Beach Portable

It's been remarkably warm this winter so far.  December was typically 6 degrees C warmer than the usual temperature, making outdoor operations much more attractive.

So, with a loose Sunday afternoon on offer, I took off to one of the north coast of Anglesey's beaches, where easy car access close to the sea is possible, and the kids could feed the ducks on a nearby lake.

Perfect...

 

Armed with nothing more than an SO239 chassis mount and three wires cut for 15m, arranged as an elevated quarter wave, I set the whole thing up on a 7m fishing pole, and connected to my trusty TS480SAT.

Running just 20W maximum output on SSB, I was surprised to immediately break into a big pile-up working a Canadian station - although the reason for the pile-up wasn't immediately apparent.  I worked a couple of US stations, all with good signal reports, and even one on short skip to Belgium.

Those contacts were enough to remind me - and all those machoistic folk around - that beach working with a simple quarter wave is extremely powerful and very satisfying.  It's just a pity that there is a large cadre of folk out there who don't realise or accept this.

My initial rough estimate lengths for the vertical were a few inches too long.  It took me about a minute to trim on site, achieving a 1:1 match with ease.  It's not every antenna you can say that about!

What I didnt achieve was raising any interest amongst the public.  A curious little boy was whisked away with nervous apology by his overprotective mother, after I asked them both if they'd like to hear someone in America.  "Oh, it's a radio", said she, quickly diving into the comfort and safety of a car.  The UK is a sad, sad place, now...

 

A Great New Year's Morning!

After much media hype about a 'mega solar storm' hitting Earth about New Year's Eve, the much more moderate G1-2 storm began around midday on NYE.

With the recent heavy winds having broken an old 75Ohm stub on my 2-ele quad for 50MHz, I was anxious not to be be left out of any auroral working.  So, with new coax still not arrived in the post-Christmas mail, I recycled the old stub, accepting a very small reduction in length (which turned out to have almost no effect on SWR.)

Torshavn calling - on 6m Es at New Year.

I turned the beam to the north as a faint green glow appeared on the northern horizon around 7pm.  Later, I was surprised to hear a number of Scandinavian beacons coming through quite strongly.  Some aurora-warbled CW was also coming through, again from up north.

As we progressed through midnight and into 2016, I was amazed to hear - and make contact with - OY1OF coming through at 55-7 on SSB, along a stable Es path, absent of any auroral effects.  An LA9 station was about the same strength, but with much more fading.

So, a very nice late evening and early morning that allowed me to say HNY! to the Faroes, and highlighted the remarkable number of effects that make 6m such a fascinating band to work.