[PaQSO] N3LL STATION INFO AND RAMBLINGS ( TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT)

[ed.miske at kennametal.com]

Very enjoyable reading Bob.

Though we've never had a conversation about our portable operation/setup, 
we are very similar.....no QRP here though........not enough patience in 
these old bones.

I use a slingshot/fishing reel arrangement instead of a fishing pole. I 
too  use the egg shaped sinker, though not sure if it is 1 or 2 oz. The 
reel is a Zebco 202, taped to the slingshot handle, with about 300' of 6lb 
(maybe 8 lb???) test line on it. Going up and over trees that are close to 
90' high is not a problem. Wrapping a bit of white tape around the sinker 
makes finding it when it comes down the other side of the tree a snap. 
Used to take me forever to find that little gray thing before I learned 
that little trick. For anyone thinking of trying this, another important 
tip is to cut off the sinker after tying the string to the fishing line 
before starting to reel it up and over the tree. If the sinker is left on 
it tends to get snagged. In fact I would say a snag is a 50-50 probability 
if the sinker is left on and a 1 in 10 shot or less of the sinker is cut 
off.

I put white tape on my feed line at the 20', 40', 60', 70' and 80' points 
to get an idea on the height of the feed point, (informational purposes 
only). My 20 meter antenna is usually in the 70' range. I put up a 40 
meter cut to the CW portion that usually gets to the 60' range. The 40 M 
cut to phone is installed as an inverted V with the center also in the 60' 
range. The 80 meter (cut closer to CW than Phone) gets to about 50', as 
does the 160' M.  All antenna's are dipoles. The trees around cabin #1 in 
Prince Gallitzin are extremely friendly for antenna installation so the 
dipoles are substantially flat and straight. And I usually get a chance to 
show one or two interested parties what I'm doing. This  year the guy in 
cabin #2 thanked me (on Sunday) for  putting up the antennas because his 
cell phone worked this year from the cabin. I thanked him for the 
compliment but told him if his cell was working better it was probably due 
to atmospherics, not my antennas. I am about 50 feet from Glendale lake 
and I often wonder if the water has any (positive) impact on the 
radiation. I know about salt water conductivity from my Navy days. I guess 
fresh water is better than ground. But given that the antenna's are not 
directly over the water, I don't know if it has any impact or 
not..........anyone have input on that?

The string I use to hold the antenna's up is a waxed cord that I get from 
a contact that works in the telephone business. It is very light and easy 
to pull up and over the tree with the 6lb test fishing line, though a snag 
does happen now and then. 

I could not agree more that antenna's are key to portable/rover operations 
(any operation for that matter), and probably more so to a QRP station.

My computer is an old Dell optiplex (5100 I think) that I just upgraded to 
WIN98 and added a 7 gig HD.......we're cooking now.

73
Ed/WA3SES