Fiji

Another all time new one thanks to the Scorpion SA680 antenna, 3D2RA/P on the Pacific Island of Fiji, he wasn't too strong with me at the time and there were plenty of people calling, and to be honest I didn't expect to be heard, but thought I'll never know for sure unless I try, anyway I did, and now it's in the log, two Pacific Islands I've never worked previously Samoa and Fiji are added to my DX list so far this year, with my total around 222DXCC, I say around, because they are a couple I haven't finished moving to my log yet from last year.

I also worked a few Californians yesterday on 15m, the California QSO party was in full swing so I saw the opportunity of adding a few counties worked, in fact I don't recall a time I worked so many Californian stations in one session, I think I might try and work all counties during next year's QSO party.

A couple of other good contacts yesterday was New Zealand whilst driving home from work on 40m, I also managed Mayotte, Angola, Trinidad & Tobago, and Hawaii, here's the summary:

40m

9Y2LAS

ZM4G

DL/G8OFQ

20m

D2SG

3D2RA/P

TO2TT

15m

NM6G

KW8L

KE6ZSN

WH7Z

K6Q

W6YX

N6OJ

KG4N

W0HJW/6

W6PZ

N6NF

N6N

N6O

WA6FGV

CY0P

PY3UK

W6AFA

K6ME

W6T

K6T

W6UE

NN3V/6

W6ML

WB6HYH

K6Z

PT7VB

Scorpion SA680

I've spent a fair amount of time, money and effort on mobile DXing, I get a real kick out of, however on my regular drive to and from work (120 mile round trip), I rely on my High Sierra Sidekick for quick change multiband operation, if I want better performance then I switch to one of my homebrew monoband antennas, this is a good compromise, but I don't really want compromise, I want it both ways, multiband and efficiency.

Earlier on this year I was working in Gran Canaria and had just ordered a VNA from Wimo in Germany, it had been a big decision which unit to buy and how much to spend, I already had an MFJ269, but wanted to add a two port VNA to my test equipment, it was only just after I ordered this VNA that a Scoprion SA680 was offered for sale on a forum I regularly use, this antenna would have fulfilled my having it 'both ways' requirement, efficient multiband performance, however it was expensive and I'd just spent a lot of money on the VNA, as much as I really wanted it, I couldn't afford it, I had to let it go.

Fast forward to August this year and the very same antenna was for sale, I had to have it and sent the seller a message as quick as I could,  roll forward a couple of days and I'd driven to Derby in order to collect the antenna, finally it was mine.

If anyone reading this has ever seen a Scorpion SA680, you'll know how big and how heavy this antenna is, it presents it's own unique problem when installing one on a European compact car, in fact the chap I bought the antenna from had it installed on a trailer hitch below his rear bumper. I wanted maximum efficiency from this antenna so a trailer hitch was out of the question, however mounting it on my roof was out of the question too. A compromise was sought and a tailgate mount was decided upon, a custom build tailgate mount in fact. I spoke to a local blacksmith who was able to make the required mount, it itself is big, but with reinforcing bar stock inside the tailgate I have no worries about it damaging the tailgate, except for the four bolt holes!

Early morning Pedestrian Mobile

A recent early morning pedestrian mobile session on Sunday 21/July/2013, apart from providing a long list of DX contacts, provided the opportunity to work some QRP with KX7XX in San Francisco.

I'd been on air for at least four hours, my batteries were fried and I was delivering at most 50W on high power, thankfully the conditions were good and Luke didn't mind giving me some signal reports on varying power, I remembered to video the event:

Had I remembered to start the video rolling sooner I'd have been able to capture the moment my friend, and co pedestrian mobiler, Dave G4AKC was able to work Luke with 9mW, that's not a typo, 9mW SSB contact between Dave G4AKC and Luke KK7XX, that makes my 500mW contact look positively QRO.

A little later, and with my batteries almost dead, an estimated antenna input of 10 to 20W and we got a call from Philippe, FO4BM, I wasn't too strong with him, but perfect copy, had the group not been so big it would have been good to try mW again, maybe next time:

Always trying to squeeze a little more efficiency from my antennas and locations, I added a little more height to the screwdriver and cap hap combination, for this I used the four 1' shafts from my buddipole kit, this obviously adds 4' to the overall length of the antenna, with a total length of approximately 10', plus the addition of the cap hat, means the antenna will only tune as high as 18.2MHz, thus encompassing the whole of the 17m band, without the cap hat the antenna will cover all of the 15m band.

With this antenna and favourable band conditions I was able to work HH5/KC0W with first call and took my logged mobile DXCC to 210, I say logged because there are a few from last year that haven't yet been logged, including French Polynesia, as they are on my old mobile phone logging program which doesn't output ADIF and requires manually transferring, there are possibly four DXCC to be added, and when I can find the motivation I'll get round to it.

A spot of mobile DXing from one of my favourite locations, Fairhaven Lake in Lytham St.Annes, the sea comes in and meets the sea wall and has a saline lake to the back of the car, making use of the sea in the fresnel zone helps lower the angle of radiation, just what's needed for real long distance DXing.

In use here is my High Sierra Sidekick screwdriver base, 5' whip and large capacitance hat, this is used for 40/80m and makes a big difference, less inductance is required from the screwdriver and helps promote a more even distribution of current along the short antenna.