Contact made

 First Contact

Well, first contact on HF.  Today there was a HIP get together here for the Be-HIP group I have been involved with.  I took out my gear and totally figured I'd do something and that I would not have everything I need even though I thought I did.  And I was definitely not prepared.   I didn't bring a chair which made it hard to be in the shade...shoot, I didn't bring shade either which I could do and will do in the future.   So I found a table that I figured would get some shade eventually and tried to set things up.  And as I progressed, I got hot...and so did my gear to the point where I wasn't feeling well and I called it.  I packed up my stuff and ended up just talking with the others for a bit more before heading home.

So what did I learn from that.  Bring more water, shade, and a chair.  The city parks are also more restrictive in what you can do.  An prime example is you can't put anything into the ground.  There are trees to use and depending on where we are I can easily make use of my antenna mast and run the wire across to a tree.  I have a tire flagpole stand to help with this.  I'm actually using this in the background for my mast right now.  You can put weight on it or just drive over it and let the weight of your car hold it in place.  So I think next time I'm going to bring shade that can go over the back of my car and beyond so I can sit and stay cooler if it is hot.  I also learned that I should finish getting my nanovna settings all setup and saved.  I have most of them there but I missed a couple and that slowed me down in the heat to figure out what needed to be changed where.  I also had not used the tuner before nor my FT-840 really so I was struggling to figure out how to test my antenna.

When I got home I went directly into my back yard and started setting things up there.   For this I didn't start with my home made antennas like I was trying to do earlier today, I started with my Xtenna EFHW.  I hung the balun from my tree and ran the wire out towards a trampoline we have.   I used the flagpole stand and slid it under the trampoline and I was off.  The next step was to test the SWR on my antenna and get the length where it needs to be.  When you get them, or even when you make them, you start long..it is easier to cut then to add.  So when I started it was off the chart.  I was looking at 20m as that is good day and night right now.   

After about 6 or 7 attempts where I cut a few feet off the wire I got it down to below 1.5 and since I was hot and raising and lowering the wire was a pain in the arse I asked google for validation and it came back and said it was fantastic.  (Don't trust Google, but it does help).   That was at about 1pm.  I pulled the NanoVNA from the wire and hooked the wire up to my tuner which was already connected to my radio.  I did the tune process which I think I did right and then I started hunting.  

I just started using a program called Ham2k Power Logger (Next).  I've had it installed on my phone but I watched a Youtube video yesterday talking about the new version and using it on a Mac.  So I fired that up after firing up flrig which I seem to need for this FT-840.  I also had wsjtx running didn't look at it.  

About 20 mins later I made my first contact.  I had been looking at different frequencies for a while.  Power Logger will show recent spottings so you can see that a specific callsign was just seen on a specific frequency.  It gives you a bunch more info like the POTA information.  You can click on it and it will automatically tune your radio (if you have all of that setup which I do).  So I was jumping around checking different spots.  I was able to hear a few different people in places like Montana, Washington, and Texas some of which were quite loud and clear.  But I was also seeing some of them fading in and out.    But this guy was one that was loud and clear coming out of Texas.  This guy was doing a POTA activation out of Austin State Park and I was able to make clear contact with him.  

I made a couple more contacts over the next 30 minutes give or take before deciding I was sweating too much and it was time to take a break.  I'll leave the antenna up for now so I can plug things in easily tonight and/or tomorrow.  Evening will open up 40m which will be interesting to see if I get anything.

For my testing I just used a tv tray stand and had my radio, tuner, and laptop on it with my battery on the ground.

The Xtenna balun is hanging in that tree.

And you can see my mast there. 

So that is it for now.  It's time to throw my trunks on and hop in the pool

Where my contacts were today.

Ivan

TGIF - Choke and a New Radio

 

I still need to test it, but I made it.  RG8X cable, a couple PL-259 connectors, and a F240-31 Toroid. The 240 is the overall diameter of the core and the 31 is the material type.  This seems to be the right type to get based on various sources so I went with it.  I got these from Palomar Engineers who seem to have a good reputation.  There are a lot of ways to make a choke.  I went with this because I didn't want a box and I had the materials.  I have a couple more toroids so I'm going to make a couple more with various methods.  The general recommendation is at least one choke so this is what I figured I'd start with.  Like I said, I still need to test this to see if I built it right and also how well it works.  This will be one of my portable ones.  I'll build one into a box for my permanent installation at home.  

The other thing I want to point out is figuring out what connectors you want to use.  I went with the PL-259's and probably should have gone with one male and one female.  It really depends on where you are going to put the choke.  Most of the premade antennas like the EFHW types you can get like the one I got from Xtenna make use of bnc connections on the antenna.  My coax that I got came with PL-259 on both ends but it also came with a PL-259 to BNC adapter so I can plug that right into the antenna.  But if I want to put the choke there, I would want PL-259 to BNC ideally to reduce the amount of adapters needed.  If I want to put it right off my radio, then Female to Male PL-259 would be what I need.  But I only had the parts I used at this time.  I'll keep adding to my parts inventory and the next one will be different.

Basic Instructions for wrapping the toroid

Take 3-4 feet of RG-8X coax and make sure you leave about the same amount on each end so you can attach the connectors
Pull some of the coax through the center of the toroid and using a zip tie, secure it to the toroid.  Make sure you don't make it too tight.  That is one thing you want to make sure, don't pull too hard when you are wrapping especially if you are using thinner cable as you don't want to damage the cable itself.  You want it snug.
Wind the cable around the toroid 6 times counter-clockwise then cross over and wrap the opposite direction clockwise until you get back to where you started leaving you with a total of 12 turns.
Use another zip tie to secure the exit from the toroid.
Finish the ends of the RG-8X line with your PL-259 connectors.

KG-XS20H

Today my newest radio showed up.  A Wouxun KG-XS20H.  This is going to be my portable 2m/1.25m/70cm radio that will go between my car and my bag when I travel.  For example, I'm heading out of town soon for work and I plan on taking this with me.

This one is small.  2.16 in × 4.72 in × 4.7 in (55 mm × 120 mm × 119.5 mm).  Basically fits in your hand.  So it is perfect for travel.  It will 144–148 MHz (2m), 222–225 MHz (1.25m), and 420–450 MHz (70cm) with up to 20w of power.  That should be more than enough for a mobile radio.  

It has its own programming software that also has a Mac version so that was nice.  It is easy to use and is similar to Chirp (and probably most other programming software out there).  I had already staged all my local channels as well as those for the 2 locations I'll be traveling to this year.  Super easy.  The only thing that was annoying is it has a voice that talks to you telling you the channel and other nonsense and a beep both of which were extremely annoying to me.  Through the menu they were easy to turn off.  The one thing that annoyed me about this is that every time I upload the config from the software it resets those items and I can't find where I can set that in the software.    Also, this thing can be powered by a laptop power supply brick.  

Bioenno Power

Last but not least, my batter showed up.  This will be the first of two that I will ultimately have. This is a 12V 20Ah 240 Watt-hours that supports 20A Max continuous/40A Max Peak.  This should be more than enough to handle my POTA setup.   I completely forgot to make sure I had the connectors and wire to go from it to my radio.  I have what I need in my list for a go box but don't think I ordered anything.  Quick look and I have all but one thing and that is easy to get so no worries there. 

Anyways, tomorrow the local Be-HIP group that I joined will be going out to one of the local parks to get on the air.  (HIP = Hams In Park) Similar to POTA except it is in local parks and just for fun and education...which I need.   I'll be sure to take some pictures of whatever monstrosity I end up doing.  Hopefully I'll be successful and make a contact or two.  If not, there is always another day.  

Sunday is my birthday so I'll definitely be setting something up in the backyard to play.  I definitely have everything I need to do that.  

That's it for now.