n9ik’s radio blog

Yes, another seven months of no activity in ham radio. I still have a broken antenna (Butternut HF-9Vx) on the roof (I don’t own a ladder, can’t afford to buy one, and am too weak to climb up from the deck railing), my gear, what’s left of it, is all still jammed into the back of the overcrowded garage, and it is still difficult for me to remember tech stuff, and to figure things out anew after those brain treatments that I had a few years ago. That’s really a bitch, because these things used to be so easy for me. I think that I just need to get motivated to relearn this stuff. Time to break out the books and take some practice tests. At this point, I’m embarrassed to admit that I have an Extra class license. I’m not sure if I could pass a Novice/Technician class exam today, let alone the Extra test.

I’m glad now that I did not succumb to the urge to sell my Kenwood TS-130S rig a while back. Not only is it my only QRO radio now, but it’s my first rig, and more importantly, is also my mother & step father’s first rig. It has a history. It survived life cruising aboard a 45′ sail boat, covering the west coast of the US and central America to the Panama Canal, and in the Caribbean, both in use and in a storage space after being replaced by a Kenwood TS-440S. It even survived the sinking of the boat at the island of Culebra during Hurricane Hugo in September of 1989. Fortunately, the radio was well-wrapped in plastic bags at the time. The 440 wasn’t so lucky.

Let’s see now, I have the TS-130S, but no power supply, battery or otherwise (I’ve almost always operated by battery), no permanent antenna, no space to speak of, although that may change soon if one of my sons really does move out. I do have wire to make antennas with, and can string ‘em up between the house and a tree in the back yard, although anything that I could put up would be fairly low. Vertical might be best, but experimenting is half the fun.

Oh yes, I almost forgot that I do have a couple of QRPp rigs to play with, but my code copy and sending are awful. As with my tech knowledge, I’m not sure if I can copy or send much more than the five wpm that I passed while taking my Novice test. One is a FOX3 that I remember having a few QSO’s with, and a Tiny Tornado or two (say that three times fast!), still unassembled, several unassembled Pixie2 kits, and a few various and sundry accessories, some in the ubiquitous Altoids tins.

I still very much regret selling the Elecraft K1 that I built five or six years ago. I sold it at a time when I thought that the money I could get for it would make a difference with our financial situation at the time. Needless to say, I was not thinking very clearly at the time; a result, again, of the treatments that I’d been having. Oh, well. Building a new one is something to look forward to when I can afford to buy a new kit!

Oh! I just remembered that I have a DK9SQ Vertical Loop antenna. I do need to get a new mast to use it on though, the one I had was damaged by the USPS. The mast that I had was the MFJ-1910, but I think I’d want to get the DK9SQ model to replace it, it seemed stiffer, the pieces locked together better, and seemed stronger overall when I had the chance to examine one at a ham fest a few years ago. Then again, I see that MFJ now carries slightly taller fiberglass models with locking clamps or hose clamps to lock the segments together. That’s a consideration too, though not for the DK9SQ loop.

The photos above show my portable configuration at one time. When I took the pictures I had been operating outside on my deck with the Elecraft K1 and MFJ-564 iambic key (definitely not a portable item). The antenna shown is the DK9SQ; the middle photo is with the antenna all packed up for travel – MFJ mast on the left, the horizontal spreaders to the right, and the antenna balun housing with the wire wrapped around it on the floor. The photo to the right shows the antenna up and ready for work.