An Omni-Angle Antenna for 6M

A while back, several posts on the CWOPS reflector caught my attention.  They mentioned openings on 6M during the weekly CWOPS Mini-tests.   That reminded me that my K3/10 has both 6M capability and a suitable preamp for that band. 

I am not ready to replace my rotatable antenna (a 2-element delta loop for 10 and 15M), so I looked for sometiing simpler but ideally omni-directional.  I settled on the Omni-Angle for 6M from PAR Antennas, as it seemed well constructed, got good reviews and was not too expensive.

Assembly was straight forward.  PAR Antennas has a video available which helped me with adjusting the antenna 'match'.  Since it was so small and lightweight, I elected to put it stepladder height on the tower and give it a try.  Here is an image:

And below is another image from the rear.  Mom and Pop Mockingbird were building a nest between the Omni-Angle and the tower brace.  I can imagine them saying, "There goes the neighborhood!"

Dustin, much younger than WB5BKL, climbs for me.  Here is an image of him, several weeks later,  almost done with mounting the Omni-Angle at my designated height.  Dustin reported that there were three eggs in the mockingbird nest.  We tried not to disturb them.

So far, I am very pleased. I used my FA-VA-4 antenna analyzer to adjust resonance to 50.090 MHz at stepladder height and Dustin made very slight changes when it was up in the air.  (Note that the camera was tilted, not the tower.  😉)

I made a couple of contacts with the antenna at stepladder height and then had fun in the ARRL VHF - making 8 contacts in very casual operation with the antenna up in the clear.

At 5W of course.  QRP CW.

Now  I watch 6M for openings!

cln

WB5BKL

A Grand Day Out - QRP Portable

With apologies to Wallace and Gromit.

I was able to operate portable four times this year.  Briefly, here are some photos and comments.

Texas State Parks on the Air (TSPOTA)

I operated only on Saturday - April 7th.  As it was cool (~39F), damp and threatening rain, I elected to operate while sitting in the car at Longhorn Cavern State Park (EM00tq).  I only made 15 QSOs  No other Texas state parks were heard.  As of this writing, no scores have been posted.  Used the K1 @ 5W with a 20M dipole.  This is a pleasant and scenic location, and my closest state park.




QRP to the Field (QRPTTF)

Two weeks after the TSPOTA event, I was out again - this time at Black Rock Park in Llano County (EM00ss).  More on Black Rock Park later.  Rig was again the K1 and this time I hung a 40M EFHW in addition to the 20M dipole.  25 QSOs was good enough to get me into the top five..  Got to meet a dog named Gussie.  She was interested in my stash of Ritz crackers.


The Flight of the Bumblebees (FotBBs)

This was on the 29th of July and again at Black Rock Park.  I made 29 QSOs and had another good time.  It was very warm and lots of folks were enjoying the park.  Same rig as above.


The Skeeter Hunt

This was on the 29th of August and once more at Black Rock Park.  Again 29 QSOs with the K1 @ 5W, the 20M dipole and the 40M EFHW.


More on Black Rock Park

This park, on the west side of Lake Buchanan, is operated by the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA).  This is not a state park, but is operated in a similar manner.  In my experience, these parks are very popular with families, especially in the summertime.  I would strongly suggest reservations or getting there early and being flexible.  Here are some links:

LCRA

Black Rock Park

I had a very good experience at this park.  The staff was both friendly and very helpful.  I did a scouting run through the park early in 2018 and made note of the sites with 20 and 40M spaced trees.  :-)   No one seemed to have any problem with me hanging antennas - and on my last visit, I was greeted with, "Oh, you're that radio guy."




cln - Nick
WB5BKL

Ham Gadgets Ultra PicoKeyer

I have been using the AA0ZZ EZKeyer II for several years (see my earlier post).  It has worked well with my K1, which I typically use portable.  There are shortcomings, however:  No easy speed control and only 3 memories. 

I tried a keyer with 8 memories, but had so many problems with missing, broken or incorrect parts, odd i/o design and sporadic support that I gave up - sadder but wi$er.

 Then I found the Ham Gadgets Ultra PicoKeyer.
 

The price was right - and I could even chose a color!  Woo-hoo!  

The construction was pretty easy (and the manual is very good).  It was ready to go in under two hours (I work very slowly).

I hooked it up to the Elecraft K1, switched the K1 to 'straight key' mode and gave it a try...

Semi-gibberish.

After several tries and careful inspection - to no conclusion - I decided to give it a try with my K2.  Again semi-gibberish. 

More experiments and some searching of the Elecraft e-mail list archives suggested that the 'ring' connection was live. 

Note:  Elecraft requires a 1/8" three-conductor (stereo) plug for CW input to their K1 and K2 transceivers.  If used in straight key mode, nothing can be connected to the 'ring', just the tip and the shell.  Straight Key mode allows control by an external keyer.

I sacrificed a cable and opened the 'ring' wire.  Everything worked just fine!   How odd.

Then I decided to take a very close look at the PCB for potential shorts.  None found, but there was a PCB connection to the 'collar' pin on the output jack.  It was NOT on the schematic, but it's there:

Since it seemed to be the cause of the problem, I cut that trace.  Success! 

Everything worked normally for both the K1 and the K2. 

I did communicate my findings with Ham Gadgets, but I am not sure they fully understood the issue when the PicoKeyer was used with these Elecraft rigs. 

Hence, this entry.

I filled in the embossing on the front of the keyer.  Looks nice.

This is a neat little keyer.

cln - Nick
WB5BKL