State Park Saturday

Had some free time Saturday afternoon to play radio so I grabbed my nap shack, hamstick, and battery and went to Shepherd Lake, which is part of Ringwood State Park in NJ.

After a quick walk by the water and a few photos I set up my car station on 20 meters SSB. Only had two contacts in my hours time before a slight drizzle of rain started.

Nice & quiet

First contact was a special event station in Germany, DM800ANH. It took me about 5 minutes of listening before I got the call correct. (I was not the only one) Next was a group of guys in Wisconsin on the air in a house rotating operators, drinking beer, eating and telling stories. Sounds like they had a great time for all. The call was WB9AZA. They plan on doing this once a year. I can't wait to see that qsl card.

View from the car

The good thing about going to the State Parks this time of year is the cost, free or a low admission to get in off season and less people around in general. I am a member of the parks on the air Yahoo group so my next trip I will work on the 5 plus contacts necessary to activate a park, should be fun.

Bear Country...Yikes!

Outdoor Pictures



Small Stream

                

My view on the hill

Cold winter Sunday afternoon



A few deer on the way home

Photos from last weeks adventure in New York.

NY State Portable

Today was a nice sunny day with the weather man calling for a high temperature of 45 F, I decided to spend the afternoon outside and explore a new place to set up a station. After kicking around a few places I settled on Harriman State Park in New York over the New Jersey border.
I went camping and fishing in the past at Harriman and know of a very nice overlook with a great view of the surroundings. Plus with the cold winter months no bears or snakes to meet up with, just deer and they are always nice to look at.  The equipment was on the heavy side but with the help of my backpack the short hike from the car was no big deal, just had to be careful crossing the small stream, wet feet on a cold day would have me back in the car super fast. The temps ended up at 40 F mark and the lake in the distance had a covering of ice.

Time to unpack

Equipment List:
FT-857D
Buddipole
Weaker battery
MFJ-259B (lowest SWR for the Buddipole)
Water & snacks (muffins)
Pad, pencil, & camera

BuddiPole Antenna

Ft-857D & Accessories

Only two contacts were made, a Northern Ireland station, 2I0BSA came back to my cq call and also WB8QEY from TN, both on the SSB side. My battery was not fully charged when I left so it did not last long. I tried for one more station in England but he said I was coming over at a S1 and very weak on his end. Decided to start packing up after an hour or so when the winds started to pick up.  Only two contacts but was very nice to get outside.

I can't wait to do it again.

Great View!

Afternoon Car Portable

With the temps edging near the 50 F mark yesterday afternoon spent an hour or so at the Fort Lee Historic Park in NJ high on the cliffs overlooking the Hudson River.

After a walk to check out the views and a few photos I set up shop in the car with the FT-857D, portable battery, and a 20 meter ham stick on the roof.

Had a wonderful conversation with a ham who lives in the Sunshine State of Fla. in the winter, Queens, NY in the summer months. His antenna was a wire attached to a palm tree, a stealth type set up, very cool.

My last contact was to the Ar tic Circle, OH9SCL, cranked up the juice for this one to break into the mix of other stations calling. That ham stick on the roof did it's job, for the price you can't beat it.



Circle Line tour boat.

View from the car.

Overall a nice afternoon on a fairly warm end of December, I will take it. The Fort Lee park is relatively quiet this time of year, the views are stunning. I have operated before here and its one of my favorites.

Mr. Jim Portable

This past Sunday I spent an hour or so at the Fort Lee Historic Park in Fort Lee, NJ. The park overlooks the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge, the views are incredible. My last visit here was in March of 2010.

Every time I visit the park have to take a short walk on the path and check out the NY skyline and Hudson River far below. A married couple was being photographed, too bad it was cloudy out but warm temps near 60 degrees.

My radio set up was a Yaesu 857, LDG Z-11 antenna tuner, 20 & 40 meter ham sticks and a Werker battery. The big advantage of this location is the height which helps with the ham sticks. Started out on 40 meters with a few stations heard, a quick switch over to 20 meters had a big improvement, the band came alive with signals from far and near.

My two nice contacts were Chris, G5FZ, in England, and Dimitri, IN3ACQ, in Italy, SSB. Dimitri kept calling me Mr. Jim! My power out was 70 watts, sorry qrp fans, I tried calling cq a number of times with 10 watts out but no luck.

One thing about operating outside the home is describing your surroundings, much different than working stations from your home qth. The nice weather is on the way so I plan on getting out more with the radio.

A hike on a trail sounds like a future plan!

Jersey Shore

Spent the last few days at the Jersey shore with the family for the annual end of summer getaway.

Hurricane Earl went by with some mighty strong winds which made for a wicked undertow in the Atlantic, which kept us out of the water until Saturday. It also put a damper on my bay kayak trip, the wind was not fun on the water.

We did spend a wonderful afternoon at Island Beach State Park. The day before the storm it was a beautiful sunny day and the beaches were just about empty with the storm on its way.

My only regret is I did not bring a radio with me, a deserted beach would have been a blast to go on the air with the ocean view in front of me.

I still have the fall season for another trip or two for some beach portable.

Go Kit Ideas

With the warm summer weather upon us thoughts turn to outdoor activities, I have been thinking of putting together a go kit.

Just a simple bag or backpack consisting of a complete station.

Here are a few ideas:

Yaesu FT-857D, 5-10 watts for qrp and some extra power in case I need it.
Werker 12V 10Ah sealed battery. 6 1/2 lbs.
Straight Key.
Antenna? Looking at some type of end fed / dipoles. I have a Buddipole and ham sticks but would like to keep everything in a bag. If working near car I will be set.
Telescoping crappie fishing pole??
Antenna tuner: LGD Z-11 Pro
Pad, pencils, small light.
Backpack or heavy duty gym bag.
Digital camera.
Assorted cables RG8X.

The weight of the radio and battery adds a few pounds but not going to be doing any major hiking, just working picnic table, beach, etc. Lets just say walking distance from car.

As you can see this is a work in progress type of list, so changes will be made. Any input from past experiences would be appreciated.

Radio To Go

This past Sunday afternoon I grabbed my radio bag and newly charged battery and headed to the Fort Lee Historic Park. The park is located on a cliff top high above the Hudson River. Spectacular views of the George Washington Bridge and the upper Manhattan skyline were the perfect setting to check out.

The weather was a nice sunny day with temps in the 50 degree range, after some sight seeing I loaded the 20 meter ham stick on the car roof and wanted to put my battery to the test. My view from the parking lot was the GWB. I cranked up the power on my Yaesu 857D to 30W and worked France and Germany. Dropped the power down to 25 watts and worked Italy and another station in Germany. Overall conditions were good and the SSB contest kept the bands alive.



I would have like to spent more time chatting but all stations were contest crazy. Next time I plan to drop my power down to 10 watts and have some fun. Before I left a young lady took this huge boa snake out of her car, had to go check it out. She offered to take a picture of me holding it but this thing was BIG!

Maybe next time!

Werker Battery

I made a quick run down the Garden State Parkway to the Batteries Plus store in Union, NJ and purchased a Werker 12V 10Ah SLA battery.

I decided to go for the Werker brand after I sent Will Robertson, AI4QT, an email to see what brands he has luck with. Will has a few videos on You Tube with his 857D in the back yard portable mode. He answered me quick with a reply, that's what is great about this hobby, send a stranger an email and get a reply. Great stuff. Be sure to check out his videos.

My first choice was a 7Ah but for a few extra bucks decided on the 10Ah. Battery weight is just under 7 lbs but this will not be used for hiking just back yard and picnic type operating. Also pick up a charger that was doing its job this afternoon.

Tomorrow with temps in the low fifties with sunshine, time to play radio. I have a few cool locations in mind or worst case just set up in the yard.

My blogger site over the past few days was being directed (hacked) to another site or two, after some reading I deleted the time clock on bottom of page and that fixed the problem. Bottom line is be careful of what type of widgets you add to you site.

Enjoy the weekend!

Portable Ideas

On a cold snow covered Sunday afternoon in February, I am started to put together some ideas for future portable radio fun. My state of New Jersey and the surrounding areas have the Ramapo Mountains to the north and the Jersey Shore to the south. I admit having a pair or ear buds working CW in the woods could be cool, but not to fond of the bears. The beach and back bays are also a possibility.

Without spending any additional cash the only purchase would be for a battery and charger. My radio is a Yaesu 857D and antenna is a Buddipole, if I set up in close distance to the car this will work. I could also put together an end fed or crappie pole with zip cord for hiking. Power levels would be qrp to save on the battery and for the challenge of it all. The 817ND sounds perfect but will see how cash flow looks as the weather gets warmer.

Would also have to pick up a backpack to cart my goodies around. I love watching the videos on the net showing the portable qrp fun. I want to get in on that.

This is work in progress so please feel free send me your ideas.