The Journal of Horsham Amateur Radio Club June 2020
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Club Call G4HRS Est. 1938 The Journal of Horsham Amateur Radio Club June 2020 Sponsored by: Affiliated to: 1 Contents In this issue 3. Notes from the Editor Welcome, congratulations and entertainment maker 4. News round Amateur radio hits the headlines 5. One year with low power G8CKT tells of his travel gear 17. Picture this A trip to Wales, a plug in device, a bit of tech, a starry night and “our survey says” 24. Diary of events Full listings for the month Cover photo: Sky at Night presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock Published by Horsham Amateur Radio Club HARCNEWS is produced at home by G4JHI 2 Editorial We have another new club member Zoltan Berces and may I welcome you to HARC. Although not licensed yet Zoltan is looking to study starting with the Foundation License. I have already made the acquaintance at the March Club Junk Sale. Steve Padwick who was mentioned last month as a new club member is now the proud owner of the Foundation License call M7PWK. Well done sir and I’m sure we all look forward to having a QSO with you in the future. Although I haven’t been active on the airwaves for a few months I understand that in some areas 2 Metres has become busy and in some cases many channels are already occupied which is a good sign. David 2E0NKC informs me that the additional nets mentioned last month are quite popular. Whilst we continue in lockdown all the regular events are still cancelled until further notice but there are still the various contests that one can take part in. Last month I mentioned the remote coffee meetings that I take part in with some of my work colleagues each morning. I have now ventured outside ‘broadcasting from my balcony’ via my laptop. In the future I will no doubt include the kitchen, living room and radio shack! I also ‘played’ the ukulele with the aid of a wooden barometer to my work colleagues! Well, all these frivolities makes life a bit more interesting in these unusual times……… David G4JHI Amendment An error occurred in HARCNEWS May 2020 page 11. Richard G3ZIY advises that the correct frequency for The Voice of Korea is 13760 kHz. Copy deadline for emailed items for July edition 20th June - For written items the deadline is 12th June. For items sent by email please send to this address: [email protected] 3 News from HARC Keep in touch An interesting article appeared in the news about the way amateur radio is connecting people during the lockdown. It follows several individual operators and one family explaining their regular radio activities. The full article can be read on the BBC web site: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-52442553 Amateur Radio “CQ Serenade” is a new programme about amateur radio produced by the Southgate ARC and includes a report called “Amateur Radio Newsline” with news from the UK and around the world. It can be heard on Sundays from 20:05 to 21:00 BST on Channel 292 from Germany on 3975 kHz / 75m. Beacon News 2E0NKC noted a new beacon on 1650 kHz in an area dominated by Dutch “pirates”. Research by G4LRP & G8CKT found that the CW call was PPZK an ocean going tug in Amsterdam or Rotterdam harbour. The beacon has now vanished so the tug has presumably sailed (or sunk!). 2E0NKC following a “tip off” by the British DX Club has been listening to a CW beacon on 6607 kHz. Can be heard evening. Its call is 4XZ and is a military beacon near Haifa in Israel. Contributions from 2E0NKC, G4JHI, G4LRP, G8CKT 4 A year “off-grid” Mike, G8CKT, gives an account of his year of portable QRP operation As we are now ending a period of lock-down, and in the hope that we might soon get back to some semblance of normality, I thought that it might be useful to share my experience of portable operation over the last 12 months. Having previously used my trusty FT-817 when away from home I decided that it would be fun to put together a more modern portable set-up based on a recently acquired KX2 transceiver. I was keen to develop a complete station that could be carried as hand-luggage on an aircraft or just popped into a rucksack for a walk on the downs. Extended portable operation away from a mains supply was to be a prime consideration with a choice of batteries and a solar panel for true ‘off-grid’ operation. The station comprises a KX2 transceiver together with a variety of accessories, power supplies and antennas, as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 The portable QRP station A Home-brew 2.8Ah Li-Po battery pack (see later) B Elecraft KX2 transceiver with internal ATU C SideKar keyer/message generator/electronic logger D Microphone E Bluetooth keyboard 5 F Paper logbook G Nifty™ spiral bound handbook H Headphones I 9:1 balun (for use with end-fed half-wave antennas) Antennas The importance of having an efficient, compact, and rapidly deployable antenna for portable work can’t be emphasised enough. I first experimented with a simple end- fed wire antenna. This was wound onto a modified laundry-line (see Figure 2) and could be deployed as a simple half-wave end-fed (high-impedance at the feed-point) on amateur bands from 7MHz upwards. Performance relied heavily on the ATU but it was possible to work most of Europe on QRP last summer but nothing much further. Figure 2 Laundry-line winder used with the end-fed antenna To find a more effective antenna suitable for multi-band operation I acquired a Band Springer from SOTA Beams. This enabled operation from 60m to 10m but it does rely on the KX2’s internal ATU to achieve a match on some bands. The Band Springer is supported by a 7m pole and three nylon guys (see Figure 3). The Band Springer consists of two wire elements, both are made of high-quality stranded wire, insulated with a yellow PVC (making it easy to spot when deployed!). The Band Springer’s elements approximately 42 ft (12.8 m). One element is the radiator the other acts as a counterpoise (see Figure 4). The wire elements are supplied wound on a wire-winder (see Figure 5). This makes deployment and recovery very straightforward. In addition, I use a separate set of guy-lines when necessary (see Figure 6). The Band Springer’s radiating element has a braided nylon cord extension to make it easy to use. The extension is attached to the wire at one end and has a pegging loop at the other end. Connection to the 6 radio is via a BNC adapter with 4mm plugs terminating the radiating and counterpoise elements. Figure 6 shows typical deployment. Figure 3 Band Springer on test in the author’s garden. The complete station fits into the grey shoulder bag. 7 . Figure 4 Band Springer antenna prior to deployment 8 Figure 5 Spare guy lines Figure 6 Typical antenna deployment (note the grounded counterpoise) 9 The wire elements are supplied wound on a wire-winder (see Figure 5). This makes deployment and recovery very straightforward. In addition, I use a separate set of guy-lines when necessary (see Figure 6). The Band Springer’s radiating element has a braided nylon cord extension to make it easy to use. The extension is attached to the wire at one end and has a pegging loop at the other end. Connection to the radio is via a BNC adapter with 4mm plugs terminating the radiating and counterpoise elements. Figure 6 shows typical deployment. For the upper HF bands (21MHz and above) I also use a loaded vertical antenna with a 2m radiating element. This is mounted on a modified camera tripod and works with a home-brew tuning unit (see Figure 7). This arrangement has also been used on frequencies as low as 3.5MHz but efficiency is rather poor. Figure 7 Tripod mount and home-made tuner for use with a loaded vertical antenna. The counterpoise is connected via the two 4mm terminals and is tuned to resonance. 10 Power supplies Arguably the most important component in a QRP station is the power supply since even the most expensive transceiver won’t work if there’s no power available! Although the KX2 has its own internal battery this typically limits period of operation to around four hours. For anything longer, one or more external batteries are essential. To save on cost, I decided to build my own battery packs based on low- cost Lithium Polymer (Li-po) batteries. These combine many of the advantages of Li- ion batteries but in a more flexible form factor. Li-po batteries can be easily fitted into a very small space while offering capacities and energy densities that are similar (but not quite equal) to those of conventional cylindrical Li-ion batteries (see Figure 8). Note also how sealed lead acid (SLA) batteries compare rather unfavourably with their more modern counterparts! Figure 8 Comparison of the energy densities of various types of battery (note the relationship between energy, size and weight, and how Li-ion batteries are superior in both respects) The high energy content coupled with the low internal resistance of Li-po batteries demands extra care in their use. Rapidly over-charging or over-discharging this type of battery can result in a very real risk of fire and explosion.