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     So, for the very observant among you, you may have realized that I finished my "Mast-from-junk" but didn't fill you in on all the details!  So how would you know this?  The giveaway would probably be that if you happened to read my post on Winter Field Day this year or happened to watch my video about Winter Field Day you would have realized that I used it!
     With that being said, if you want to read about how my junk-mast project got started, check out Part 1 of the story before continuing on here.  If you already read Part 1, or if you just like to shoot from the hip and decided you'll figure it out as you go - read on!

     For a quick refresher (or for those that don't want to go back and read) here's the quick summary - I had been eyeballing fiberglass masts, and while deciding what to buy, I stumbled upon a telescoping fiberglass pole that was bound for a dumpster in one of the many commercial buildings that my work takes me to.  From there, I decided to start piecing together other bits of junk, or at least cheap stuff, to make myself a functional mast.
     At the point I left off, I had the mast, and I had inserted a piece of broom handle that had painter's pole thread on the end, and I had started fixing that all together.  Sometime shortly after that post I also stumbled onto a short section of scrap PVC that I needed to make a "splint" over a hole that had been drilled in the bottom section of the pole.  Now that you're caught up, here we go!

     One of the next things I added to the mast was an eye-hook.  Since I had filled the gap around the pole in the middle with epoxy (I used the loctite stuff you can get from amazon or a local supplier because it flows nicely to fill the gap, but cures nice and hard), I drilled a hole through the mast, epoxy, and center pole, and added this eye-hook that I dug out of the hardware drawer in my garage.  This means that the top of this mast can now accept a buddi-pole thread adapter, anything that I can clip into the eye-hook, or anything that I can clamp around the mast (since the top is pretty solidly filled with epoxy.)

     I had some of this that was white, and some that was black, but for making guy rings, I figured it doesn't matter if they match or not!

     I let the guy rings "float" so that they can rotate around their section of the pole which makes putting things up easier.  The top guy ring stays on the mast because it can't slide down past the section below it, and it can't slide up past the eye hook.  The bottom section is trapped between between the fitting for the next section up, and the "splint" that I made to span the hole that someone drilled through the pole in the past.  As a note - I didn't permanently attach the splint till the guy ring was in place - otherwise I would have run into a small problem....

     All that was left to do at this point was to add guy ropes. Thanks to life being busy, I didn't actually get around to that until we were actually setting up for Winter Field Day!  If you watch the video some of what we're doing when you see us with the tape measure stretched out is actually measuring and cutting the guy ropes.  The worked out well...below is close-up of the guy ropes attached to the pole, and a picture from Winter Field Day with the mast standing at full height, in all of its saved-from-the-trash glory. 

     All in, since most of the parts I used were junk or scraps, this mast cost me about 60 cents per foot of height.  Compare that to the $4.00 plus per foot of height for a commercially made mast, and I think I did alright - don't you?

     I won't write too much about my Winter Field Day 2017 activation, other than to say it was blast!  At the end of this post I included a video, so other than a few short comments, I'll let the video do the talking for me.
     For my antenna I used my "Mast-From-Junk" even though I have trees in my backyard, mainly because I wanted to press it into service (but also because my little operator wanted to set up the mast!)  I also used my "quick and dirty feedpoint" at the top of the mast.  I did 2 inverted V antenna's - one for 40 and one for 20, perpendicular to each other, with the single feed-point, and it worked out great!

     The last think I'll blabber about, before I get to the good stuff, is that I used one of these for heat, both last year and this year, and it worked out great!  
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     They are awesome for this type of thing because they have a bunch of safety features (auto shut off if they tip over, if it senses low oxygen, etc. etc.) and they work well for "keeping the edge off" when you're in the cold (this year it was pretty warm for January - Mid 30's F during the day, only dropped to the 20's F at night.)   
​     I use the optional extension hose to hook it to a larger propane bottle.  If you do this like I do, be sure to get the filter, since it's hard to know what's in the propane, depending on where you get your bottles filled!  I also keep an extinguisher handy just in case, but this heater has never given any reason to suspect I would ever need it!​

     Okay, so here's what you were all waiting for!  My "Photo Video" of Winter Field Day in my back yard!  

     Thanks for watching, and 73!

     For those of you that live in, or frequent, Florida, you already know this, but for the rest of you out there, Alligator Alley is the nickname that is given to the stretch of Route 75 that runs through the Everglades and Big Cypress Nature Preserve.  So why name a blog post after a highway?  The simple answer is - because I activated it!

      From January 30th - February 2nd, I had to make a work trip to Ft. Myers FL.  When I started doing my standard search for parks nearby to activate, I started coming up with a lot of duds - the parks that were close ended up being a weird mix of places that close at sunset (which doesn't work out well for after-work activations), or places that you need a boat to access!  Since I don't travel with a boat, those were out of the question.  I was about to give up and just stick to activating the Holiday Inn, but instead I reached out the community on the POTA Facebook group and wasn't disappointed!  Bob, KA9JAC, jumped in and said if you're willing to travel about an hour, Big Cypress is open 24 hours.  That's all I needed to hear!

     I packed up my backs (I did a a photo-journal style post a while back to show how I travel with my gear) and headed off to work!  My plane landed pretty late Monday night, so I didn't really have time to operate but I did head out to the location that I had scoped out on Google Maps.  At least that's what I tried to do....apparently I Googled wrong, and ended up somewhere else entirely, but I'm glad I did!  Inside Big Cypress Nature Preserve is also the country's smallest post office (and yes, it is an actual, operating post office!)

     I didn't set up here at all, but for anyone planning a future activation this would be a cool place to set up - it has a decent little parking area, after-hours there's not much traffic so you shouldn't be pestered too much, and it isn't too far off the beaten path.  Just gas up before you start, because the closest gas stations close early in the evening!

     So, Tuesday night, I managed to head to the location I initially planned.  Right on Alligator Alley (Route 75) there are a couple trailhead parking area's and rest stops.  I set up at one of the trailhead parking areas.  This was a decent place to operate, but not the most scenic in the world.  For me it was decent though - I set up my buddipole mast for a center support, and ran my 40 meter wire dipole parallel to the fence along the parking area, and tied the ends off to fence posts.  As far as ham radio goes, it worked well, but a word of caution - bring bug spray!  Right around dusk the swarms come out for a feeding frenzy.  It doesn't last long but it's awful while it lasts!  

     During my first evening I managed 30 or so contacts from this location, on 40 meters.  The highlight the first night was a digital contact with Venezuela!  For the second night I found a much more scenic location in the preserve to operate.  I even had visitors come and check out my antenna!

     In addition to this visitor, one of the other visitors was an actual person - another tourist that stopped by and asked about my set up and what I was doing - he thought it was pretty cool, and even said "That's awesome!" when I told him I was making contacts with the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Puerto Rico.  We may have a new convert to the hobby!
     The location I chose for the second night was actually just down the road a little bit from the tiny post office.  There is a roadside park called "HP Williams Roadside Park" that has a decent parking area, some benches, a small boardwalk for viewing, and even restroom facilities (but no running water, so no promises on what they might smell like in the heat of the summer!)  
     For night 2 I wised up and set up my station inside the back of the rental car (A jeep compass) and ran the wires through one of the windows, open just enough to let the wires through.  I stuffed the opening with a spare t-shirt for good measure.  I then spent the early evening operating from behind the vehicle with the tailgate up, and then when the swarm started coming I just jumped in and closed the tailgate, and kept operating until the feeding frenzy ended.
     My only disappointment from this activation was that I didn't get into any CW like I had planned.  Cell phone reception at this location was in and out, and I had to pack up and leave so that I could be back into an area with cell coverage before my nightly FaceTime call with my kiddo's at home (this is a tradition when I'm traveling - we do our bedtime stories and everything just like we would if I was home.)  
     With that, I'll wrap it up and leave you with a couple tid-bits, and some pictures:

Till next time!