A Merry Month Of May for Outdoor Operating

May was an excellent month for operating outdoors for N4KGL in Northwest Florida. One week was rained out but the others were fine for operating. My wife Linda worked out of town on three Saturdays. So I drove and operated while she worked. I find the State Parks here are excellent and offer saltwater sites on the gulf and the bay sides. I experimented with 100 foot wires end fed and in loop configurations. You will see my notes below.

Outing 1: May 3rd St. Andrews park 22 contacts

end fed 100 foot wire with 9 to 1 unun including counterpoise
sloping up to 31 foot pole at the center and the end at 20 foot high. I was pleased with 20, 17, 15 12 and 10 meter contacts.

Outing 2 :May 17th St. George Island 18 contacts

Antenna 1: end fed 100 foot wire with 9 to 1 unun including counterpoise
sloping up to 31 foot pole at the center and the end at 20 foot high  I had good luck on 40, 17 15 and 10 meters.

Antenna 2: delta loop from 100 foot wire fet at the corner with SGC 237 tuner. I had a tough time on 17 meters SSB even though I was running between 40 and 80 watts. 20 and 10 meters were better. I did work ZL1DK on 10 meters.

Outing 3: May 24 St George Island 34 contacts

Antenna 1: 88 foot doublet - a outstanding  job on 40 meter NVIS

Antenna 2: vertical delta loop 100 foot wire fed center bottom with SGC 237 tuner

Outing 4: May 26 Columbus Georgia backyard  12 Contacts

Antenna: Irregular loop from 100 foot wire fed with SGC 237 Tuner. QSOs on 80, 40, 30, 20, 17 & 15. I was very pleased with this configuration.

Outing 5: May 31st Gulf County Florida Parks 17 contacts

Antenna 1: end fed 100 foot wire with 9 to 1 balun and no counterpoise
the first 31 foot of wire vertical and remainder sloping to 20 foot pole. Outstanding report from Lake City FL station on 40 meters. 40, 17 15 and 10 meter contacts

Antenna 2: Alexloop - Nice 40 meter NVIS contact to Tallahassee FL. Also a nice 17 meter contact with VE4AKI 10 watts both ways.

I should mention that the KX3 is going a great job. I hope I don't suffer a penalty for being so close to the saltwater. Note the sun beating down on the rig and on some long transmissions the PA can get into the 50s degree C. Once it went over temp. This is manageable problem just something to watch. I think a small sun shield might be good. I also may use a small fan. I don't want to change the pack-up size of the KX3 by adding fins. I also used the Icom 7100 on one outing. I can't say the extra power is any magic bullet. But it is one more option I have.

Greg N4KGL