First Buddipole Try in New Town

I decided to put up my Buddipole to see what I could do in the new home location. I have to say it wasn't too bad. I made the following contacts in just over an hour of operating:

* Indiana
* Mexico
* Canada
* Guadalupe Island
* Germany
* Ukraine
* Italy (twice)

I also heard Israel, England, and Bosnia as well. So I guess it is working and working quite well. I think those long whips make a difference for good solid DX contacts.

Picture is of Buddipole Vertical with long whip with some stray clouds of Tropical Depression Bonnie in the background.

This is the big week for my big move with the family from Texas to Alabama. Of course I could not drive a moving truck 900 miles without having access to some 2 meter and 440 repeaters on the way. I put my dual band mag-mount on the truck with my HT to help pass the time. Two full days of driving will be tough, but looking forward to getting to Dothan and getting on the air ASAP.

Over the past weekend while visiting in-laws, I put my buddipole up with the psk31 setup just off Lake Whitney Texas. I made several psk31 contacts along with some ssb and cw contacts during the contest over the weekend. I put the Buddipole up in the vertical configuration using the settings my Dad and I came up with for long whips and it work perfectly and I did not even have to use my tuner. The SWR meter on my FT-857D did not register most of the time. I had to check to make sure it was still working right....it was.

RARC Recognition / Moving

Today was the Rockwall Amateur Radio Club's annual Field Day event. Always a good time to see the area Hams get together and operate on the radios for this event. Shortly before the contest started on the air, the club presented me with this plaque for the work I have done for the club this year. I was elected as an officer for the club and had to step down last month because my family and I are moving to Dothan, Alabama to start a new job there. I will miss the Hams in the local club here. I have really enjoyed being a part of the group and helping the club grow this year. As I was leaving tonight, Eric N5EBW even gave me a Tiny Trak 3 that he built. I know I will have fun playing with APRS and that unit. Thanks again to all the Hams in Rockwall making me feel welcomed and more importantly, needed this past year.

73 to you and I hope to see you on the air when I get to Alabama.

Settings For BuddiPole Vertical and Long Whips

I have been experimenting with the new longer whips for my Buddipole Antenna. My Dad recently got a new Buddipole Antenna and purchased it with only the long whips. So yesterday evening, my Dad and I got the MFJ antenna analyzer out and decided to find the settings for a vertical using the longer whips. Below is what we came up with. We did 10-40 meter except for 12 meters which you can use the 10 meter settings with a tuner if you needed 12 meters.

*Note that these settings were found with 50' of coax and the Versatee at about 6' off the ground.

Great Day for Buddipole

This afternoon it was such a nice day I decided to put the Buddipole up. Les (K5RXQ) let me borrow a long whip to try out so I tried the vertical with the long whip. Instead of telling how I think it worked, just look at the contacts I made on 20 meters this afternoon.

Arizona
Ukraine
European Russia
Italy
Argentina
Spain
Slovenia
Rockwall, TX

I would say it worked quite well. I noticed I was able to pick up weaker stations that I have not in the past and usually was able to make contact with them using just 50 watts. I guess I will need to buy some of the longer whips for my Buddipole.

Tigertroncis Signalink - Has Many Applications

This weekend, I went over to Les' house (K5RXQ) and we set up our Buddipoles and our portable HF stations. It was fun to compare how the two antennas worked in different configerations. Toward the end of the day with PSK31 not working as good as I had hoped. I started to tune around the CW band just to see what activity was on there. Then I heard a stations calling CQ so It thought I would try to make contact with my CW software in DM-780 and my signalink. This was not the first time I had tried this, but I was able to make contact with this station. He was in Brazil. The Tigertronics Signalink allows me to operate in modes I thought I could never do. With the use of my laptop and the free software, DM-780, it makes any station one that can operate just about any mode. If you have never operated CW or any of the new digital modes, you might be surprised how much fun it is. It is almost to the point I don't like to operate on SSB phone because of how easy it is to make contact to the USA and especially DX stations. If you have been thinking about jumping into these modes, I would recommend the Signalink for its size, ease of setup and ease of use.

PSK31 Presentation

I have only been operating with PSK31 for a couple of months. However, I am already doing a presentation about this mode to my club this coming Tuesday night. I plan to give a power point presentation on the history of the mode and some tips to getting started. In addition, I will bring my entire HF station, laptop, and Buddipole to the meeting in an attempt to do a live qso with the mode. I hope I can get a signal with the antenna as close to the building as it will be, but should be interesting to try.