Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Now what?

Yesterday was Labor Day in the USA - the unofficial end of Summer. School resumes, vacations end (for the most part), everybody gets back into the swing of things. With the resumption of routines, comes less dispensable free time. That being said, there are a few things that I want to accomplish before the weather turns cold and nasty as we head into "those" months.

1) I purchased a 150' length of RG213 from DX Engineering this summer. I want to get that run to the Butternut, replacing the 15+ year old coax that is there, before the weather turns.

2) Get the W3EDP redeployed if it comes to that. I hope my neighbors don't dilly-dally with their decision on that maple tree.

3) Get a few more NPOTA entities activated. The NJ Coastal Historical Trail beckons as well as the Appalachian Trail.  Dave Hackett KD2FSI has a spot in mind that would entail some hiking. Perhaps during foliage changing season, that would be a worthwhile endeavor.

4) Play around some more with the magnetic loop antenna that I built. In particular, I am looking to the New England QRP Club's "QRP Afield" and the NoGA "Peanut Power Sprint" to help in that regard.

5) Marv K2VHW and I will be starting another Technician licensing class beginning September 13th at SPARC HQ. We will run every Tuesday night for eight weeks. We have several South Plainfielders who are interested in earning their licenses and one or two who eventually want to become CERT/RACES operators, also.

My one winter time project will be to homebrew band pass filters for 80, 40, 20 and perhaps 15 Meters to be used at SPARC Field Day next year, so that the stations can operate more freely without interfering with each other.

What are your Amateur Radio plans for the Fall and Winter?

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous10:31 PM

    I live in Arizona, so Winter is when all the outdoor projects happen. The raingutter and downspouts on the east side of the house is my 40/80M antenna. I need to get the ladder out and clean up the connections. Then I plan to stealthily use the vacant bit of land behind my house for a Beverage receiving antenna. Then if I have the time and funds I want to experiment with a shortened 40M vertical hidden in the tree in my backyard. I live in a neighborhood with an HOA so all this is strictly stealth.

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