My own fieldday, PA3GNZ/P

Last Saturday I had my own fieldday. My intention was to make more qso's then last year (8).

Between 13:00 and 15:30 UTC I made 31 qso's. This with only 2,5 watts from my Yaesu FT817nd with a small battery.
The additional support of the pole was now on 3 and 9 meters. The variant off the ZS6BKW/G5RV antenna was mounted in the middle about 10 meters high. I used the antenna as an inverted V.

Nice weather and a lot of fun.









73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

My own fieldday ( PA3GNZ/P )

Yesterday I started installing the capacitors on the board of the "Sudden Limerick receiver" project. All capacitors (18) are mounted, now all components on the PCB.
The next step is to build the enclosure. The PCB with components is the bottom of the enclosure. When attaching the front and back, the connection to the antenna connector and dial must make. This also applies to the on/off switch and volume control.

The on/off switch, switches the powersupply between the print and the 9 volt battery.




During the field activities of August 15, we learned that it's beter to move the additional support from 6 tot 7 meters.
The additional support is now on 7 meters and the antenna is mounted on 9 meters. With these changes it's a strong construction. The mast is not crooked anymore.
Today, in the last 30 minutes of the fieldday contest, I made on 40M 8 QSO's: Czech Republic, England (4x), Denmark (2x) and Germany.
After the contest ended I responded to a CQ of GB4AC, on the Isle of Wight, and made a "normal" qso. On 20M I heard many Japanese in the AA contest, but unfortunately I could not work them with 2.5 watts. On 20M I worked one station in the AA contest, RA9AE. All qso's made with ssb.

My setup for this day:
Yaesu FT817nd,
2,5 watts, powered by car battery.
Antenna: modified G5RV.
ATU: homemade from a Howes kit.








Thanks to Eric, PE1FES, for support.


73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

QRV from the Field

Last Wednesday, the predictions for the weather where not so good and we decided to do this activity yesterday. We were lucky: sunshine and good temperatures.

The purpose of this event was to build up the portable mast and see if the additional support is good enough. At about 6 meters height, we made an extra point with 3 ropes. It looked good and solid but from this upper point of the mast was pretty crooked.





The idea is to make the support more higher to obtain a better stability.The upper part have Eric, (PE1FES) and I let down, there was now about 6 meters mast on. The mast was now stable, without curves. The suspension point for the variation of the G5RV/ZS6BKW (2 times 7.77 meters) is here by also lower.


In both situations, I made some qso's. On 20M a cw qso with I6WJB in Pescara. This was my first cw qso while I was standing, we forgot the seats.
On 40M, I made qso's with: F/PH2CV/P (cw), SP9KAT (ssb) and SP9WZS (cw).
TRX: FT817nd with internal battery + later a external battery. The output power was only 2.5 watts.

We have had a lot of fun!

73, Tjeerd (Gose) - PA3GNZ

EZ Tele XL mast

Last year I bought in Germany a AZ Tele XL mast with a length of 12 meters. This mast landed in my shed until today.











Along with Eric, PE1FES, I gone a few km outside of Tiel and went on a quiet road, where we have the mast setup in the grass.
Despite the weather, with occasional clouds and some rain also it blew hard. This was immediately noticed when we had the mast extended. The top curve somewhat by the wind.
Our conclusion was that one set of 3 guy wires, such as the mast is supplied isn’t enough.
The idea is now to make a point about halfway to where another 3 guy wires coming.

Who has already experience with this mast? What should I do to make it stronger?