N4KGL Summer RaDAR Contest Outing

Today I participated in the Summer RaDAR Contest. The summer is pretty brutal here in Florida. It is either the Sun blazing or the rain pouring. Today we had both. Fortunately, I was able to operate from two locations. I started at a local park in Lynn Haven Florida. I setup parking lot portable with a 40 meter inverted vee. I was assisted by local ham Jacque KK4LUW who was interested in RaDAR. I decided to run more power than QRP due to the conditions of the bands. My first contact was WB4BLX Bob in Panama City. This was an easy contact at 10 watts CW. This was followed by WB4AQL in Chickamauga, GA. I got a call from Tom WD0HBR from Dothan, AL. It took changing to the Icom 7100 and going to 49 watts to get through that QSO. Tom was running 5 watts and a 50 foot wire. I continued working WA6VWW in TN on CW. The weather was looking like rain and I found KR4HE in Youngstown, FL for a 2 meter simplex contact. Having five QSOs, I packed up and drove out as the rain started coming down.

I headed toward the home QTH and decided to setup in my front yard. I went with a 20 meter dipole supported by three 31 foot poles. The blazing sun returned and I setup my superbrella for shade. Funny thing another shower came and I was able to endure it and continue operating. My first QSO in the yard was Bob KK4DIV on 20 meter SSB. He was a few miles away operating RaDAR. Next were two CW contacts KC9V and KV6Z Bill in OK. Then on 20 meter SSB I worked W1SYE who was activating Hope Island. The last QSO was a by a chance contact with local K4LXA Bobby also in Panama City, FL.

Summer is very taxing with the heat and the rain. I was lucky to get in ten contacts. The weight of the gear would not have worked for pedestrian mobile. My entry will be portable at the first location and vehicle mobile for the second as I drove several miles to get there. I think it was a tough day for most RaDAR ops. For us Floridians we will be looking forward to the nice November weather for the next RaDAR Contest. Also, thanks to Bob WB4BLX and Vic K4GXV for dropping by the park.