NPOTA activation on the Blue Ridge Parkway

A crowd gathers as Vlado (N3CZ) works station after station in CW!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do after the National Parks On The Air event is over at the end of this year. I hope the ARRL organizes something equally as fun for 2017.

Truth is, I love playing radio outdoors and I love National Parks. The two are a perfect combo.

Vlado (N3CZ) on left, and me (K4SWL) on right.

My buddy, Vlado (N3CZ), and I decided to do an NPOTA activation on Sunday. The weather was fantastic–a little foggy with mild temperatures and the HF bands were open!

We arrived at our site–the Craggy Gardens Picnic Area (PK01)–at 14:30 UTC or so.

We brought the following antennas and supports:

a self-contained 20 meter band telescopic fiberglass vertical (I recently purchased at the WCARS Hamfest for $40–!) and
a 31 foot fiberglass Jackite pole (the fluorescent orange on in the photos) which we used to suspend a homemade 40 meter doublet Vlado built the day before.

Setup was quick. We were both especially pleased the 20 meter vertical. It was so easy to install, even considering it was the first time either of us had used it.

I powered the LD-11 and the KX3 with my QRP Ranger.

The 20 meter vertical antenna (in foreground).

I operated SSB from a picnic table using the LnR Precision LD-11 transceiver, connected to the doublet on 40 meters, and the mono-band vertical on 20 meters.

Vlado started by operating CW with his Icom IC-7000 which was installed in his car, but later moved to the picnic table and logged a number of contacts with the Elecraft KX3.

We easily logged the number of stations needed to activate the site.

The 40 meter band was hopping and a good path was open into Ohio, Virginia and other surrounding states. The 20 meter band was serving up some excellent QRP DX.

Vlado operating CW on the 40 meter band.

When I moved to the 20 meter band, the noise floor was so low on the LD-11, I thought perhaps the band was dead. Not so!

It’s hard to believe that with a mere eight watts in SSB I worked Rhode Island, Texas, Montana, Manitoba, Washington, California and Slovenia from a picnic table on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Reports on the LD-11 audio were all very positive. I’ve used the LD-11 for eight NPOTA activations this year and can say with confidence that it’s a brilliant & fun little field radio. (FYI: I’ll be publishing a full review of the LD-11 in the October 2016 issue of The Spectrum Monitor magazine.)

Vlado and I are planning on several more activations together this year. Our next one will most likely be at the Carl Sandburg Home-. I can’t wait!

Any other post readers participating as an activator or chaser in the National Parks on the Air event?

Saturday: EWTN special broadcast

Max’s impressive vintage radio collection

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Max Youle, who writes:

I thought I would send you a link to my radio collection.

Many of these are unique to New Zealand, and could be of interest to your readers.

I saved many of these radios from being trashed, by searching junk sales and second hand stores, over a period of the last 25 years

Click her to view Max’s collection via DropBox.

Wow! That is an impressive collection of radios, Max. It’s interesting to see so many New Zealand brands–I’m glad you’ve rescued these!

Max’s collection is so large I couldn’t possibly share them all here on the SWLing Post, so I asked Max if he could tell us which models are his favorites. Max replied:

My favorite radios would be:

Barlow Wadley XCR-30

1. Barlow Wadley XCR-30 featured here before https://swling.com/blog/2016/02/maxs-barlow-wadley-receiver-is-a-keeper/

Philips D2999

2. Philips D2999 for its good looks, ease of use , sound from the two speakers 3″ and 7″ and sharp MW DX

Sanyo Transworld 17h-815

3. Sanyo Transworld 17h-815 A beautiful looking classic with lots of chrome and a good performer

National Panasonic R-021

4. National Panasonic R-021 because it was my first radio, and a fairly rare collectible (article at the bottom of page) http://www.panasonic.com/global/corporate/history/chronicle/1977.html

Its hard to choose a favorite, as every one of my radios has a story ,i.e where I found it, who gave it to me, how much I paid for it, how collectible it is, etc, etc!!

Yes indeed, Max! It is difficult to pick a favorite–especially from such a large collection.

Thanks again for taking the time to share these with us!

Click her to view Max’s collection via DropBox.

London Shortwave’s portable “spectrum capture lab”

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SWLing Post contributor, London Shortwave, just posted a photo of his portable SDR setup on Twitter and noted:

“Portable spectrum capture lab back in operation. Grabbing the grey line hour on the 49 mb. Listening to Radio Fana!”

Wow! I love this go kit!

Looks like London Shortwave is running an AirSpy with Spyverter via SDR# on his Windows tablet.

Having played a lot of radio in the field, I think what’s great about this setup is the fact it’s all contained and properly laid-out inside the padded case. Simply open the case, deploy an antenna, and you’re in business! With all components inside the case, there’s much less chance a connector, battery, cable or SDR will be left in the field accidently. Quick deployment and quick pack-up time; that’s what it’s all about!

Great job, London Shortwave! I’m happy to see you’re back in the park capturing spectrum and logging DX!

Tropical Band DXing at home with Elad FDM DUO and Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop

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Recently I have spent a little more time listening out for Tropical Band stations from my shack in Oxford UK, attempting to emulate some of the very nice signals I have previously recorded out on DX’peditions. The obvious problems with this (and they are numerous) include the relatively weak signal strength of many tropical band stations, the ubiquitous blanket of QRM, resulting in generally poor SNR, lack of space for a large antenna……need I go on?! Fortunately, the Elad FDM DUO has proven to be a very senstive and selective receiver, capable of, at times, incredible SNR, coupled with almost limitless signal conditioning options and SSB, SYNC, ECSS etc. Throw the Wellbrook ALA1530 active loop into the mix (not literally!) and you have a very powerful Tropical Band receive set-up. The Wellbrook is able to null most (although not all) QRM in my shack and that really can make the difference between simply observing a carrier and actually hearing audio. Clearly one cannot expect to hear DX at home under heavy QRM as well as you might outdoors, however, the following stations were logged in the past month or so, with respectable signals, with the ALA1530 indoors:

Video links also follow below, thanks for reading/ watching.

Video Player