Family Fun on The Blackwater River

I finally had a chance to get out with the family and get some QRP/p operations today. I took a day of leave to hang out around the house and enjoy the day with my crew.

We started off the morning by sleeping in. The kids even joined in on this! Then we got up and went to our favorite restraunt for breakfast, Waffle House. After a good meal we made our way over to the grocery store to pick up some water and lettuce. Our plan was to make BLT's for our trip to the river today. Once we got home we went through the house and cleaned. I hate coming home from vacation or a family outing to a dirty house.

We loaded up the chairs, umbrellas, buckets, shovels and a ton of other stuff. Once everybody was ready we took off. I had to make a quick pit stop at Mickey's Pit Stop just north of Baker, Fl to get some trot line string, fishing hooks & bobbers and worms. The plan was to try some cane pole fishing while we were there today. After our detour we made our way up to "our spot". We call it our spot because it's a great location that I found one night while coon huntin. We have yet to have company at this location. The down side is that is is not the most accesible. While its not terrible, the road in is muddy with over hanging tree limbs. Even without rain the road is still a sloppy mess because its smack dab in the middle of the river bottom.

Once we arrived at our spot we started our setup and I took a quick oppurtunity to take a picture of Reba's truck. She hates when I we I get it muddied up!



My goal was to spend as much time as I could in and out of the water with the kids today and not on the radio. I wanted to make a few contacts if possible but not lose site of the fact that I was there to play in the water with the kids. We tried fishing but it was a bust. I don't think that Tyler came out of the water once (which may explain why we didn't catch any fish)!



Ann played hard the entire time. As she gets older she has become more aware of the camera, but I did manage to get a smile out of her.



As the afternoon wore on and the heat kicked it up a notch (97f & 42% humidity) everybody started to slow down. This was my chance to hook up my PFR-3 to the antenna (center fed 44' wire w/twin lead). As I was doing this I noticed that Ann had climbed in to the truck and was taking a nap. I couldn't resist taking a picture.



By the time I got on the air it was terrible hot. I managed one QSO and it was a tough one at that! Thanks to Barry WD4MSM in South Bend, IN for hanging in there with me! Here are some pathetic pictures of me operating. Forwarning, I dressed for the weather & river!









In the end I had a couple of "almost" QSO's with K3JK & N9EVP but my 5w signal was just not enough to get through to them. They both heard me and K3JK even sent a "barely cpy u". Oh well, I'll get them next time. What a great day to spend at the river with my family, and even get some QRP/p time in. Hope you enjoy, best of luck and 72!

Steve

101F & 81% Humidity!!!

The title of the post says it all! I have not had the desire to get out and do any QRP/p operations. The weather has been crazy hot with no relief in sight. It's odd even for NW Florida because we don't have this type of weather until late July time frame.

Field Day is this Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it. I will be joining the South Alabama Radio Club http://www.wc4m.net/. As of right now I will be the only CW operator. I plan on taking the night shift on Saturday night. This will allow for a nice and quiet time to operate. Plus I'll be able to hit 40 & 80 hard! One of the other benefits is that it won't be nearly as hot as during the daylight hours. I will have pictures and a full report to post once I get home on Sunday.

Both Mike KJ4LZD & John KJ4KRU are on the air! It's been great helping them setup their gear and hearing them enjoying the local repeaters. I have three other friends that I work with that are looking to take their exams here shortly. Furthermore my farther in law is almost ready to test! He lives in Oregon and I know from experience that some of the best repeater activity in the States is in the Willamette Valley, which is where is is located. 70-90 mile repeater contacts are normal in that area. I'll have a full report once we get him licensed.

Keep those radios one the air and hope to work you soon. 72

Steve

Rain...

I had planned on getting out and operating portable this weekend but it is raining. Not just a little but typical Florida rain. I had hoped to set up on Postal Point this weekend. PP is a park on base that has a swimming area, playground, horeshoe pit etc. The best part is that the water is salty which means a lot of fun with QRP and vertical antennas. Whenever the weather cooperates I'll head down there and try to make a few contacts.

Mike KJ4LZD is setting up his station this weekend. He will be using a Kenwood 2m tx and a copper J pole antenna. I hope to hear him on the local repeaters today.


Not much else to say right now, because not much is going on. Best of luck and 72.

Steve

Weekend Update

Mike and I went to the PARC (Ft. Walton Beach, FL) test session this past Saturday. Mike is a good friend of mine and a fellow Marine. I have talked to him about becoming an Amateur Radio Operator for a few months. About 3 weeks ago I gave him a testing date and study material and told him to get ready.

We met up at 0730 at the Waffle House to eat breakfast and drink some coffee. It was a good chance for him to ask any last minute questions that he had. We also had a great oppurtunity to talk about how crazy the last couple of weeks at work had been.

At 0830 Mike sat down and took his Technician exam. I took the oppurtunity to stand outside and B.S. with some of the Hams that I knew. About an hour later Mike came out of the exam smiling. Mike said he did well and that he passed.

Fast forward to yesterday. Mike and I looked him up in the database and sure enough there was his name and brand new call sign. KJ4LZD. I made a joke that I would now be calling him KJ4LZD "The Lizard". He got a chuckle out of that.

If you are in NW Florida keep your ear open for our newest ham. Good job Mike and now its time to get after learning the code!

Steve

Busy Part II

The last few weeks have been crazy. All I can say is that I am glad it's over. Between all of the prep that went into the memorial and the working groups this week I have not had anytime for HAM radio. I hope to put a stop to that ASAP.

If I'm not mistaken, Dayton is coming up shortly. I would love go and with a little luck I might be able to put something together. What an experience that would be.

I have not QA'd my PFR-3's BLT yet. I hope to get a chance to work on it this weekend. There may not be anything wrong, but my gut tells me that I did something wrong during the construction. The transmitter and receiver are working perfect which I am very happy about. I'll post more info shortly along with the test QSO's that I made with it on 20, 30 and 40m.

Tomorrow morning I am taking a friend of mine to the local test session. His name is Mike and with any luck he'll be a licensed ham tomorrow.

72 for now.

Steve

PFR-3 Complete!!!

I completed my PFR-3 last night. I will post some pictures and a report once I get the receiver aligned. I'm planning on doing it this evening. More to come...

Pictures below.

Steve

PFR-3 Build

Slow & steady is the best way to describe my build of the PFR-3 (http://www.qrpkits.com/pfr3.html). I am making good progress and am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I completed Group 3 (to include the Smoke Test) and half of Group 4 this evening. To finish up Group 4 I have 7 toroids to wind, tin and solder to the board.

Winding toroids does not scare me but, but it is tedious work. I use the Sierra build method of tinning the toroid leads. It is a different in that instead of scraping and tinning, you burn the enamel and then solder to the board. I have not ran into a problem with "improper leads" or cold solder joints so I will continue with the status quo. If you know of a better method, please do not hesitate to let me know!

I am really excited about finishing up with the project and getting it on the air. I hope to use it for Field Day in the Single Op, Single station, QRP w/alternative power category. I don't know what the official name of that is but I've still got time to research prior to the start.

I hope all is well with you and your's and look forward to working you soon! Best of luck and 72!

Steve