http:\/\/w4kaz.com\/images\/fd2018\/<\/a><\/p>\nFor 2018 I took exit ramp #3, and went with the backup backup plan.\u00c2\u00a0 Operated 1B at a campground near Wilmington NC.\u00c2\u00a0 A nice easy drive, with a couple of easy on\/off stops along the way to stretch out the body parts complaining loudest.\u00c2\u00a0 That made the drive tolerable.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Also made it into a mini-escape, leaving home QTH on Thursday with a return on Monday morning.<\/p>\n
Weather conditions[i.e., heat] soon had me thinking I’d have been better off in the VA mountains, but after acclimatizing to “swamp butt” conditions, it was fine.\u00c2\u00a0 When I sweat enough to remind me of living on the South coast – its pretty darn sticky.\u00c2\u00a0 Usually not quite so bad in NC, but it happens enough to know to be prepared.\u00c2\u00a0 Lots of water and gatorade.\u00c2\u00a0 Thursday afternoon was the worst of it though.<\/p>\n
Friday morning was spent doing a bit of unrelated recon.\u00c2\u00a0 Friday afternoon I laid out the antennas and supports, and some more unrelated area wide explorations.\u00c2\u00a0 WX on Saturday dryed out some, and there was a nice breeze that picked up from the start of operations though early evening.\u00c2\u00a0 Never a drop of rain, just temps and humidity in the 90’s.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like being back in good ole Bigg Swampy(SE Louisiana).<\/p>\n
Antennas:<\/h5>\n
2018 was a time to test some antenna ideas.\u00c2\u00a0 I built a 2 band triangular yagi for 20m\/15m, based on article by Herb,N4HA as published in June 2018 QST.\u00c2\u00a0 I kept to the published dimensions(mostly) but fashioned the driven element(s) from 300ohm ladder line.\u00c2\u00a0 For supports I used a mast from Henry, K4TMC as the support for the drive element\/apex.\u00c2\u00a0 The tails sloped down to connect to the reflectors, and those ends were supported by 2 masts cobbled together by combining a Shakespeare Wonderpole on top of a section of 4 foot mil surplus mast.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Simple, and easier than I expected.\u00c2\u00a0 This antenna was fed with 300 ohm ladder line run to a tuner rather than coax.<\/p>\n
40m was a simple inverted Vee supported by a Spiderbeam 12m telescoping mast.\u00c2\u00a0 Note: Simple does not mean “easy”.<\/p>\n
10m was an afterthought.\u00c2\u00a0 After struggling with the 40m dipole-that-wouldn’t, I had a relaxing breakfast and gave some thought to 10m.\u00c2\u00a0 Had plenty of time, so may as well.\u00c2\u00a0 To get on 10m I made a dipole by cutting a couple of equal 8.5 foot lengths of wire and constructed a “FD style” center insulator from a pair of cable ties taped together.\u00c2\u00a0 Used a “composite” feedline – a ladderline drop to a 1:1 unun and a short coax run into the tent.\u00c2\u00a0 I had a length of ladder line about 25 feet long so the 10m dipole was up about 23 feet.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 At the end of the ladder line at ground level I plugged the ladder line into a 1:1 unun, and ran the last 30 feet or so into the station with coax.\u00c2\u00a0 From start to finish this antenna took about 30 minutes to put up, including cutting legs and twisting it all together.<\/p>\n
No antenna at all on 80m.\u00c2\u00a0 Decided I’d have enough business on 20m & 40m to keep occupied, and figured on sleep rather than a night of 80m T-storm QRN.\u00c2\u00a0 \ud83d\ude2e<\/p>\n
Now, about that 40m Vee.\u00c2\u00a0 The antenna that would NOT.\u00c2\u00a0 Still not certain where the problem was, but it had an issue in one of the feedlines somewhere[update-think one of the legs has broken wire].\u00c2\u00a0 Far too much time was wasted raising and lowering the antenna trying to debug the issue.\u00c2\u00a0 Lesson1: Always have an alternative.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Lesson2:\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t dick around debugging when you have the alternative at hand ready to go.\u00c2\u00a0 Lesson3: Save debugging for down time.\u00c2\u00a0 Lesson4:\u00c2\u00a0 Read Lesson1 and Lesson2 until they really sink in.<\/p>\n
Operating:<\/h5>\n
Once the CQ’s started, there were plenty of QSO’s to log.\u00c2\u00a0 Saturday was a bit slow at first, but I got a better rhythm in the evening.\u00c2\u00a0 Was tired though, and sacked early, including a 45 minute nap at 5pm in the nice cool breeze that came up.\u00c2\u00a0 Also got up early Sunday, 5am-ish. \u00c2\u00a0 Sunday morning was quite a bit of fun, right up until my keyer interface died around 11am.\u00c2\u00a0 So I finished the event with a bit of lackadaisical SSB, mostly S&P.<\/p>\n
Camp:<\/h5>\n
The Cabelas tent goes up easily.\u00c2\u00a0 My only regret is not getting one of the larger sizes.\u00c2\u00a0 It has room for setting up a table for the station and also for a cot along the opposite side.\u00c2\u00a0 But it is a bit cramped.\u00c2\u00a0 Next time I do this I think I will use a screen tent for the station and the tent just for snoozing\/bad wx.\u00c2\u00a0 Also, the ideal site would allow for the tent to use an overhead spike support and avoid the need for the center pole.<\/p>\n
Overall a big win.\u00c2\u00a0 Keeping the ants away…..the real challenge!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2018 FD W4KAZ at the beach. […]<\/p>\n
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