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Posted by: John AE5X Posted On: 03/17/08 Subject: Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: QRP-ARCI HF GRID SQUARE SPRINT Message Posted: In Reply to: ANNOUNCEMENT: QRP-ARCI HF GRID SQUARE SPRINT posted by Jeff / VA3JFF on 03/14/08 I’ve been coming to Oklahoma on business trips for almost 14 years now but have never explored a part of the state I always drive through on the way here – the Arbuckle Mountains, so I decided to let the contest and a new camera serve as dual inspiration to see a new part of the state. The weekend before the contest, I drove to the area to scout good antenna locations and take a few photos. The area I settled on overlooks the Washita River and is in Grid Square EM14. Plenty of trees were available to serve as antenna supports and everything else fit in an old laptop case: KX1, built-in 1800 mAH LiPo battery pack, paddles, earphones, BNC-banana jack adapter and wire for the antenna. If the contest had lasted longer than three hours I probably would have taken more time to put up a better antenna but with such a brief contest time, I just kept it simple with a 20m ground plane made by hauling a 17-foot wire up and over a tree branch around twenty feet high. At the bottom of this wire (three feet from the ground), I attached the feed insulator, two ground wires and a short length of 300-ohm feedline. The KX1’s tuner had no problem tuning this antenna on either 20 or 30 meters but the SWR on 40m was 3:1. As it turns out, I only heard one station on 40m anyway. Everything was set and ready to go only two minutes before the contest started. I stuck to 20 meters for almost the entire contest. The one exception was K9FO who I worked on 40m. For the first five stations I worked, I was more QRP than I intended to be as I forget to switch to the KX1 bottom that has the LiPo battery installed. Instead I was using six half-dead AA batteries with the KX1’s original bottom case. The flashing “LoBat” LED reminded me to put the other battery case on. There was a good amount of activity throughout the contest and I worked a lot of familiar calls. Highlights were being called by Paul AA4XX/M for a second grid and by Martin VA3SIE/PM who I imagined was walking around somewhere in Ontario with a ground wire trailing behind him with maybe some haggis or humus to chow down on (that’s an inside joke!). I had heard and called Martin earlier in the contest but he was not able to hear me. Fortunately conditions improved over time. I ended up working 19 stations and have yet to count the grids. The weather here in Oklahoma could not have been better. The combination of blue skies, 68 degree temps and a radio contest will get me out there every time. Thanks to QRP ARCI for sponsoring this short but fun event.
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