November Day in Indiana

KB9BVN, N9IVI, AC9HP at US-12023

Boy, it was nice and sunny today, and a great day to go  outdoors and play radio.  So I got with Wayne AC9HP, and Ivin N9IVI and we plotted a trip to Morgan County Indiana to grab a nice lunch, shoot the breeze and take in a POTA activation.  

I think the last time we got together to have some radio fun was maybe three years ago, maybe longer.  It was a great time and really nice to hang out again. I met N9IVI on a local repeater probably 25 years ago, and met AC9HP on that same repeater maybe 15 years ago.  We keep in contact on a text channel we built out before COVID hit in 2020.  Well today the stars lined up and we all three had an afternoon free to go out and do something 

We started out at the Texas Corral in Martinsville for lunch, we had their "steak" burger and some fries. I can NOT recommend this place.  The burgers were mediocre and they've jacked their prices something fierce.  Three burgers, with fries and ice water was almost fifty dollars.  We should have went for pizza instead. Our waitress was very pleasant, so our disappointment in the food wasn't her fault. 

After lunch we discussed going to the Morgan Monroe State Forest for a POTA activation, then Ivin brought up the fact that gun season for deer started here yesterday. The state forest is a very popular public hunting area, so we were not prepared for that.  So instead we decided to head up the road about 5 miles and visit the Cikana State Fishery (POTA US-12023) and operated from there.  It was about 52F but the wind was cutting.

The equipment today was Wayne's neat little QRP radio, running about three and a half watts, CW (Morse Code) was the mode, and the antenna we used was one of two magnetic loop antennas....the Alpha Loop, and the Alex Loop.   These magnetic loop antennas are portable and can be setup in about 5 minutes.  The tuning of this type of antenna is a little different.  You basically tune for loudest signal by turning the air variable capacitor on the antenna.  These antennas are advertised to tune on 10m through 40m. We seemed to have very good luck operating on 20m today at a frequency of 14054 Khz. KB9VBR has some great info on making and using a magnetic loop antenna in the outdoors. 

Alpha Loop Antenna - Tuning capacitor in the middle

Alex Loop tuning capacitor

The radio we used today was a CFT1 5 Band QRP CW rig.  We were running about three and a half watts to these loop antennas.  This combo worked very well for us today.  I made 11 contacts in about 20 minutes, then Ivin N9IVI took his turn and had 15 or 16 contact in less than 30 minutes.  

Ivin N9IVI working a POTA pile up on 20m. It was freezing. 

We were surprised at the distance we were getting.  I worked South Dakota and Ivin worked Mexico and Canada during his time at the key.  Tom K4SWL has a great write up on his QRPer blog pertaining to this cool little QRP radio. Check it out. 

Wayne's CFT1 5 Band QRP Radio 

So here's an idea of how my signal was getting out during my turn at the key.  Looks like the antenna was pretty much oriented in an East-West radiating pattern. Signal level was being received pretty well in a lot of places. 

Here's a map of the 11 contacts I made today from Cikana State Fishery.  I think it shows an almost omni directional range.  I worked stations in SD, GA, NY, NJ, MD, GA, TX, and MN.  Not bad for three and a half watts and a portable magnetic loop antenna. 

It's always a great time going on an outing with these guys.  We always amaze ourselves at what works and what doesn't work.  I hope we get to do this again before it's too cold out. 

Best DX to everyone! 

73 de KB9BVN

Summer is Gone!

 

Well I have been very busy this summer, haven't had time to get out and operate from the field much at all.  When you have loads of grandkids, and loads of family, there is only so much you can do in the summer that doesn't involve everyone.  It's been a GREAT summer.  

Our prayers were answered this summer when both of my brothers in law survived cancer.  They are both just about back to being 100% themselves again, chemotherapy was very hard on them both but the surgeries have been successful and it is great having them around and feeling better. 

Our great grandson will be turning one year old this month, and he is a pure joy to have around.  To make it even better, our great granddaughter will be born this month as well. On top of that we have a niece that we love bunches getting married this month.  So it's a busy October to say the least. 

Also after much discussion with my wife, and family, I will be retiring the first of January and entering full blown geezerhood.  I was afraid when I told my employer, they would possibly just let me go but they are grateful that I am staying until the end of the year.  Worked out well for all involved.  So as of now I have about 12 more Mondays left...it's exciting! 

Had some bad news this summer, my cousin Steve Fitzpatrick over in Ohio, came down with bone cancer in his hip.  The cancer was very aggressive, and unfortunately it took his life in July.  Steve had been married to his loving wife for 43 years, they had two children and seven grandchildren.  He was only 63 years old and had been the owner operator of a home improvement business for decades.  He spent many years as a Boy Scout leader, his son earned the rank of Eagle about the same time one of my sons earned his.  In his community he was known for his honesty, integrity, and his incredible work ethic.  He and his wife owned property along the Ohio river in West Virginia, it was Steve's happy place and he enjoyed nothing more than when his family would come to camp and play in the river with him.  We had some great times as kids, didn't get in much trouble but man did we have some laughs.   Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let Your perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace. Amen.

The weather finally cooled down and it quit raining, it was super nice Tuesday night, and I had not been to a POTA park in three months.  So when work ended at 4PM, I jumped in the Trailblazer Truckster and headed to Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area...good old US-4183 in POTA parlance.  I flat forgot to take any pictures but I worked 40m with the Eagle One hitch mounted vertical on 40m, and the Elecraft KX-2 at 10w and in about 45 minutes I had twenty CW contacts in the log.   The one Park to Park I had with VE7SRF was on 20m. 

09/30/25 - POTA from Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area US-4183 

Then today, all day I was staring out the window while working and dreaming of being anywhere but at my desk.  When 4PM rolled around, I grabbed my kit and jumped in the trusty but never rusty POTA Mobile and headed back to Atterbury. 

My setup tonight looked like this: 

POTA Mobile, ready for action

Tip top of the Eagle One vertical...10m high

Teal Marsh Area at Atterbury....BUG free since the water is dried up! 

My future is so bright, I have to wear those shades. 

I got 17 more CW contacts tonight, the best part was six of them were Park to Park contacts.   I worked operators that were in parks located in Ohio, Quebec, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Texas, and Indiana.  Colorado was probably my furthest contact this evening, also my power tonight was five watts instead of ten due to a battery in the radio almost being dead. 

Contact Map for 10/02/25 at Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area

Well that's it for now.  12 more Mondays and I get to be retired!!! 

73 de KB9BVN

Brian

My first FAILURE at POTA was Today

 

How I felt after FAIL

Oh man, it was brutal.  So about 11AM I looked at the weather and it was a nice 73 degrees, with about 80% humidity...no rain in the forecast, but I could hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance.  We got about 20 minutes of sprinkles and then it was gone.  If you have ever lived in the midwest then you know a thunderstorm or a tornado can pop up just about any time in June and July....they pop up, dump rain for 20 minutes, and then they are gone.  That's how it went today. 

No need to fear!  

So before heading out to Atterbury FIsh and Wildlife Area I checked the propagation conditions and found them to be somewhat depressed, but I had worked station in worse conditions so I decided to head out and do an activation.  To remind everyone, a POTA activation only needs 10 contacts.  Well I got five. 

Here's the deal: 

1. Propagation conditions were iffy

2. It was 83F in the shade

3. It was 90% humidity

4. It was the last day of Field Day

5. I was running 8 watts CW to the Eagle One antenna
6. Forgot hat

First thing I did when I arrived at Mink Meadow, was to setup my table and chair in the shade of a gigantic walnut tree.  Good thinking on my part, I was pretty happy with that decision...for now.  The sky was overcast and there wasn't any really direct sun to speak of.  I got the antenna setup, and strung out the feedline with a couple radials, and by then I was drenched in sweat...time for bottle of water number one. 

Once I was setup I turned on the KX2 and tuned around looking for a place to operate. Did I mention that the ARRL Field Day contest (YES IT IS A CONTEST) was in the last throes of being when I got on the air at 1:35PM EDT. 

I started out on 20m, 14062.00 Khz to be exact and called CQ POTA for 15 minutes...not a single taker.  So I went to the POTA spotting page and tried to work a few of those guys, I managed one Park to Park contact in Oregon, on 15m. Considering I was running 8 watts and he gave me a 589 report I was delighted.  I ended up working 2 more Field Day operators (They count as contacts) when something hit me in the head.  I figured it was a piece of tree or something since I was setup right under it...nope.  I reached up and my hand found a GOB of little green caterpillars wriggling in my hair.  Perhaps baby bag worms, not sure...but they were green and they were wiggling like there was no tomorrow.  Did not have the sense to get a picture...I'm sure it would have been priceless. 

14062 Khz - Nothing...but nothing

By this time it was about 2:30PM and I was drenched in sweat, the shade was gone since the clouds left the area.  My KX2 was overheating, my smartphone was overheating, I was overheating, so I decided to surrender to Mother Nature and I packed it up.  It was now 88F according to the thermometer in my SUV...humidity was about 329% by then, I almost needed gills to breathe. 

My last great act of chickening out was after I got everything loaded up, I yanked down on the tailgate to close it, without remembering my head was in the way.  I hit my head hard enough with the tailgate to see stars and almost cried for my mommy.  I hurt. I cussed. I stomped around. Had to sit there for about 5 minutes before I started the SUV and headed home. 

Story over?  Oh no.  As I pulled onto SR 252 a local police officer pulled out of his hiding place and followed me for about 15 miles.  I was doing nothing wrong but it was a bit unnerving.  Happy to report we parted ways, and no citations were given. 

Better luck to me next time...and yes I am filing my POTA log with five contacts so the other guys at least get credit for the contact. 

73 de KB9BVN

Back to POTA again...finally

Pisgah Lake at US-4183 Atterbury 

Well it has been a very busy month at the KB9BVN household.  Spent a week at the beaches of North Carolina a couple weeks ago, went with my oldest son and his family, there were twenty one of us in total and it was a GREAT time.  Weather was a little cool for the beach but the kids and all of us managed to get some significant beach time in.  

Then back to work, took several days to get caught up from being gone on vacation but by the end of the week it was all back to normal.  Then we got a fantastic holiday weekend.  This weekend is also our wedding anniversary, and we have been busy celebrating 46 years, all weekend.  Cookout, another cookout, a great dinner out at Ruth Chris, it's just been non-stop here. 

This morning we took a drive to visit some of the family cemetery plots. I had purchased a jug of stone cleaner, a garden sprayer, and a few gallons of water to use for cleaning headstones.  Several of them had become stained with mildew and moss and we wanted to clean them up.  We finished up around 1:00PM and headed home, I had POTA on my mind, and Ann had arranged to have a early dinner with her sister at the Cheesecake Factory in Greenwood.  So there I was, with a hall pass to POTA! 

Today I didn't stray too far from home.  Drove down to Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area (POTA US-4183) and decided to set up near one of the lakes there.  I chose Pisgah Lake, I hadn't been there in about a year, and it is the largest lake on the wildlife area property.  

POTA Mobile with Eagle One Portable Vertical

Two 30 foot radials attached, with hopes of working 40m

I think it took about 20 minutes to get everything setup and ready to go.  I spent a total of about 45 minutes on the air, and ended up with 14 contacts today on 7060 Khz (40m band). 

Station in Action! Contacts being logged!  

14 Contacts on 40m this afternoon. 

As you can see, none of the contacts were any great distance, the band seemed a little muffled, and was in a state of changing every ten or fifteen minutes.  I have not looked at the posted solar conditions but I would have to guess we were in the midst of a solar flare, or the remnants of one.  When I got home I checked the Reverse Beacon Network and I can see where my signal was being heard and how the signal strength was bouncing around due to atmospheric conditions. 

I managed to get a little bit sunburned, but to tell the truth, the sun felt good today, as it has been unseasonably wet and cool the last couple of weeks.  Looks like that will all be changing next week.  I love summer! 

I hope you all were able to participate in Memorial Day activities, and I am glad we have this day to honor those who gave their all, their lives, in the service of this nation.  

Best DX until the next time! 

de KB9BVN

When 5 Watts is TOO MUCH!

Hi gang, 

The bands have been absolute garbage for most of this weekend. Lot's of state QSO parties going on and virtually all of Saturday and Saturday night, I was hearing nothing. I got a chance to get back on the air Sunday night (May the 4th be with you!) and instead of breaking out the Elecraft radios, I decided to dig out an old monoband kit rig I built in 2001.  

The Norcal SMK-1 Transceiver - Designed by Dave Fifield AD6A -  April 2000

I built this radio in 2001 and decided to take it to the QRP gathering know as Four Days in May over near Dayton Ohio.  I entered it in the show-n-tell competition and was awarded "Honorable Mention - Best Attempt at Bribing Judges with Food".  

The following is an excerpt from the SMK-1 construction manual:

This little radio was capable of about 350 milliwatts on 40m.  It was one of the first kits to be primarily surface mount.  Norcal put this together to see if a hobby builder, like me for instance, would be able to build a kit that was constructed of surface mount parts.  It's a very cool kit.  

The SMK-1 circuit is basically a modified Tuna Tin 2 transmitter integrated with a modified MRX-40 receiver. It is a further modification of the modified TT2/MRX-40 that I built for the indoor foxhunt at Pacificon 1999.

All this is fitted onto a small 2.475” x 2.25” PCB. The transmitter consists basically of the two 2N2222A transistor lineup of the original TT2 but with electronic keying. A key-switched crystal oscillator that has some degree of VXO feeds a medium power packaged version of the 2N2222A as a final in class A mode. 

After harmonic filtering, the result is about 350mW of fairly clean transmit power on 7.040MHz (+/- a bit). The RX front end uses the ubiquitous NE602 mixer/oscillator with a crystal VXO. The RX is a direct conversion receiver, so you will hear both sidebands as you tune through a station. 

The input stage of the NE602 has been biased a bit harder than normal by R1, a 22K resistor (this resistor may need tweaking, if your receiver is overdriven, increase the value of this resistor. Try 27K or 39K). This gives the device more conversion gain. 

The audio output of the NE602 direct conversion front end goes through a FET switch that serves to mute the audio to an acceptable sidetone level during TX and then on to a standard LM386 audio power amplifier running as much gain as it can. 

End of excerpt from the SMK-1 Construction Manual

Here is a shot of the front knobs.  I mounted this in a plastic food storage container. 

This is a shot of my finished circuit board.  Even though it was almost a quarter century ago when I built this, I remember it very well.  It was super fun but man did you need a magnifying glass to make sure the parts got in the right place. 

Here's how I wired it up:

Here it is, all ready to go.  The round thing on top is a speaker, I also had a WM-2 Wattmeter connected and set on the ONE WATT setting. 

So I started listening.  The SST contest was in full force so I heard a LOT of stations.  The one I heard the loudest was Mike AD9CA over in Newton Illinois, which is about 125 miles due west of me.  He gave me a signal report of 449, I gave him a 579.  The frequency was 7039.6 Khz. This is what my signal looked like on the Kiwi Receiver in Edinburgh Indiana (about 30 miles south).  This receiver is owned and operated by Bob WA8VZY and he allows people to connect over the internet and use it to listen to the bands. 

Mike AD9CA was the red signal, I am the Green signal

One last picture, my wattmeter showing about 300 milliwatts of output.  I think the most I ever got on this little radio was about 340 milliwatts.  My battery may not be totally charged.   My contact with Mike 125 miles away is equal to about 500 miles per watt!! 

WM2 Wattmeter showing right at 300 Milliwatts on the 1W Scale

Just goes to show, when the band is open, you don't need mega power to make a CW contact!! Try milliwatting sometime, it's a hoot! A Giant THANK YOU to Mike AD9CA for taking the time to tune me in and pull me out of the ether!! It absolutely made my weekend. 

73 de KB9BVN

Brian

Cikana State Fish Hatchery Part Deux

Today was the first really nice day we've had in a week.  So after work I grabbed my POTA station in a carrying case and headed out to play radio in the outdoors. 

I had originally planned on heading down to US-4183 Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area but I've been there so much I decided to drive out a little further and try another Parks on the Air entity.  It just so happens the Cikana State Fish Hatchery is only about 7 or 8 minutes further than going to Atterbury, so that's where I headed! 

It was pretty much a straight shot south on I-69 (or State Road 37 as we Hoosiers know it) to State Route 44 near the city of Martinsville.  I visited here briefly about a month ago.

I arrived at my spot at 4:40PM and by the time I got setup and on the air it was right at 5:00PM.  Today I was going to go out on a limb and try something new with antennas.  I almost ALWAYS use my 10m tall, collapsible, trailer hitch mounted, venerable Eagle One vertical, but today I wanted to try something different with my Elecraft AX1 antenna and a new way of mounting it.  One of my buddies used his 3D printer and made me a puck looking thing that the antenna mounts in to, then you screw in a set of legs and attach the coax and you're off to the races! 

Elecraft AX-1 Antenna set for 20 meters 

The AX-1 antenna from Elecraft is not much more than 4 maybe 5 feet in length when full extended. The coil I am using here today will work on 17 meters, and 20 meters.  There is another coil you can buy that will allow the little antenna to tune up on 40 meters as well.  The wire coming off the puck to the right, over the top of my truck, is a single radial I clipped on that is about 30 feet in length...the wrong size for 20m I know...but hey...it was what I had on hand.  The auto tuner in my KX-2 had NO problem getting a 1:1 match...BUT would it radiate? 

Elecraft KX-2 set for 8 watts, connected to Antenna and CW paddles - Empty Log

I started out on the air today at 20:57Z (4:57PM), called CQ POTA a few times and my first contact of the day was Joe WA2SPL up in Vermont.  So I guess it's working. By the time I left I had 13 contacts, ranging from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana. I was really happy with the way this worked out.  It was so much easier than setting up the big antenna.  

The Cikana State Fish Hatchery is great place to birdwatch, and they have a few relatively mild hiking trails, and a few picnic tables hanging around just waiting for an impromptu pitch in lunch or dinner.  Just click the link to learn more about it. 

Three of the 16 fish ponds for Indiana DNR to raise hatchlings

Map of today's contacts - W8APS was in Florida 
Using 8 Watts and the Elecraft AX-1 on 20 Meters

Well that's the report from today in the wilderness.  Until next time! 

73 de KB9BVN

Brian