Rocket Launch Portable Ops

It was a pleasant surprise to have Marv KK4DKT and his wife Melissa to make the trip from Panama City FL to Samson AL for the Feb 25th SouthEast Alabama Rocketry Society (SEARS) Rocket Launch. I had setup my Portable Inverted U Doublet before he arrived. Marv arrived and setup his new Buddipole. Marv operated on 20 meters SSB. He did not have any luck with the Buddipole initially. Conditions were not the best. Then Marv switched to the vertical configuration and snagged a station operating off of a frozen lake combining ice fishing with portable ops.

This was Marv's first launch and he saw lots of launches including my Gizmo rocket on an I sparky motor. Marv and Melissa were a great help spotting the two pieces of my Estes Tornado rocket that got carried away in the stiff breeze we had.

My operating included QRP on 30 and 40 meters. I had several contacts with poor reports for my signal. Then on 40 I had a 559 report from John W3BNO in Huntsville AL. Of course portable ops at the rocket launch is perhaps doing too many things at once for my brain power. Also my portable inverted U got one arm removed when a rocket drifted by under chute. There actually was no damage as the arm was a friction fit with a little bit of tape. So the arm came off and was suspended by the 26 gauge antenna wire.

Enjoy the photos.