Well my backpack trip is a go. I have Monday and Tuesday off so my plan is to be on the trail by sometime Sunday afternoon and head for home sometime Tuesday afternoon/evening. I'll only be about 40 miles from my place so propagation should be pretty much the same as from my home QTH. I only have 40 and 20 meters in my KX1 so that's where we'll have to sked. Who's interested?
Hello chris,
Set times and frequencies, I'll call you!
We might have better luck this time, at least on one of those bands.
Gil.
Quote from: gil on May 10, 2013, 11:05:55 PM
Hello chris,
Set times and frequencies, I'll call you!
We might have better luck this time, at least on one of those bands.
Gil.
How about near you and Ray's normal sked? If I recall correctly 14.067.5, 1100 EST? We could do it either before, after or during then. And how about an evening sked on 7.035 at 2000 EST?
Ok, we have our sked at 11:30, so maybe noon? Ok on 40m.. 10 min window on calling..
Gil.
Tagged; will be listening if the post-grad party + Mom's day w/in-law QRM goes away.
Quote from: gil on May 11, 2013, 12:26:07 PM
Ok, we have our sked at 11:30, so maybe noon? Ok on 40m.. 10 min window on calling..
Gil.
Sounds good, I'll be listening. The first one will have to be Sunday evening on 40m, I'll probably still be en route that morning.
Quote from: KC9TNH on May 11, 2013, 12:48:50 PM
Tagged; will be listening if the post-grad party + Mom's day w/in-law QRM goes away.
Yes definitely. We should probably have excellent propagation between us on 40 meters.
Well I'm heading out now so I'll be offline for the next three days. If any one else wants to sked you'll just have to jump in after Gil and I's sked which is:
Morning - 1600 UTC 14.067.5
Evening - 0000 UTC 7.035
CW of course.
Quote from: KK0G on May 12, 2013, 11:03:34 AM
Morning - 1600 UTC 14.067.5
Evening - 0000 UTC 7.035
CW of course.
Thank you. ;)
Any contact from our wayward ham-camper? (KK0G)
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Quote from: RadioRay on May 12, 2013, 03:46:20 PM
Any contact from our wayward ham-camper? (KK0G)
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
Nada. I'm gonna listen along tonight at midnight ZULU; if 40m is workable at all should be able to hear him, he's not that far. Played a couple of long-time sprint guys I know on 20m today on the 817, documenting current degradation on the batt to benchmark how the solar panel goes when the little controller gets here. Conversational speed; distances 800-975 miles; nice excuse to play with the new paddle.
QRM is homeward bound, domestic tranquility maintained, so time to practice for retirement & wait for KK0G
aka nap. (Need to check prop for a west-bound SSB call to a friend later if I can; thanks again for the tip on the Aussie prop site.)
He posted that his first attempt would have to be tonight since he would probably be en route during the first Sunday time slot.
Wally
Nothing from here either... I'm still listening on 7035...
Gil.
Ray, I heard you calling him, barely..
It's a bit early for 40m.
20:13: Sounds like you got him! Too weak for me here..
Gil.
I heard and talked with KK0G, but this is NOT a good time from him to Virginia. It's too far for this time of early evening. Maybe we can do better in the daytime sked tomorrow. He IS in camp though, that part came though in his transmission.
>de Radioray ..._ ._
I also heard Gil calling and we talked a bit after the KK0G sked.
Quote from: RadioRay on May 12, 2013, 08:28:59 PM
I heard and talked with KK0G, but this is NOT a good time from him to Virginia. It's too far for this time of early evening. Maybe we can do better in the daytime sked tomorrow. He IS in camp though, that part came though in his transmission.
>de Radioray ..._ ._
I also heard Gil calling and we talked a bit after the KK0G sked.
I heard you & KK0G; not great but workable. Lost you a couple of times as you doubled.
I concur it is very tough copy on 40m this time of year; summers I don't think that band comes good till midnight or so if you want to use low power. Grayline has too many chips at the table.
Have to ask him when he gets back what he used for an antenna; but he was workable especially if I'd put on the feather-weight set of Koss phones. Imagine that's pretty rough out your way in VA.
Initially I was worried I wouldn't copy you because there's a guy regularly in that area (but down below) that is either abusing his amp in terms of grid current, or running the limit and doesn't know how to tune it because if I zero-beat him he is S9+60dB to me on a really stingy Yaesu meter, and 3.5kHz w.....i.......d......e
Fortunately he left (maybe he let the smoke out). The mix of humanity; he probably parks in handicap spaces too. As Linda Ellerbee said, "...and so it goes."
Perhaps re-thinking early summer evening skeds to something on 20m for the folks here would be amenable, even for those just listening along.
This schedule on forty would be better for someone half the distance to him at this time of before darkness. In a couple of hours, he'd likely be fine.
(http://www.ips.gov.au/user/rwc/hapimgs/hap159424.gif)
I was using maybe 2 Watts and he's also QRP, at the wrong time of day for that band between us. It would be great if some of you fellows closer to his location would work him, because I was running on ESP copy here - maybe 50 % . It was less like being a radio-telegrapher and more like working for the Psychic-hotline... like a good salad, but not 'word salad' ha ha.
I'll run some prop numbers and see whether I can come up with better time/freq. AND as you mentioned, it's prime-time for everyone and their dog to be on the air, so interference is high. I usually try to pick a frequency outside of the crowd.
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
The 20 meter sked was MUCH better! He's in camp, the weather is 'beautiful' and for those who were wondering, he confirmed that he is using an end-fed-half-wave wire antenna. We talked a little bit about making due with what we have, because he had forgotten to bring a pencil, but had improvised a 'charcoal pencil' for his Morse copy, but said that it was not working very well.
Gil joined in, but unfortunately he ws not able to copy Chris.
>Ray
Ps. I was running maybe 2 Watts and so is Chris.
QuoteGil joined in, but unfortunately he ws not able to copy Chris.
The band sounded pretty dead this morning... I couldn't hear anything anywhere on 20m...
Gil.
Packed with some OTC cold meds I'll see if I can stay awake for the 0000Z 40m sked; should play better here than 20m.
Called Chris last couple minutes of his sked, he calling Gil & Ray & no-joy.
To be fair his distance & bearing from me works pretty good for 40m, less so for way out east probably.
He's doing good, wx in the 70's and, I quote here, "beautiful" - which is a cracker-jack word in Morse. ;D
He was initially 339 to me, & both sig-strength & copy came up near the bottom of the hour. When we finished I would've said 449, which ain't too shabby t'all. (I don't rate folks on how you move my S-meter, that first number is what matters to me.) Plenty of QRN & QSB to go around though, glad I used the 817's ears. I figure also the poor soul out in the hinterlands deserves the best signal from the support base, so I cheated & gave him 20w out of the little THP baby amp.
He's doing well, said thanks for checking on him & 73 to all.
As Ray would say, now back to the ward before the nurse finds I'm missing. I owe a friend a SSB call tomorrow too.
. .
Ah, darn, I missed the time window... Sorry.
Gil.
Thanks for the report! Good to know that he's doing well out in the woods. I wish that I was out there as well, but Morse is the next best thing to being there ..._ ._
Maybe we should have an annual radiopreppers Ham camping trip! LOL..
Gil.
This could be done! If travel is too far , then we could have camps in different parts of the country and meet on the air.
Quote from: RadioRay on May 13, 2013, 11:16:13 PM
This could be done! If travel is too far , then we could have camps in different parts of the country and meet on the air.
I've been collecting some callsigns* & tossing them onto a GE map and your (not ARRL) field weekend could work, or at least be interesting if the coordination was done so that impossible paths aren't in the mix. If someone in a geographically-near cluster relayed to the rest some item (TBD) of traffic, by any means such that it was promulgated to all... and even as a backup, tossed into the WINLINK system for Comrade Piekup Andropov to retrieve later. If someone couldn't get in the bush during the period, if they could act as a base relay for that geographic area... there's a blank sheet of paper here to play with.
No-joy w/Chris on 20m, and didn't expect to, but listened anyway. (We're close enough he could string a wire between 2 bushes and do 40m). This is all interesting, things learned or validated (or not) on these trips.
*
those that are made known or that I routinely glean, I don't ferret this stuff out. I'm in a 12-step program for map junkies. 8)
I had another good, solid contact with Chris today at noon Eastern on 20 meters. He's been having a good time, says THANK YOU for the comms support from Gil, Wes and some clown named RadioRay.
Chris says that he's tired of boiling water and needs a filter. His contact with KC9TNH on forty was STRONG SIG and that worked rather well.
He is scheduled for leaving today at 5 pm.
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
HV GIL 229
GM RAY RST 459 SOLID CPY BT I CAN HEAR GIL BUT VY WEAK
---
CAMP IS DOING GUD, TIRED OF BOILING WATER NEED TO GET A WATER FILTER FER NEXT TIME
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W7ASA DE KK0G RR I WILL HVE TO CHAT WITH U ABT FILTERS WHEN I GET BACK. HVE NOT DONE ANY DXING BECAUSE FORGOT PENCIL SO CANT LOG OR REMEMBER CALLS
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NO HVE NOT DONE ANY SW, ONLY HAD RIG OUT FER SKEDS
---
XYL IS PICKING ME UP AT 1700 TODAY
---
RRR YES GOT PICTURES WILL POST TO FORUM BT I TALKED TO KC9TNH LAST NIGHT, HE WAS VY STRONG SIG BTU
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RRR YES DEF..NITELY HVING FUN OUT HERE IN WOODS WETH. //OC: "WITH" ?// HAM RADIO BT I'M SURPRISED HW WELL I CAN SKED WID U, I SHUD NOT BE THO, CW JUST WORKS HI W7ASA DE KK0G KN
---
RR TNX VRY MUCH RAY I REALLY ENJOYED THE SKEDS ES NICE CHATS BT SEE U BACK IN CIVIL..TION HI SK 73
A little bit of fading, but as you can see, the conversation, using his tiny QRP kit radio to my Wilderness Sierra (a 20 year old kit radio...) , both stations running about 2 Watts into wire antennas worked just fine. The distance is over 800 miles just about 1,000 miles!. The use of CW QRP from remote locations is VERY do-able and supportable in a field environment. Remember - this rig is about the size of a paperback book and had a built-in shortwave receiver so that he can also listen to news from around the world. It draws extremely little power on receive.
TEOTWAKI comms anyone?
QuoteI had a good, solid contact with Chris today at noon Eastern.
Unfortunately I never heard a peep. I suspect that had I been away from town and electrical noise, I would have heard him fine, as he reportedly heard me 229. We once had a faint contact on 40m before his trip, but I suspect he is just on the edge of my skip zone. That said, I could barely hear Ray, and he usually comes in strong here, even QRP. The band just wasn't cooperating.
An annual radiopreppers camping meetup would be great indeed, even if some would only be on the air. I see how hard it is to get three people on the air together at any scheduled time though, so organizing something like that may prove difficult. Suggestions are welcome. Maybe we need a new thread on this, not to steal this one...
Ya'll have a great day :)
Gil.
Quote from: gil on May 14, 2013, 03:38:10 PMAn annual radiopreppers camping meetup would be great indeed... Maybe we need a new thread on this, not to steal this one...
Ya'll have a great day :)
Gil.
Separate thread is a GREAT idea; surely that one would get busy in a hurry. Should see how Chris' AAR goes and think about our own version of a "field" day. Then if it starts looking like it's a go in terms of participation you can sticky it.
ETA: I'll have to go back & skim some threads & put as many calls on the map as possible. Right now I've got you, Ray, Tim, Luck, Stew & Chris & ich. Like there's this mid-west cluster, then there's those easterners with the big salt-water counterpoises around.
I'm back and I had a shower so I'm officially back in civilization ;D
First things first, thank you very much to Ray, Gil and Wes for the skeds - or attempt at a sked in Gil's case but we gave it a shot and we at least learned that 40 meters will not work between us at that time. I read through the posts and it looks like you guys pretty well covered the sked contents. Yes the weather was truly beautiful, sunny, 70's, light breeze and not a drop of rain, it felt almost like cheating.......... almost 8)
The first leg was a short 1.5 mile hike from my drop off point. I spent the first evening in Buck Stop Camp which was amazingly beautiful next to a row of pine trees on a ridge, with lots of tall trees conveniently placed for antenna supports. The next day I hiked about 3.5 miles to Longbeard Camp, this one wasn't quite as nice as the other one but still a pretty neat campsite and it had a perfect single limb jutting out from a tree that got my antenna about 30 feet in the air. (The Google savvy among you could probably figure out where I was)
My little Elecraft KX1 and EFHW antenna worked excellent, when propagation was good it was armchair copy just like sitting in my shack at home. My "yo-yo" antenna set up worked pretty well but I think it could still use some improvement, 60 feet of 24ga. speaker wire is a very tight fit and they're fairly fragile.
As Ray pointed out I forgot my pencil which was both good and bad. Bad because I couldn't write down callsigns, times, signal reports, etc for logging. Good because it forced me to head copy which I seldom do, instead relying on the crutch of writing down code as it's sent.
I definitely need to get a water filter!! Most of my woods experience has been while canoeing on rivers where I'm able to carry more fresh water and when resupply is needed it's usually less than 50 feet away from camp, it's also easier to carry a large pot for boiling. When I backpacked at Philmont we had a filter and I really took it for granted how much simpler it makes roaming the woods. While water is dirt simple to find here in Iowa, both of my campsites were on top of ridges which meant about a 1 mile round trip down to the creek to carry two liters of water back to camp where I only had a pot a little less than a liter to boil in. I did this once in the morning and once in the evening. It would be SO much easier to just fill my bottles when crossing creeks while on the trail to camp. This was such an issue for me that I'll start another thread on the subject.
To sum it up, I had a great time and learned a lot in the process. Being able to hear a familiar callsign and chat while all alone in a remote backwoods camp is simply amazing, the peace of mind knowing that help is only a call away is also comforting. The key to all of this working is CW, without it it would be extremely difficult if not near impossible.
Pictures to follow later when I get home to night.
First night in Buck Stop Camp, this one was by far my favorite camp site.
First night in Buck Stop Camp, this one was by far my favorite camp site.
Short break while on the trail to the next campsite.
Spent the second night in Longbeard Camp, about a 4 mile hike from Buck Stop Camp.
This was my Achilles heel - boiling water, this time on my way out while at the creek. The second shot is one of several creek crossings, there's plenty of water available but hiking downhill from camp to the creek then back uphill to boil it back in camp was a pain in the........
Not sure why a couple of those photos posted upside down?? Either flip your monitor over or stand on your head I guess ;D
Great Pix!
It's always cool to see how people had their camp set-up. Seeing your end-fed-half-wave antenna supported by the tree(s), it's more proof of the 'magic' of radio. You were reliably communicating over a distance of 1,000 miles to Virginia on 20 meters at noon, using tiny, battery powered radios using wire up a tree as antennas. Anyone can see just how 'packable' and 'sustainable' (oooooh, that WORD!) these QRP rigs really are - out in the real world where it counts.
Thanks for posting your sked.
>de RadioRay ..._ ._
YOU were talking to My HUGE 1994 QRP kit radio (modified)...
(http://files.qrz.com/a/w7asa/IMG_1740.JPG)
Thanks for taking the time to share the pics.
You got alot of utility out of that little black box as well as the elegantly improved Walmart special.
:)
Nice pics! Makes me want to go camping again..
Gil.
I'd have taken more photos but all I had was my iPhone and with no way to charge it I only turned it on a few times to conserve the battery. I considered taking my camera but during packing for the trip I was following the backpacking mantra of 'do I really need it?' and 'does it have multiple uses?'. In the end I decided the camera was just extra weight and bulk that the iPhone could already do plus more.
I've been backpacking, camping, canoeing, etc for most of my life but like Ray said, it was the 'magic' of radio and more specifically the magic of QRP CW that made this such a special trip for me. I already knew that flea power CW worked and very well at that, but it was still amazing to me to be able to chat with Ray on the other side of the country while I was in a remote campsite using a radio that added practically nill to the pack that contained my every possession for three days. If you haven't started already, learn Morse code, it's not difficult and it definitely works!
Quotelearn Morse code, it's not difficult and it definitely works!
Amen to that!
Gil.
Quote
learn Morse code, it's not difficult and it definitely works!
(http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/26694689.jpg)
moo-ha-ha! the ability to communicate with miniscule power levels across the country or internationally using CW really is AMAZING.