Post contains affiliate link

     No, I'm not referring to the Jazz standards by Duke Ellington or John Coltrane - I'm referring to the "standards" that exist in ham radio and electronics.  While the standards aren't always followed, it is nice to be able to rely on certain things, like the fact that red wires are generally positive and black wires are generally negative.  It's also great that powerpoles are generally assembled with "Red on the Right."  Another "standard" that we use in Ham Radio is the 50 ohm antenna/feedline system standard.  Then there's the pneumonic that my dad taught me as a kid to remember the legs of a transistor - his name and his two buddies - Ed, Barry, & Charlie (Emitter, Base, Collector.)  None of these however, are the standard that I'm geeking out about today.
     Today, I'm excited about the 3/8-24 thread standard that we use for antenna's.  I have no idea how this standard came about, or even if it's really the ideal thread and bolt size for our service's application, but I'm still pumped about it.  Why is that?  Because it makes playing around easier when parts made by different manufacturers fit together!  In my case, I'm thankful for it, because it let me play around, and use parts from my Buddipole Antenna in my mobile mount while I activated Hopewell Furnace for National Parks on the Air.

  
     For this arrangement I put 2 of the 11 inch arms together, screwed them into the mount on my trunk, followed by the coil, and then one of the telescoping whips to top it off.  Because I was shooting for the 20 meter band, and I wanted as much efficiency as possible, I basically started with the telescoping part fully extended, and the tap on the coil set to jump over pretty much the entire coil - this made the antenna resonant a frequency higher than 20 meters, meaning the antenna was electrically to short.  To "lengthen" the antenna I just adjusted the coil by moving the tap down (physically) a couple windings at a time, until I found the point where one tap made the antenna just a little to short, and the next tap made it just a little too long.

     Since I started with the telescoping whip fully extended, I chose the tap that made the antenna just slightly too long, and then I adjusted the telescoping whip to make shorter, to fine tune the antenna where I needed it.  It worked great!

     Now, without an actual antenna range, and all kinds of fancy measurement tools, I can't actually make any performance claims, but it "felt" like this worked better than my 20 meter hamstick normally does.  My logic is this:

• It ended up being a slightly longer antenna than the hamstick.  More antenna element and less coil generally makes for a more efficient antenna, all else being equal.
• The coil for the Buddipole has a much larger diameter and more spacing between windings than the tiny wire tightly wound around the fiberglass rod inside the hamstick.  A Bigger coil, bigger wire, more space between windings also generally makes for a more efficient antenna.
• The diameter of the antenna element is larger, so in theory this should also be more broad-banded than the hamstick.

     Playing around with this arrangement also made me realize that I have a couple other options that should work better than my hamsticks too (when I'm parked anyway - I'm not about to use this while going 70mph down the highway, I have no idea what wind loads the Buddipole parts where designed to handle!)  The first and most obvious would be to use the same arrangement, but with the tap on different spots of the coil to use it for 6, 10, 12, 15, 17, 30, and 40 meters.  I also realized that it "might" work to put both coils in a row, one after the other, to use it on 80 meters - I'll let you know how that works out when I have time to try it.

    With all that being said, I'll wrap up with a salute to the 3/8-24 standard, and say "thank you" to all the manufacturers that so kindly make stuff according to the standards!

     I'd like to shoot some RF in your direction:

     During a recent NPOTA activation of the Petersburg National Battlefield (where, by they way, the hours on the website are wrong - I learned the hard way that the Eastern Front Visitor's Center closes at sunset, not 8pm as stated on the web) I took the above picture.  
     The canon here was very close to the parking area, and I suddenly had the urge to run a wire over to it, clip it on with a battery clamp, load it up with tuner, and use it as an antenna.  Alas, the paint was really thick, so that wouldn't have actually worked.  I mentioned this on the old trusty book of faces, and Scott Davis had an idea....

     So.....without further ado, I bring to you the newest antenna design to be sweeping the amateur radio world - look out G5RV....here comes....

Otherwise known as the Scott Davis Loaded Cannon

Where will you use yours?

​Post Contains Affiliate Links

     I had to travel to Eastern Ohio for work, and rather than stay in a hotel, I figured I'd stay in a national park, so that I could play radio every evening.  Three nights in Cuyahoga National Park to be exact.  It's a forest, which means out there, in the woods, areRacoons, Eagles, Fungus Carrying Bats, and Coyote.  There are also Fox, Possum, Mice, Rats, and Skunks.  
     Well, none of that scares me!  I'm a big bad ham radio operator.  Because I spent the whole first day getting there, setting up Monday night had to be done in the dark.  Thanks to my incredible bravery I was able to set up my antenna by flashlight, unload the rest of my gear and set up the operating position where I was going to have to brave the next 3 nights of ham radio activation:



​

 
     It's all in how you spin the story isn't it?  So, where in Cuyahoga did I find such a great operating position?  At a Bed and Breakfast inside the park!  The accommodations couldn't have been  more perfect!  The place I stayed was The Inn at Brandywine Falls which is a great place, run by Katie and George.  I found the Inn through the National Park Service web site for Cuyahoga Valley National Park the last time I was in the area, so I had decided that when I needed to come back I was going to make reservations, so that I could activate in the evenings, from a comfy spot!  I e-mailed the owners to let them know what I wanted to do, and they were very accommodating.  While it wasn't snowing at the time I was there, this would be an awesome spot for anyone wanting to activate this winter, who doesn't want to be stuck out in the cold....the picture from their website below says it all:

     Because I was in the area for work I didn't get to stay for the breakfast each morning, so they actually packed my breakfast to go!  Now that's service!!

     So here's the summary of the setup I used;  Inside, I had my Yeasu 857d, running either directly to the antenna or through my LDG YT100 tuner (depending on the band.)  This was powered by my 30amp MFJ power supply running through a RigRunner 4004U.  I set the radio equipment next to the window and ran the coax out.  The room I stayed in (The James Wallace Parlour) also had it's own exterior door, which made getting in and out to my antenna super easy!  Because I had a comfortable place to set up, I also had my Dell Latitude E6430 ATG laptop (This is "rough and ready laptop" perfect for those that take a laptop places that most others don't, despite what that 1 guy on Amazon says.) and my Signalink USB so that I could do digital modes as well.

post continues after affiliate ad

​     Outside the window, at the other end of my coax, in the big grassy yard, was my Buddipole Mast.  I used several configurations throughout the 3 days.  In band order (but not necessarily the order I operated in) I used the standard 20 meter dipole configuration, my home-made NVIS wire with the VersaT as the feed-point, and something that I rigged up on the spot with no prior testing - an 80 meter NVIS antenna.  You might notice too, the caution tape to warn any unsuspecting wanderers of the wires on the ground, and in the air.

     For the 80 meter antenna, I basically disconnected my 40 meter wire, connected an 11" arm and one of the coils to each side of the Buddipole feedpoint, and then reconnected my 40 meter wire, to make a loaded 80 meter dipole.  It actually worked, and I put a few in the NPOTA log on 80!  If anyone has a buddipole and wants to recreate this, it technically would have been an OCF dipole, because on the shield side, I used the whole coil, and on the center conductor side, I jumped the coil about halfway.  This gave me an SWR under 2:1 across most of the General portion of the voice part of the band.  My tuner knocked it down to go anywhere else in the band I wanted to wander.

     Ultimately, I had 3 nights.  The first night, Monday, was spent mostly setting up.  The spoiler on monday night was that the batteries in my Antenna Analyzer died, and I didn't have spares, so I was stuck to just 40 meters where I knew my wire was resonant.  I only managed a couple contacts that night.  The second night was downpouring, so even though I had stopped and picked up batteries, I didn't mess with the antenna.  For that reason night 2 was spent back and forth between 40 meters ssb and 40 meters digital.  Got a bunch of contacts though!  The last night was the home-run night.  I started on 20, got a bunch.  Went to 40, got a bunch more.  Went to 80, got a few more, Went back to 40 digital, and got a couple more.  In the several hours on Wednesday night I ended up with somewhere over 100 contacts - what a blast!

     So, to wrap it up, in case you didn't figure it out, I wasn't roughing it at all.  This was by far my "cushiest" NPOTA activation, and I can recommend it to anyone!  If you're looking for a place to do an activation this November or December, but don't want to mess around in the cold too much I can definitely recommend The Inn and Brandywine Falls, inside of NP14!

73 de N3VEM

P.S.  It's also close to this place if you want to stop by like I did:

     News flash!!  Starting Monday I will be activating Cuyahoga Valley National Park National Parks on the Air Unit NP14.  My work is taking me to the Cleveland Area, so rather than shack up in the standard Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, etc.  I found alternative arrangements - this means that I'll be staying inside the park.

     During the day I'll be working, so my plan is to be on the air every night, from the time I get back into the park after my work day, until sleep knocks at my door. I plan on eating my dinner between contacts, so I'll only stop for a couple hours each evening when I pause for nightly Facetime chat with my family back at home, and to take care of any work related odds and ends that just can't wait.  

    The plan is to be on at least 40 meters and 20 meters, but I'll have the capability for everything from 80 meters through 6.  If I do anything other than 40 and 20, 80 would be the most likely candidate, followed by "maybe" 6 meters in the early mornings before I have to head out (if I didn't stay up too late the night before...).  With any luck I'll have more success than I did the last time I was at Cuyahoga.  You can read about that here.

     Anyway, that's it for now - watch for updates here on my blog and on the NPOTA Facebook group on the 7th, 8th, and 9th of November, and we'll see how much of a dent I can help to make towards 1 million QSO's for NPOTA!

     "He's like a manufacturing assembly line for parks" -Gary Izzo KC1CBQ

     Well, the big day has come and gone, and I have to say that NPOTAthon 2.0 was a blast!  I didn't manage to break my personal record (10 parks in a day), but I did successfully activate 9 of the 12 parks I stopped at, earning the quote above from Gary, KC1CBQ, who managed to reach me at 7 of those stops.  Even with 7 stops though he wasn't the front-runner for the day - that honor goes to Michael, K4MOA, who contacted me at all 9 of my successful activations (plus a couple others later in the week, just for the icing on the cake!)  
​     I had a slightly tighter schedule this time around because stops 10 and 11 were both at parks that closed at sunset.  This meant that all my stops leading up to those had to stay pretty much on schedule.  Once I finished those stops though, I was able to spend a little extra time at my last stop, Green Springs.  Enough about me though, because really, the whole day was about me if you think about it.  With that in mind, instead of talking about myself, this post will be for you, the chasers.  Since everyone loves stats, this post will be NPOTAthon 2.0, by the numbers.

     Okay - So these first few stats are still about me in a way, but they will help set the stage for the day:

     Less than a contact a minute might not sound like much, but considering that my first 3 parks were bust, meaning I had essentially an hour a half with no contacts, I can't complain.  Anyway, on to the results...

     This one could be up for debate, because I didn't take the time to look up every single call sign - I went based on the numbers so I only looked up the call signs in the call districts further away.  Being on 40 meters most of the day limited the contacts to "local" but with the airwaves being a zoo for the weekend because of the CQWW contest, I'll take whatever I can get.  Additionally, because I was moving from park to park, this is a "rough distance" number.  With all that being said, the prize for longest distance is between these 3 operators, who were all in the  900 / 1000 mile range (based on their address in the database):
​NU0Q, W0GHZ, W0IS

     This award goes to those operators who hung in there, played their cards right, timed their calls at just the right moment, had just the right amount of luck, and managed to contact me, even though I could just barely hear them!  Congrats to these ops on being persistent and getting a contact in spite of the conditions...each of these I barely heard, with sent reports of 22:
KM4I@DZ08, NU0Q@DZ03, W5DRR@DZ03

     This award is the inverse of the persistent operator award.  This is the people who worked me, even though they could barely hear me!  These folks worked me in spite of only being able to give me a 22:
​K4MI@DZ07, W4LBG@DZ04

     I had just wrapped up at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania, and had already updated my post on the NPOTA Facebook group that I was heading out for the next stop.  As I was punching the next address into my GPS my phone chimed and I saw a Facebook post pop up that said "DANG! I just missed you!"  It was from Nick Mollo, who I've contacted and chatted with on the air several times, because my work regularly gets me into his area (We'll eventually get the timing right to work out an eyeball QSO!)  I quickly grabbed the mic because the frequency was still clear, and I hadn't pulled out yet:
     Vance:  "This is N3VEM, are you there Nick?"  
     Nick: "Yes I am!"
 After doing the proper exchange following that, Nick, KC1DKY was able to sneak a contact in at what was a new park for him, right as I was slipping out of the park.  That quick contact also gave a couple others the chance to sneak in right before I left, so with Nick leading the charge by getting his foot in the door, here were the "Phew! That Was Close!" award winners:
KC1DKY, WX2I, K4WES, KB2YLP, W1NG

     So, to finish up this post I'll leave you with just a couple of additional things from my end:

• I had a blast, even though I forgot to eat for most of the day!  (Luckily I had plenty of water and coffee)
• I made my first ever contacts on 80 meters - I had never actually tried using my 80 meter hamstick, figuring it was probably such an inefficient antenna, that it wasn't worth bothering with.  A couple folks requested 80 meters though so I stuck it on the car, checked it with the antenna analyzer to see what part of the band I could use it on, and called.  And people answered.  Just goes to show you that you really shouldn't overthink it - just try stuff and see what works!  If only I had tried 80m at my first three, pre-dawn, stops I might have gotten all 12...
• I need a screwdriver antenna (*N3VEM pokes his YL*) - if I had the ability to change bands quicker I probably could have handed out a lot more contacts.  When you're on a tight timeframe, swapping hamsticks in and out can really eat into the operating time.

     While I probably won't be doing any more NPOTA marathons this year, I will be activating some more parks.  Specifically, watch for me on November 7th, 8th, and 9th because I'll be spending the nights inside one of the national parks, and will be on the air "holiday style" every evening after work.  I'll give the details in an upcoming post!