St Andrews State Park on Panama City Beach was a great opportunity for QRP Portable. I met there with other members from the Panama City ARC. I started out with the You Kits HB1B transceiver on 40 meters. I used a 66 foot half wave wire supported by 20 foot crappie poles. It was end fed with the SOTA tuner. The first QSO was Corpus Christi K5LYT. The second was interesting as it was AB4CT Patricia in Montgomery AL. She said it was her first CW contact.
Then it was time to suit up for pedestrian mobile and walk out on the pier. The PM rig is a 3 watt Wilderness SST and a Hendricks BLT tuner. The antenna is a 13 foot wire supported by a crappie pole, a Buddistick coil and a counterpoise drag wire. It went well. I was assisted by Bob and Linda Dunkin and Mike Retherford local hams. I was able to work K3Y/3 in PA and VE3GNS in Toronto. Of course pedestrian mobile leads to a few questions and most were pretty interested when they found out what I was doing.
I later went back to the HB1B and a 33 foot wire for 20 meters. This wire was sloping up to a 20 foot crappie pole. I had four contacts including a solid one with Joe KD2JC in Howell NJ who happened to also be using a HB1B. So I had a good day outside in the park. The sun was out and the temps in the 60s.It was good to see and hear the surf. After all living in Panama City, FL I should do this more often.
I enjoy Rapid Deployment Amateur Radio, Field Days, QRP, satellites, and CW. I have many friends in the hobby that make it fun. I will keep you posted on what I learn about amateur radio on this blog.
