Saturday, November 26, 2011

QRP Pole Dancing

This may not be what you expect. However, I have setup an 18 foot crappie pole with an attached Wilderness STT for 20 meters and Hendricks QRP BLT + tuner. The crappie pole has an step in electric fence post attached. I have a plastic key that I can just hold in the opposite hand while keying. The key is on Ebay looks like a toy but works great. The antenna was 16.5 feet of wire up the pole and the same length stretched out to a tree. I tuned with the BLT + tuner. With the tuner other configurations of antenna could be tried. My brief test in the backyard yielded a QSO of good length with AG4EA Bill in South Carolina. He was running QRP in the park that day. I also checked the Reverse Beacon and my CQ was copied in Canada as well.

While not pedestrian mobile, it would be quite easy to carry on a walk to the park. The weight of the equipment balances out with the rest of the pole collapsed. You just need some grass to poke it into and let the dancing begin.

Greg N4KGL