Satisfaction

I think, perhaps, it was during Field Day, or at a recent SPARC meeting that our Club President, Bill W2AOF and I got to talking about portable operating and antennas. He told me that he likes to set up his KX3 at the cabin that his family owns in the Pocono Mountains near Lake Wallenpaupack in Pennsylvania.

The problem is that he was not satisfied with his temporary antennas that he had been setting up. For whatever reason, throwing a wire up into a tree seems to be a tricky and time consuming proposition. Since I've never been to his cabin, I'm assuming the deck from where's he's been operating doesn't afford the greatest of antenna situations. There may be a steep drop off of land which makes navigating on the ground tricky, for all I know. In my mind, I imagined trying to get a wire up in a tree while at the same time trying to be careful that I don't roll down a steep hillside. My luck, I'd break an ankle or worse.

Bill is semi-retired and owns his own business now. He's been particularly busy between that and his duties as Assistant Manager of Emergency Operations for a neighboring town next to South Plainfield. As a result of that busy-ness, he and his wife Nancy were headed up to the lake for a few days of much needed R & R.

I was totally unaware of his plans, when an inspiration hit me. I have two magloops, the AlexLoop and my homebrewed one. I can't use them both at the same time, so I texted Bill the day before they were going to leave (unbeknownst to me) and I told him, "I have something for you."

He told me that he was busy that Saturday morning, involved in a food distribution event in the town for which he volunteers, but would be home after 2:00 PM. I waited until he texted me that he was home and took the homebrewed magloop over. He was surprised and delighted, and I was surprised to find out they were leaving for Pennsylvania that very afternoon or evening. Timing could not have been better.

Later that week, he told me he had the loop set up. I had texted him some basic instructions along with some photos that I took from some of the times I had deployed it when I had used it for National Parks On The Air. I guess my instructions were good enough, because later that week he texted me back saying his first two contacts were with Latvia and Croatia on 20 Meters.

So this brings satisfaction on several levels - first, I was able to give away something that was taking up space in the computer room of our house. That made Marianne a bit happy. Second, I was able to give something to a friend that fulfilled a need that he had. Third, the thing that I gave him actually works! I mean, I know it does as I've used it successfully myself for years, but seeing it also work for someone else makes my heart feel glad.

Is a magloop the ideal for this situation? In my old school mind, a dipole or other wire is always the ideal. If and when that becomes impossible or close to impossible, or an even dangerous solution, then the magloop becomes the ideal, especially when it's a situation of just casual operating. As the old sayings go, "Any kind of antenna is better than no antenna." and "Even a bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work."

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!