Topanga DX hike 2/7/14 – tried half wave dipoles- concluded they are not worth the trouble of deployment. Possibly better with lighter wire. Gonna try ethernet strands which are very light.
Topanga DX hike 111515
Another staellar and fun night! Left late- booked it to the top- made the net about midnight and got Deleware right away!
Dig this log!!! Deleware, Belize, NM, NE, IN, NJ, GA, St Thomas- all great easy calls!! But dig how I was hearing ALL stations- all above 5/7!!! I could hear everyone and all relays and n/c. I could hear things some relays could not hear. Really fun.
Topanga DX hike 111115
Had to go again as Sun was so fun. Still cold and windy at top but much less so as was dry wind from the N not wet off the ocean like Sun. Laptop battery was dead again!! ARGH- thought I had charged it. I was bummed but then talked to stations in Costa Rica and Puerto Rico on 40m ssb. Brough the tuner this time as well but forgot extra wire so no fan dipole for 20/40. I blew up my lighter usb charger connecting it to battery wrong so used a wire from there to ground the tuner to the metal chassis of the bench I was set up on. Was hearing jt65 on 40m s9+ (wow!) yet KB6WWI line of sight from me down in Reseda was hearing nothing. I sent audio from an ear bud pressed to my handheld mic to him and he piped the audio to jt65 software and was decoding many signals no problem! Hah! Really fun.
Later on the HHH net I had more fun. I emailed net control about where I was and some pics. He announced I was backpacking and portable on the net and I got called 3 or 4 times!!
Maine, Vermont, Oregon, Texas, New Mexico, Wisconsin, etc. what a blast. Mike net control was really friendly and the way they run the HHH net is outstanding.
Topanga DX hike 11/8/15
Took the hf just for fun. 20m was dead and had to untwist 16ft of ethernet wire to extend dipole legs for 40m. Also used 30+ft strand for ground from radio chassis. Worked great. Still, not much activity. Hoped to do dig modes but laptop was not fully charged and died early. Was cold but I decided to stay another 15min to see if maybe something would happen on the HHH net. Before check-ins even started I talked with NC4RP in NC!! I could hear so much compared to my home qth.
Ended up being amazing night of radio for me-
I spoke to people in NC, TN, AR, HI, NY, GA, Panama, Australia….. amazing night.
conversation with all of them but AUS was easy and clear. I chatted w HI and Panama after the net at length- no prob. My frankenstein antenna was doing the trick. Glad I stayed up there!!!
I have to improve my home HF antenna situation I am now spoiled.
Topanga 10/18/15
Misc ham stuffs 2015- Sample of log from great HF weekend 10/24-25/2015 etc.
April 2015
