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KX3 and Speaker Wire Camera Bag Activation Kit

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For the QRPer's Field Radio Kit Gallery , this is my KX3 and speaker wire in a camera bag activation kit. This kit is the continuation of the equipment I used for my Maine ATNO expedition and other activities on that return to my parents almost a year ago. Primarily, it's a change in bags and an improvement of the audio connection options for more sustained activations. Writing up this kit for the gallery also will probably be an incentive for further change. With how loosely packed it is, there's space for options! You can see this kit in action on my recent trail activation . The bag packed and ready for an expedition, even if just a little ways away.

Building a Moxon for 223 MHz

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With an Elk Antennas 2M/440L5 providing me directional operation on 2m and 70cm and a couple handheld rigs that include 1.25m, I wanted more than just a stock whip to operate with those rigs. Since I have access to scraps of copper refrigerant tubing at the day job from test/prototype systems, I thought it'd be a great material to build with. To put it briefly, the results have been fantastic to start. As initially assembled on the terribly scientific test stand of an empty recycle bin.

Trail Activation: Capital State Trail With Imminent Rain

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The afternoon after my sky picture , I went out to one of Wisconsin's newer POTA entities (Capital State Trail, K-9773) after work to pick up another activation. One of my hunted P2P contacts included a request for a station setup picture, so this is for VA5MUD who was operating from VE-0111. This was a quick activation cut right at 10 QSOs due to the arrival of the anticipated rain. Antenna setup using the trail emergency locator marker as a support for the fiberglass pole.

Hardware Filter Modifications for Quansheng UV-K5 Band Extensions?

The Quansheng UV-K5 ( product page archive ) handheld transceiver has been notable in cheap amateur radios of 2023 by using both a wideband FM chip BK4819 ( product page archive ). With support of 18-620 and 840-1200 MHz half-duplex with 6.25/12.5/20/25 kHz channel spacing, this puts the chip in the range of five ITU Region 2 amateur bands (10m, 6m, 2m, 1.25m, 70cm, 33 cm) and spitting distance from a sixth (23 cm). Presumably hitting 4m and the rare 8m would be within reason as well. The easily hackable firmware indicates at least nominal receive capability up to 1300 MHz, though!

Sky October 24th

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I found the sky outside particularly striking last week. Just to get the blog rolling again, I'll put this here as non-radio-related content for your enjoyment. Sky over Fitchburg, Wisconsin on the morning of 2023-10-24. Shot with Samsung Galaxy S10+, unprocessed JPEG.  

Brief: Winter Field Day 2023 and POTA WAS

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Last weekend was Winter Field Day 2023 and I caught the tail end of it to combine with some Parks on the Air at my favorite Governor Nelson State Park ( K-1452 , wiki ). Seven inches of fresh powder awaited between me and the shelter I activated from (and, of course, on the car before I left). Operating position looking across Lake Mendota to downtown Madison including the capitol

Durham State Forest: ATNO Research and Activation POTA K-4772 (Plus K-2396)

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One of my objectives for the good weather in Maine during my holiday travel was to get out to the convenient and interesting parks in the area. As highlighted by W1DED 's map documenting POTA MAINE , there are a couple of Midcoast Maine parks that had no activations ever by 2022: both the Durham State Forest and Ducktrap River Wildlife Management Area. The reason? They're poorly documented locations with no convenient drive-up-and-know-you're-there place. The WMA even overlaps the local Ducktrap Preserve, but you'd have to figure out what that meant and where to hike. And the forest, well, the forest barely even seems to exist on the internet by that name! No official state information and just lots of OpenStreetMap references. I looked to take on the forest to understand where it was, what the access looked like, and then get out there and put the park on the air.

POTA Summer Support Your Parks 2022

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The weather turned out decently enough for the summer/plaque edition of Support Your Parks by POTA . And I've left this blog draft languishing since last September! Not that I've even gotten the Spring 2022 blog out... Anyway, I spent some time out and activated K-1452 and K-4250 to get on the list. Here are some pictures.

Summary of Holiday Travel Radio-Related Activities

My holiday travel for the 2022-23 season was nice and complicated this year, but also gave me the opportunities for additional radio adventures! My feet-on-ground (outside of airports) sequence for this was: WI-IL-IN-OH-KY-ME-MA-NH-WI. Through that, I managed to escape major storm-related travel delays and generally have abnormally nice weather throughout. I ended up with hundreds of portable QSOs across 13 park entities and 3 summits, plus nearly a hundred QSOs at my parents' QTH. So, on to the summary!

Learning a Couple Things from Constructing Dual-Lever Paddles from Relays

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I wanted a set of paddles to bring with me while traveling for the holidays at the end of this year and the vintage Vibroplex Standard I've got in the apartment didn't seem like a good travel option. Thinking about what would be a decent starting point that would be more sophisticated (and, hopefully, consistent) than trying to use binder clips or improvised levers, I figured some SPDT relay contacts might not be too bad. Hence, the first attempt: Fully assembled and cabled resulting key