Hopefully Back in Bidness!!!

  I ordered a fully assembled uBitx V6.1 last month from India. When it arrived, the encoder shaft was busted, and the screen was cracked. The encoder was an easy replacement. The screen on the other hand was a bit harder to locate. I finally got it on Friday and put everything back together and got it running. The first test will hopefully be tomorrow for the end of Field Day. I will take it out to a local park that has a gazebo where I can get a bit of shelter if it happens to rain. The park is only about a 1/4 mile from my house. I plan to pack my Bioeno lipo battery, radio, and MP-1 antenna kit in a backpack and ride a VEO bike over to the park. Listen for me on the air... I will be that weak signal on 20 or 40 meters.

73,

W2RWL 1B-WNY

HAM Radio in Emergency Civil Defense Communications Vintage 1951 New Yor...

Got a few FT8 on 6M tonight

 Got a few FT8 contacts on 6M tonight. Not a lot of activity, but enough to be happy with.

Yaesu FT-991A at 30W, Comet CP-15 tri-band vertical at 40FT

See my logbook at bottom of this page...

73,

Worked a few on Saturday during the contest... FT8

 Managed quite a few Foreign stations on 6M and 20M FT8 on Saturday during the contest. View my log at the bottom of the page.

73,

W2RWL

It feels good to be back in the saddle with POTA!!!

 Had great fun today at K-8299 (Old Erie Canal State Historical Site) in Dewitt, NY... I had 18 total contacts, including 2 park to parks and an Azores station...

Equipment was:

Yaesu FT-991A off a 20AH Bioeno LifePo battery box

MP-1 Super antenna on a camera tripod with counterpoise and Titanium whip. Used MFJ antenna analyzer to tune, then used onboard tuner for fine tune... 100Watts on 40 and 20M SSB.

Bob-W2RWL and Jim N2MGU

73,

Back on HF ... Somewhat....

 Well, I got the wire back into the trees, but it appears to be too short. I thought it was 31 feet long, but I may be wrong. It tunes 18 Meters on up to 6 meters, but will not do 20 and lower. made my first ever 12 meter contact to Texas this afternoon...Need to get back out there Thursday hopefully and fix things. Also need to go to the park with the 8-band vertical and at least tune it up. Then I can take it back apart and store it until I can figure out how to get it in the air.

73,

Robert - W2RWL

The things you learn

 Well, the things you learn when doing something new. it was a very sunny bright day when we went portable to the Camillus Forest Unique area down off of 173 and Thompson Rd. The first thing I learned is be prepared for anything. This means bring sunscreen, snacks, drinks, etc. Luckily, we had plenty to drink and eat. I got bad sunburn that is STILL pealing. Not much pain, but I burned a few outer layers of skin.

  Although I got reports that I was being heard on 40M LSB, I had suck a loud noise floor (S5-S7), I could not make out anyone returning my calls. I was told that Inverting Solar Generators put out a lot of hash. Will have to do some research to see if there is a simple fix.

  Other than that, We need to get a 10'x10' canopy with some tarps for sides in case of rain and to shield from the bright sunlight.

  We will try to get out somewhere a few more times before the snow flies. Hope to hear you while we are portable...

73!

W2SYR

W2RWL

N2MGU