QRP - Houseboat Mobile

For a few days at the end of June we had a family houseboat vacation.

It's been several years since I've operated houseboat mobile. The first was in 1992 operating on Shuswap Lake, BC using a Heathkit HW9 and Hustler Mobile whip antenna.

The second time was in July 1995 operating on Lake Roosevelt, WA using the same HW-9 but with an endfed wire antenna.

This time we were in Voyageurs National Park on the northern Minnesota / Canadian border. I used my KX3 and twin lead fed 20 meter zepp.

For the antenna support I had one of my 16' crappie poles strapped to the upper deck railing. My antenna is 34' long with a 14' feedline. With this support it formed an inverted V sort of antenna with the far end dangling off the end of the boat...a prime example of "any antenna beats none at all". I did manage some QSOs, though, working WG0AT, N6TEM, VE3TLO and KD8DEU.

I had hoped to get on a little for Field Day but June weather in the Upper Midwest tends to be a little unsettled. This June was no exception. On Saturday June 25 we had thunder storms in both the morning and the evening plus we were under a tornado watch that evening.

One last visit to the Park

Yesterday it was sunny and the temperature reached 70 degrees, almost 20 degrees above normal for this time of year. Looking at the forecast it looked like this might be one last warm day until next spring. I felt a picnic table calling my name.

Beth picked up lunch at our local KFC while I set up my KX3 and 20 meter zepp at Silver Lake Park here in Rochester. The Reverse Beacon Network showed that conditions were not that good. Only one skimmer gave me a two digit signal report. After going through the effort of setting up I went ahead and called CQ.

The couple of hours on the air/eating lunch/enjoying the weather and company netted me three contacts, about average for me on one of these local QRPxpeditions: WB3AAI/4 / Florida, KF4CLO / Texas and KC2ICA / New York. QSB up and down was the norm for the day. It was neat, though, that KC2ICA was running only 1 watt to a random length wire. That was just 28 miles short of 1000 miles per watt.

Time now to crank up the heat a little and switch over to winter operating ... Boat Anchors in the Basement.

Travels with a KX3

Big Bay State Park,
Madeline Island, WI

Beth and I have just returned from a short excursion to Wisconsin. We spent a couple of nights on Madeline Island, the largest of the Apostle Islands on Lake Superior and a long weekend near

Bukolt Park
Stevens Point, WI

Stevens Point in central Wisconsin. Of course my KX3 bag was one of the first things in the car.

My operating style is never highly competitive ... I find a picnic spot with a handy tree  (and, maybe, a good view), setup and then call CQ while checking the reverse beacon network to see if anyone might hear me. During this trip I was on both 20 and 30 meter CW working both coasts and as far south as MO. Along the way I also got to talk about ham radio to curious passers-by that happened to notice the wire in the tree and the techie looking gizmo on the table.

Spring 2015 in the Park

It is warming up nicely here in SE Minnesota and the city parks are finally open. Yesterday I took my KX3 along with my 20 meter end fed zepp to Essex park here in Rochester. I didn't have a lot of action but both QSOs were neat. I finally had to QRT when the high school kids started showing up for prom photos and it looked like I might be in the background.

My first QSO was with NM5S in the Magdalena Mountains of New Mexico. He was operating SOTA (Summits on the Air). I've activited a couple of summits but no 10 pointers like Alan was yesterday. Later this summer I'll probably find a summit or two to activate myself.

My second QSO was with N1SZO. Rod was running 170mW using a

Rockmite transceiver and a 1/2 wave vertical. He was almost 100% copy here in MN, that's 5600 miles per watt!

I'm looking forward to more QRP outings to the park but next time I'll pack along a Coke and the BBQ grill so that I can make a day of it.

New Paddle for my KX3

The homebrew paddle that I pack with my KX3 is durable but weighs in at 2.2 lbs, a heavy weight by any standard. I finally looked around for a lighter weight replacement and found the Palm Pico Paddle. At only 1 oz this one will certainly pack easier. I've now had a few QSOs with it and I couldn't be happier. This one works fine and will pack along on my next hike a lot easier.

The Pico Paddle comes with a magnetic base and a cord for connecting to the KX3. The size is perfect for the right hand side on the KX3, fitting just below the right hand endplate mounting screws and above the antenna connectors. Elecraft does recommend a right angle plug. I found one at Radio Shack. Palm Radio offers a steel KX3 endplate that works with the magnetic mount, but not one with handles. Instead I ordered a piece of steel that sticks on the KX3 endplate to provide something the Pico Paddle magnetic mount will stick to.

I wondered about using the Pico Paddle stand alone. It is a little small for sitting by itself on the desk but I found that the magnetic mount works great with a blank steel electrical box cover.

Phil Moorey has a good suggestion:

You might want to hot glue a piece of metal to a plastic sheet about 5" by 6". You can use the plastic as a clipboard for notes and the weight of your hand secures it when sending. A couple of rubber feet helps prevent sliding on a flat surface. I have been doing this for years.

Addendum, Feb 6, 2014
After seeing Phil's suggestion above I was motivated to return to my local big box hardware store in search of a different stand alone base plate. This was to be used only in the shack so weight was not a big issue. What I found in the plumbing department was a 5"x8" 16 gauge "Steel Safety Plate". I then located soft rubber non-skid "Gripper Pads" designed to stick on the bottom of table legs to keep them from moving. I now have a base for my Pico Paddle that works great at the shack operating position.

Addendum, Apr 21, 2014
The only problem I have is that I tend to be heavy handed enough that I can loosen the paddle from the KX3 when it is set up with the magnet on the side. For me I'll probably leave the magnet on the bottom and pack along a piece of flat metal (like a 3 1/8"  x 7" steel joist tie plate) to use as a base out in the field. 

Straight Key Night

Last night and today was the ARRL Straight Key Night . This 24-hour event (00:00-23:59  GMT, January 1) is not a contest; but a day to get on the air and simply make enjoyable, conversational CW QSOs. There are no points scored. Hand sent CW (either straight keys or bugs) is preferred and, in fact, helps identify those in the event. SKN certainly fits my operating style.

I did need to wire up a cable to plug a straight key in to my KX3 but, with that, I was on the air. 20 seemed to be fairly active this afternoon. Running my usual 5 watts I got a 589 from WA9ZWA, Terre Haute, IN, a 559 from W2LG, Leesburg, FL and a 599 from AE1T, Plymouth, NH.  No DX but with the outside temperature hovering around zero today it made for a relaxing time in the basement with my radios.

KX3 Filter Settings for SSB, CW and Data

While setting up for the AWA '29 QSO Party I started playing more with the KX3 filtering and audio response....mostly because 80 meters seemed particularly noisy that night. I found something that really helped me see the interaction of the various receive selectivity options: Rcv Audio Equalization, Notch, APF, Data/RTTY mode, Passband Width, Passband Shift and Passband Hi/Low Cut.

I downloaded DigiPan from http://www.digipan.net/ (Freeware) onto my laptop, not for the PSK31 function but for the waterfall. I then configured DigiPan to use my laptop built-in mic as the audio input/source. With my laptop sitting next to my KX3 I tuned to a unpopulated but white noisy frequency. This may require the preamp to be turned on. While watching the white noise on the DigiPan waterfall I tweaked the various filter settings. The white noise waterfall display changes to reflect the filter settings, clearly showing me the impact of what I was doing. SSB, CW and data signals can even be tuned in and viewed as the various selectivity options are changed. The KX3 CWT Aid and the Filter Passband Graphic show some of this but not to the detail of the DigiPan waterfall.

For example here's a sample waterfall showing the impact of narrowing the KX3 bandwidth setting followed by adding the Audio Peak Filter (APF). The horizontal scale is frequency (in Hz) and time is the vertical scale.  The CW signal of interest is the yellow streak at 520Hz. Interference is the yellow (stronger) and blue (weaker) around the 520Hz signal.

Boots for a KX3

I finally got the relay box finished so that I can use my grounded grid 572B amplifier with my KX3. On receive it bypasses the amplifier and delivers -100VDC cutoff bias. On transmit the 572B grid is grounded and the KX3 output is routed through the amplifier.

Lacking a triple pole-double throw relay I used a double pole-double throw relay to transfer the antenna and a single pole-double throw relay to switch the cutoff grid bias. The two relays run off of 12 VDC but together require about 1/2 amp, way more than the KX3 Keyline Out line can handle. A "Keyall" board from Jackson Harbor Press/WB9KZY solved that problem. Ideally I would have used a single transformer that delivered 12VAC and 100VAC for the two supplies. Lacking the ideal I used back to back 12V transformers. One toggle switch was added to allow manual send/receive control without the Keyline Out signal from my KX3. Another toggle switch was needed to power on/off the 12V/100V power supply.

When I use the relay box and my amp, the KX3 antenna tuner has to stay in the circuit in order to match the transceiver to the uncontrolled input impedance of the amplifier. In addition the antenna relay can not follow break-in CW keying without losing the first dit so I must use the KX3 in PTT mode. On the plus side I run about 80 watts to the antenna instead of 4, maybe not a big deal for CW but real help for SSB.

A Nice Day in Minnesota

Today, with nice weather and nothing on the calendar,

Beth and I headed for Frontenac State Park, one of my favorite places for picnic table QRP. The picnic area at Frontenac sits on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi. The view is great, the trees are plentiful and there's nothing to get in the way of my signal.

SOTA Trip to Steptoe Butte

On Sunday, August 4, I went a little beyond my regular picnic table QRP sort of laid back operating. With some spare time while visiting in eastern Washington, I decided to do a SOTA activation of Steptoe Butte.

Summits On The Air is an award scheme for radio amateurs and shortwave listeners that encourages portable operation in mountainous areas. See http://www.sota.org.uk . Basically "Activators" operating from mountain summits and "Chasers" both get credit towards awards.

Steptoe Butte rises about 1000 ft above the Palouse farm country. Located 50 miles south of Spokane, WA. it is within sight of Idaho. It is a state park with easy access to the summit.

As a SOTA activator I hiked the last feet to the summit and then set up my KX3 at the edge of the Steptoe Butte summit overlook. There are no trees on the summit so I strapped my 18' crappie pole to a rock pedestal, using it to support the high point of my 20 mtr end fed zepp.

I had posted to the SOTAwatch2 database an announcement of my intention to activate Steptoe Butte. My first CQ was picked up by the Reverse Beacon Network, compared to SOTA database and an activation spot automatically posted to the same SOTAwatch2 database. Instantly any SOTA chaster knew my frequency and operating status. I'm used to calling CQ for a while and getting one or, at most, two responses...suddenly it felt like I had a pileup to work, unfortunately I've no practice working pileups. In less than two hours I did work 15 stations in 9 states but I could have done better.

Notes to self for the next time:
- Copy directly to a log sheet rather than my QSO pad
- Avoid using my cellphone clock requiring me to punch it to get the current time
- Narrow selectivity first
- Use RIT to tune through the pileup for calls

and, a related safety item:
- If the antenna is within easy reach of curious public, hang a "Do Not Touch" note on it.

Hopefully next time I won't leave so many chasers without a QSO.

It's not quite Spring in Minnesota

Last week Beth had an all day conference scheduled in the cities. I had the day free so this sounded like a great opportunity for some QRP in a different park.

Plans are made to be changed. The night before Beth's conference we got over 6" of snow and the temperature was forecast to be in the mid 30s. In the past I have participated in the FYBO QSO party but I wasn't planning on it this year. Where might I operate my KX3 from while staying warm and dry?

Eventually I thought of the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting. Located in St Louis Park, just west of
downtown Minneapolis, it is home to a great collection of antique radio, television and broadcasting equipment. It also includes a ham radio club, W0OEP, built around two Collins stations. On Friday I was more interested in the beam outside.

Steve Raymer, the museum curator, helped me get my KX3 plugged into the club yagi and I was on the air, warm and dry: a good combination for a cold snowy day in Minnesota. 20 mtr CW QSOs included VE3OF in Ontario and KK4BOB in Florida. Operating time was interrupted a couple of time, once while Steve demonstrated the museum spark transmitter and the other for a museum guided tour.

Phased C-Pole Antennas for some Gain

How many times have we seen 18 wheelers with CB verticals mounted on their mirrors? Doing this, truckers add a little gain on 11 mtrs. With proper spacing this works even better on 20 meters.

Today was a sunny day here in SE MN. The temperature was in the low 70s and there was no sign of rain. It was a great day to meet Rodney, KD0EBT, and Steve, KD0ORM, for a little KX3 time at Rochester's Essex Park. My August 23, 2010 blog post proposing that two C-Poles be fed in phase is based on information in the ARRL Antenna Handbook. Information there states that two verticals fed in phase and spaced 5/8 wavelengths apart exhibit almost 5dB gain over a single vertical. My experiments today seem to confirm this information.

I already have one self supporting 20 mtr C-Pole antenna. I built a second 20 mtr C-Pole. This one hangs from a tree limb like W5USJ 's. A little searching around Essex Pack identified a tree with some open space to the south. I merely hung one C-Pole in that tree and set my self supporting C-Pole about 44' (5/8 wavelength on 14.1 MHz) to the south. This put the two broadside to the east/west. I fed each of the antennas with 50' lengths of LMR-400 low loss coax. At the rig I had a short coax jumper to a tee, connecting my KX3 to both antennas. I let the KX3 internal turner take care of any mismatch caused by driving the two 50 ohm C-Poles in parallel. Measurements using the Reverse Beacon Network showed that these two C-Poles fed in phase and spaced 5/8 wavelength apart really can have 5 dB gain over a single C-Pole.

Now I've another portable antenna option for those days in the park.

CQs on a Quiet Band and KX3 Trolling Mode

Today it was great weather here in SE Minnesota for getting outside (and it was even a lazy Sunday afternoon!). Beth agreed and she also needed a little time to finish some reading before a Book Club meeting. We packed up a lunch and headed for Bear Creek Park here in Rochester.

Bear Creek Park has restrooms, picnic tables and plenty of tall (but not too tall) shade trees. While not on a hill, it is also not in a hole or valley. It works pretty well for an afternoon QRP outing. In short order Beth and I repositioned a table for shade and antenna.

When I flipped on my KX3 I was not impressed with band conditions. Across 20 mtrs I heard very few signals. I had thought I may try out KX3 / SSB by checking into the Elecraft net on 14303.5 KHz but I didn't bother trying. I moved down to around 14060, the 20 mtr QRP CW frequency, checked the frequency with a few "QRL?"s and then tried a CQ...still no luck. At this point I considered pulling out my own book and calling it a nice day for reading in the park. Chalk one up for solar cycle 24. I'm glad I reconsidered.

The KX3 does have what I call trolling mode. It can be set to send a canned message (such as a CQ), wait a programmable number on seconds, and then repeat the message. During the wait time RIT can be used to tune around for calls. The message buffer can be loaded using paddles but the easiest and most reliable method is to use the KX3 utility provided by Elecraft.

After a few minutes in KX3 trolling mode W5ESE, Scott, in Dripping Springs, TX came back to me. We had a fine QSO discussing the Flight of the Bumblebees QRP contest and central Texas. After wrapping up with Scott a short CQ netted a nice QSO with VE3/W8FIB. Tom was taking a break from fishing and running 3 watts using his K1. According to his grid square location his fishing spot is about 30 miles SW of North Bay, Ontario.

Two nice QSOs and a nice couple of hours in the park ... Don't be afraid to call CQ in a quiet band.

Back Home

Beth and I just returned from a 5100 mile road trip. My KX3 went along. Even with hot weather and family obligations I managed a few picnic table QRP QSOs.

One of our first stops was Pratt, KS. With 4 hours of free time I asked around for the local park. Lemon Park has lots of trees, shade and tables...prefect for my afternoon. I had nice QSOs with K5KW on 40 and W7LXN on 30

Another stop was Pullman, WA. Here I had an afternoon in Sunnyside Park. I set up next to a walking trail and the frizbee golf course so I had a couple of eyeball QSOs in addition to the ham radio ones. From here I worked KC4ZPB, W9CC and VE3XY, all on 20 CW.

My KX3 running 5 watts CW feeding a 20 mtr endfed zepp continues to be a fun traveling companion.

Update on Another Portable Antenna

I'm pretty happy with my new end fed antenna. Using it Friday evening through yesterday afternoon I've worked NM, PA and OH on 20 and OH and TX on 30. All on CW from my back deck and 5 watt KX3. While not foreign DX, the contacts have been easy to make. Most answered my CQs. Keep in mind also that most of this time band conditions were poor because of a solar flare/storm.

This one is replacing the 58' wire in my KX3 travel bag.

Another Portable Antenna

Tonight I got on the air with my latest endfed wire and had good success working both New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

I've been concerned about running a non-resonant endfed 58' wire with a single counterpoise laying on the ground. It sort of felt like an off center fed windom with half of the antenna on the ground.

I put together a 20 mtr end fed zepp (14'3" of TV twin lead with the hot side feeding 33'3' of wire) and arranged it as a sloper with the KX3/feedpoint on my deck about 8' off the ground, the twin lead/wire connection about 20' off the ground,  and the far end of the antenna about 1' off the ground. Now the ground side of the antenna system is up in the air rather then laying on the ground. It seems to work pretty good on 20 and as a bonus the KXAT3 antenna tuner can also load it up on 40, 30, 17 and 10. (Not the most efficient radiator on these "bonus" bands but if I can make contacts it is good enough). The reverse beacon system at http://www.reversebeacon.net says I'm getting out.

Besides set up as a sloper (more or less) this antenna can be deployed as an inverted V, an inverted L or a vertical...mostly how ever is convenient to get some part of it up in the air. The 33' 3"portion of mine is Radio Shack insulated 18 gauge stranded copper wire. It runs over tree limbs just fine. Unfortunately Radio Shack no longer sells the light weight twin lead that I used...but any twin lead or ladder line will work but the 14'3"length will need to be adjusted depending on the twin lead velocity factor.

(Just an additional note....where did 33'3" and 14'3" come from?
What I have is a 20mtr EFHW with a quarter wave matching section. At 14.060 MHz a EFHW is 468/14.060 or 33.3'. Even the KX3 ATU can't match this 33'3" wire directly, it is too high of an impedance. The quarter wave matching section transforms the high impedance feedpoint of the EFHW to a lower impedance that the KX3 can handle. At 14.060MHz a quarter wave is 246/14.060 or 17'6". Assuming a velocity factor of 80% gets the length to 14'3". )

(Something else, the  KXAT3/tuner is still needed, even on 20. Nothing's perfect and the twin lead quarter wave matching section can only be said to transform high impedance to low impedance. How high and how low changes with how/where this antenna is deployed. The KXAT3/tuner covers the variable.)

KX3 and a Boat Anchor Amp

A year ago, in a rare foreshadowing of radios to come, I acquired a linear amplifier built around a single 572B running grounded grid. It matched my Central Electronics 20A and the seller
had done really nice job of replacing the four original/modified 1625s in the P&H Electronics LA-400B with a 572B.

Now, seeing it in my shack, I realize that I have a potential May-December wedding here. Sure enough, my KX3 with KXAT3 easily drives the 572B to 100 watts out. The next step is to build a relay box that bypasses the amplifier and delivers -100VDC cutoff bias on receive. It can be controlled via the KX3 Keyline Out signal and a "Keyall" board from Jackson Harbor Press/WB9KZY.

At 35 pounds this one will be a heavy weight. I doubt it will see any picnic table operating but it will certainly help warm up the shack next winter.

New KX3 QSL Card

It's a new "QRP in the Park" season and I have a new rig. I need a new QSL card.

My new card, using Walmart digital photo printing and 3.3"x4" Avery shipping labels, costs about $.30 each in single quantities. This is a great match for my operating style. Rarely do I get on the air and work 100s (or even 10s) of hams in a short time. It would take me forever to work through 100 or more pre-printed QSL cards. This way I can make up QSL cards 5-10 at a time and easily update them without throwing out a bunch of unused cards.

Interested in doing the same? See my January 2, 2010 blog entry.

KX3 in Silver Lake Park

Today the weather finally turned warm, sunny and dry. It was also Mother's Day, a good reason to avoid the restaurants for a picnic in the park. I did get a chance, though, before the picnic to practice my favorite operating pastime. I found several signals on 20 mtr CW. Gary, K5ON, answered my CQ. We had a great QSO. The KX3 again performed great....love that roofing filter.

Packing my Elecraft KX3 for a trip

I'm getting ready for summer trips and outings with my Elecraft KX3. I found a the right size padded bag at Goodwill for $3.00. See my video at  KX3PicnicTableQRPPack