Craig LaBarge's camping trip to Wellesley Island, N.Y. August 1999.
New Camper at a great location.
The first QSO of the trip was with Carter, N3AO, on 30 meters. Carter
was
also one of the last QSOs of the trip. We connected up on the last day on
40 meters early in the morning. Although band conditions weren't too
great, the "Pop-up Vertical" antenna played well into Europe. One of the
highlights was being called by a French station who was also on a camping
trip outside of Paris.
Craig relaxing at the camp.
Here's WB3GCK is his favorite operating position - on a beach chair with
a
cup of coffee close at hand.
Here's another shot of WB3GCK doing some early morning operating.
Daughter, Amy, is looking on from the doorway of the camper.
Vertical antenna installation on
the new camper.
Here's a shot of the latest configuration of the WB3GCK "Pop-up
Vertical"
antenna. The antenna is made from a 20-foot fishing rod and includes a
self-contained transmatch built into the PVC pipe mast. The camper serves
as the ground plane. The coaxial cable coil is a common-mode choke to keep
RF currents off of the coax shield
Loading coil for the vertical.
Here's close-up of the self-contained matching circuit. It uses fixed
capacitors. Tuning adjustments are made by varying the two coil taps.
Here's a close-up shot of the interface between the PVC mast and the
fishing rod. The wires are connected together at the stainless steel hose
clamp at the bottom of the fishing rod.
