[Elecraft] K6DGW/MM - Way harder than I thought it would be!

[Fred Jensen]

4/17 - 5/3 -- Sun Princess -- Ft. Lauderdale -> Jamaica -> Aruba ->
Panama Canal -> Costa Rica -> Hualtuco, Acapulco, and Cabo San Lucas,
Mexico -> LA.

1.  20/30/40 with a KX1 and 21' wire antenna with 21' ground radial made
from a length of RG-58, and an 11.7V 850 mAh Li-polymer battery for
around 2-3W and VSWRs in the 2.5 - 4.5 range depending on how I laced up
the wire and ground in the balcony (which would better be termed a
"shelf").

2.  Cruise line said "no radio transmitting" when I asked, but the
Captain said "OK, but from your balcony only." They feared wires strung
up in common areas on deck would pose a safety hazard to other PAX.  "No
removal of any paint, please." Fortunately, the door from the cabin to
balcony was some sort of unpainted aluminum and the stop (unpainted) was
screwed to the ship, so I think I got a "good" ground to it.

3.  Balcony is about 3' deep, 9' wide, and  7' high.  I have an MP-1
knockoff but decided not to take it since it closely resembles a pipe
bomb on the X-ray.

4.  Riveria Deck Room 350 is on the top deck with rooms on the port side
of the boat (that's the left side when looking at the pointy end for
those unfamiliar with nautical and marine jargon).  Thus, I had
something around 35,000 metric tons of steel between my antenna (using
that term loosely) and North America.

5.  I think there was some sort of solar event late in the trip as
everything got exceedingly quiet.  I was loathe to go into the onboard
Internet Cafe and check (@ $0.50/min) however, because there was no bar
service in that compartment.

All that said, I worked 3 PY's 3 LU's, one HC, one YV approaching Aruba,
one HP (before entering the canal), and might have managed an HK on 30m,
although I'm not sure we completed.  W1AW on 14047.6 was readable early
on, but then nothing.  WWV was S4 early on 15MHz and discernable on 10
MHz, but both frequencies died about half way thru the trip.  Heard no
XE's.  Copied K9GP weakly as we left Jamaica and he was the only NA
station heard other than W1AW and WWV.  Listened some for K6KPH on
Saturdays on 40 since they run gobs of power, but nil.

The KX1 ATU rattled every time I went to TUNE, even if nothing in the
antenna had changed.  Not sure why, but since everything on the balcony
including me was in the near field of the antenna (using that term
loosely), possibly my movements were causing it to retune.

On Aruba, on the way out to a natural bridge on the coast and just
before the Ostrich Farm, I spotted an antenna complex similar to K5RC or
N6RO off to the right (P4??).  Couldn't get the bus driver to detour for
an inspection, however.

It was a truly fun trip, the Canal is awesome (to an engineer, Andrea
was initially intrigued, but that faded), and I managed to gain 4.5
lbs.  Had to make the bed and coffee this AM which was a bummer.  We
tried to adopt Michael, our cabin steward, and bring him home with us,
but while the Captain can marry people, he apparently can't do
adoptions.

73,

Fred K6DGW
Auburn CA CM98lw

PS:  ALAN:  I'll send you a couple of Aruba pictures as soon as I
download them from the camera.