PicoKeyer

My first real soldering project.
All of 10 components but it felt like a big leap from the antennas I've built.

Sloppy as hell but it worked! It beeped 73 at me when I put the battery in :)

My to-do list of radio kit builds has increased exponentially.

As has my confidence.

Probably not the best thing after one small build.

 - U

Moving furniture and POTA US-4571

 Man, loungers are hard to move.

FT891 @ 100W; 20m EFHW; BamaTech TP-III

31 QSOs

50min

Forrest hunted me for the first time :)

I had a ton of room around me and tried an inv V with the antenna instead of the usual sloper setup. A little awkward with the feed point but might have been a little better with slightly more height :shrugs:

 - U

Stenogyne Kanehoana

Beep beep

 - U

 

ARRL DX

Decided to give the ARRL DX contest a shot, mainly to see how many new DX stations I could get.
Too lazy to set up N1MM or N3FJP keyers so ended up using the 7300s memories - worked pretty well for S&P.

Saturday was actually a little boring as I only relied on the DX spotters and not really my own copy.

Sunday was much more fun as I scanned the bands myself - I actually ended up getting all the EU and AF QSOs that way. TBH, surprised at my ability to copy 35+ wpm callsigns after a couple of attempts.

Some of the pileups were insane.

So many ops running kilowatt stations!

This one was fun.

Not sure I'd run a frequency but definitely looking forward to it next year :)

 - U

Dogs get a haircut and POTA US-3394

New radio setup, compromised antenna, first QRP activation attempt, and a high velocity solar flare.
Absolutely perfect conditions to go out and POTA.

KX2 @ 10W; AX1; BamaTech TP-III; QRPWorks MagPi

11 QSOs

52min

Propagation was extremely up-and-down. Started off with weak signal reports and hopped around the higher bands before settling on 20m.

KX2 handheld worked beautifully and the little AX1 definitely punches above its weight class :)

Clear and sunny at the Albany Flats but it was coooold.

Fun times.

 - U

Breaking 50 with WB0RLJ

How many hunters have this?

Always fun breaking into WB0RLJ's pileups :)

 - U

A break from the rain and POTA US-4571

So much QSB

Propagation on 20m was odd - skipped the Mountain West almost completely

FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III

28 QSOs on 20m

60min

A little POTA therapy does wonders for a headache :)

 - U

2025 SKCC SKM

That was fun!

Got the US and Colonies sweep, with Centurion and Tribune along the way.

I had ignored my straight key for too long.

Now I want a bug too :)

 - U

Messy cleanup at POTA US-4578

Yesterday's activation ended up with 1 QSO in the next UTC day.

Turns out this creates a new activation with just that 1 and shows up as incomplete.

Stat carnage.

Clearly unacceptable.

I don't know if it was because I was rushing, there was a lot of QRM, or I was getting WFD responses that were confusing me, but I don't think I've had this hard a time copying in a while.

I also had a couple of busted calls which I was pretty confident I copied correctly :confused:

FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III

9 QSOs (7 on 15m, 2 on 20m)

45min

Ended on a high note with a call from Italy. Grazie, Alberto :)

 - U

Car service drop-off and POTA US-4578

 I thought there would be more band congestion due to WFD :shrug:

FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
27 QSOs (8 on 15m, 19 on 20m)
90min

 - U

POTA US-4571 Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail CA

Meh band conditions.
Probably should have started on 15m and not jumped to 40m that early.

FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III

11 QSOs (10 on 20m, 1 on 40m)

37min

 - U

POTA US-4578 Pony Express National Historic Trail CA

I didn't even think to look at the POTA trails close to our QTH - turns out there's two going through parks really close by!

These are going to become my go-tos for quick activations.

FT891 @ 50W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
22 QSOs, including a few hunts

15m - MN, KY, WY, MI, OH, Japan, CO, VA, AR, OK

17m - NE (1st P2P with WB0RLJ, woot)

20m - BC, OR, AR, AZ, CA, WA, WI, NC, TX

Activation between errands.

I could get used to this :)

 - U

Fox Den at Chalco Hills

Thanks again WB0RLJ.
Legend.

 - U