[HCRA] 10M FWIW Department

[Jim - KK1W]

Hi gang,

 

In the FWIW (For What It's Worth) department.

 

I just finished moving part of my antenna feed lines from my former shack
(now mom's living room) and eventually to my desk on the 1st floor. What
happened was they took a little detour (the feed lines) and ended up on the
back porch for the evening. I also added a parallel control cable for the
SteppIR beam. Still have to parallel a rotor cable and get them in the
window for my new, but temporary, 1st floor shack. But that's not the reason
for the message.

 

As 7:30 PM closed in on me I extended the coax to the porch with a few
barrel connectors, tuned the SteppIR and put the controller away, and hooked
up my trusty old Yaesu FT-817 to the coax. Signals sounded good so I checked
into the HCRA net as QRP. Most (not all) stations were able to copy my puny
little 5W and I had a good time on the net.

 

About an hour later I went back out to the porch and tuned around a little.
Three stations from GA were booming in but they were working a station in
Indiana. A little further up the band there was VP9400KD (a special Bermuda
call) working a small pileup. I threw in my call followed by QRP a few
times. Son of gun if Walter didn't come back to the 'QRP station'. Cool! We
had a brief chat, he gave me an honest 55 on the peaks (59 in the log of
course). There is life after QRO after all!

 

Yes, a three element beam at 50' is a big help but this still is a reminder
of how little power you actually need to work stations, especially when
propagation conditions are good. If you're a new ham that hasn't dabbled in
10 meters yet summer time offers a great opportunity. North/South
propagation via sporadic E is very common most any evening. And of course
sunspots have become fact instead of rumor lately, which will start to open
up the bands too.

 

Give a listen, toss in you call; you never know what you will catch. Two of
the stations I was listening to in Georgia were only running 100 watts to an
Antron vertical and they had exceptional signals this evening.

 

Now's the time to look around for a used Radio Shack HTX-10 (or Uniden
HR2600 similar radio) 10 meter transceiver. They were listed for $149 but
were closed out for under $50 when the bands started to die some years back,
I'll bet you'll find a deal somewhere, it looks like they are selling for
around $100 on eBay. That radio, a used or home made vertical, or a homebrew
dipole and you're good to go for probably less investment than that HT on
your belt.

 

Good luck, have fun and post your accomplishments up here on the list so we
can all share your fun.

 

'73.

 

Jim, KK1W