Buick Mackane's Wilderness DX Adventure

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Buick Mackane
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Buick Mackane's Wilderness DX Adventure

Post by Buick Mackane »

One of my other hobbies besides radio is camping. But iv'e never done any radio work whilst camping, So i decided to pack the yaesu FT-817 and head out into the wilderness for a two day solo camping trip, I used a 66ft EFHW Antenna hooked up to my homebrew EFHW Tuner / SWR Bridge with a 16ft counterpoise wire. The radiating element was about 16ft above ground on a telescopic fishing pole tied to a fence post. My power supply was a 12v 7ah motorcycle battery which lasted me for almost the entire trip,

The RX was sheer bliss, Very very quiet noise floor. On a clear frequency the radio sounded like there was no antenna connected. Thats how quiet the noise floor was, Pre-amp switched on RF Gain up full. Can't use the pre-amp at home due to QRM. Considering the end fed was only 16ft high and i was in a valley RX Signals were booming in, Australia & japan 5-9.

I managed a lot of contacts into europe running mostly 2.5 watts on 20m which was open 24/7. Only managed some inter G contacts on 40m. Very pleased with my homebrew end fed tuner it supassed my expectations.

More info on the tuner below
viewtopic.php?p=553713#p553713

Really enjoyed going portable and can't wait to do it again. :)


But oh the noise floor was 8)
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Auldgeek
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Re: Buick Mackane's Wilderness DX Adventure

Post by Auldgeek »

Excellent. Anyone claiming that Amateur radio is boring needs to change their hobby!

Well done Jason. The combination of your antenna, location and noise floor all worked in your favour. :thumbup:
Auldgeek - Drew

Winner of IBTL Autumn 23 Edition
I've changed radios so many times, I've forgotten what I have :think:
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