with the PAC-12 instead. I was
able to tune it up normally and I could hear lots of signals, but
couldn't get any replies to CQs or when answering CQs. Maybe there
were too many tall trees nearby for the PAC-12 to work effectively.

On a side note, it looks like we'll be buying our first house very
soon. Assuming that the inspection and appraisal is OK, then we will
be moving in at the end of September. There is a nice tall willow tree
in the SE corner of the lot and a big oak in the NW corner of the lot,
which should make for a great antenna support. No HOA, so I should
have no troubles with putting up a full-sized doublet. This should
make it a lot easier for me to operate on a consistent basis,
especially with my rigs like the Willamette that are currently a bunch
of bare circuit boards.

73,
Jason Milldrum, NT7S
=====
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On Tue, Aug 12, 2008 at 5:59 AM, Chris Howard <w0ep at frii.net> wrote:
>
> I boxed up my Willamette in time to take it on a camping trip.  Part of the
> trip was car camping and part
> was backpacking.  I decided not to take the radio stuff on the backpacking
> portion.
>
> But, while car camping on Saturday Aug 2nd, I set up a low doublet wire and
> used my
> rainbow tuner to get it working on 20 meters. I got two contacts, one
> related to the
> 'TEST NA'  (North America QSO Party?) and one a straight DX contact with an
> XE
> station.
>
> My temporary QTH was a campground at Roberts Lake in the Gila National
> Forest
> in SW New Mexico.
>
> ---------------
>
> One comment on the boxing up of the Willamette:  I had procured a vernier
> dial and installed
> it in the initial boxing.  Soon I figured out that it only gave me about 50%
> of the total tuning range
> so I took it out and just used a straight shaft/knob.  I think I have a
> planetary drive in my junkbox
> somewhere that will give me a vernier type reduction but not have the range
> stops.