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East Texas Campout - 2000
A recent trip to Texas to visit my family coincided
with the arrival of my DSW-20 kit from Small Wonder Labs . As
part of my visit, I also wanted to camp out on land near Henderson,
Texas that's been in our family for a century and a half or
so, and do a little target shooting, listen to the coyotes and,
of course, break in my new QRP rig. And perhaps welcome a visit
or two from any old family ghosts that might still be around.
With plenty of land and a lot of tall pine trees, I made vague
plans for a full-wave loop for 40 meters, fed with twin lead,
which I could tune to use on 20 meters. Or maybe a 1/4 wave
vertical with 100 or 200 radials up on the hilltop.
But plans sometimes go awry and this was one
of those times. Due to a late start getting everything together
and packed, I only had time to put up a 40 meter dipole by the
time twilight settled in. The dipole was unique, my target shooting
skills need work, the coyotes are loud and haunting, and my
new DSW works like a charm.
 The
Rig
When I opened the package containing
my new DSW20, the first thing I noticed was the quality of the
case. I can usually judge the quality of a kit by the looks
of the circuit board, but in the case (no pun intended!) of
the DSW, I couldn't get over the lightweight, yet heavy-duty
feel of the housing. It really is good quality construction,
with engraved labeling and an electric blue anodized finish,
all held together by 8 small Allen screws (wrench included).
The assembly manual is clear and concise with no ambiguity and
the circuit board is top quality. Construction is divided into
six groups and total assembly time was less than 4 1/2 hours.
The smoke test was uneventful and tune-up was a snap - one transformer
and one cap to tweak and you're done. As I was staying with
my aunt and uncle (ie, no antennas) during my time in Texas,
"First RF" for this rig would be two nights later
from my tent.
The Antenna
Our property is located near the small
town of Henderson, Texas - population 11,000. I had all the
equipment I needed to get on the
air with the exception of a center insulator for the dipole.
I had planned to stop by Henderson's Radio Shack and pick one
up on the way out to the campsite. It was 1:15 pm when I arrived
at Radio Shack. Radio Shack in Henderson closes at 1:00 pm on
Saturdays. DOH! So I drove on out to camp, knowing I'd figure
out or find something to use. As I was gathering firewood, still
wondering what to do about a center insulator, I came upon an
old, dry, bleached cow skeleton. I'd seen lots of cow skeletons
in my childhood but never did I notice before how perfectly
constructed the vertebrae are for 40-meter dipoles. I don't
know how this obvious relationship between HF antennas and cow
bones could have escaped me all those years. I felt silly for
being ignorant of this basic tenet for so long. Wondering about
the dielectric properties of calcified bovine carcassii, I selected
one of the more attractive vertebrae and commenced antenna-building.
Feedline was 300-ohm TV twinlead. Ropes on the ends of the dipole
legs, tied to half a brick and thrown into the pines and.....voila
- a multi-band dipole at about 30 feet. A ZM-2 tuned it for
20m to make the DSW happy. By now night was falling and it was
time to get on the air.
On The Air
Darkness comes early this time of year
but at least the temperature was mild. The rain fly was on the
tent, more for wind protection that for rain, for the forecast
called for a clear, cool evening with a low of 40F. A candle
lantern suspended from the tent's ceiling and a Mini-Mag flashlight
provided light. I set the DSW on top of the Norcal 40A and remembered
how, when I first built the 40A, I thought it was small. But
sitting beneath the new DSW, it looked a bit clunky. A battery
pack of 10 "C" cells provided power, MK-33 paddles
from Whiterook did the keying and Radio Shack Nova 71 headphones
provided audio. I wasn't backpacking and my pickup (aka 12VDC
supply) was parked right outside the tent, but I wanted to use
"C" cells in order to learn more about operating QRP
with them.
 The
rig came up on 14.060, confirmed by a push of the tuning button.
A push of the "KEYER" button, followed by a string
of dits upped my keying speed to around 16-18 wpm. I already
like this rig! I tune down to a lower portion of the band where
I hear a W4 working an EA3. They are both equally strong to
me and when their QSO is over I give the EA3 a call. He comes
back to me with a 559. Awesome! An hour and a half later and
the logbook contains an SP1 and half a dozen stateside calls.
Someone made a comment on QRP-L recently about this being an
ideal rig for blind amateurs - everything is "touch &
listen". Those same qualities make it perfect for a dark
tent. The only time I needed light was to log the QSOs and to
write down the callsigns of who I was working. I could remember
the rest in my head.
Coyotes Calling CQ
Around 8pm local time, I switched to the Norcal
40A. I really wanted to work some DX on 40 meters, but it was
not to happen tonight. One thing I liked was that it was very
easy to switch between these two rigs. The power connectors
are the same size, as are the other three necessary plugs :
antenna, paddles and headphones. Less than a minute to change
bands/rigs. With the KC1 installed, the 40A is also an easy-to-use
rig in the dark. Even easier as a matter of fact due to the
memory function of the KC1. Calling CQ is as simple as pushing
a single button. I wish the DSW had a memory keyer. I made several
stateside contacts on 40 meters but didn't hear any DX at all
and decided to get some shut-eye. Thirty minutes after lights-out,
two groups of coyotes started howling at each other and it was
to this eery sound that I drifted off to sleep.
I awoke the next morning at 6:30 am. It was
still dark and the 40-meter rig was still hooked up so I flipped
up the ON switch and put
on the phones. VKs, ZLs and JAs! And loud! I called several
VKs to no avail and then answered a CQ from a JE1. Tomi gave
me a 569 from Tokyo. He was 599+ in my tent. Two California
stations and then I go outside to cook breakfast. That's all
the QRPing I would do and I was a happy camper. Both rigs worked
great, I worked DX on both bands, coyotes serenaded me and I
learned some interesting and useful information about cow bones.
But no old ghosts came to visit
.
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