July 12th was an appropriate date for the Scorch Your Butt Off QRP Event. In Panama City Florida the temperature was 93 Degrees F. The "RealFeel" was in the one hundreds. Never the less, I was going to participate. I thought I would head for the shade. Our Under the Oaks Park would be appropriate I thought. I was bringing Suzy our basset along. To my dismay the park has a no dogs allowed sign. I think that is the first park I have run into with no dogs allowed. So time to vector to another location for the 11 a.m. start. I decided to go to George Park which is where the Panama City ARC clubhouse is located. The picnic table was occupied so I went to the far corner of the park where a couple of large oak trees are located.
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| George Park. The house is across the street. |
I clamped the Chameleon Hybrid Micro to the metal fence and extended the 60 foot radiator up over a limb and out to another tree. The rig was the Elecraft KX3. I could hear very little on 14.060 at least no participating stations. A similar situation on the Homebrew Sprint the week previous. Well from what I read on
Larry's blog I was not alone. However, there was a fair number of SKCC stations doing the Weekend Sprint. I suspect most of them were not QRP.
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| The Chameleon Hybrid Micro clamped to the fence. |
My first QSO was on 40 meters. It was K4PDM in Kentucky. He was not in any sprint, After that I picked up four SKCC stations on 20 meters CW. It comes in handy to be in the SKCC. They like to work me for credit. In RaDAR you want to leverage on any event you can. I probably should not have had Suzy out there but she dug a nice hole find the cool ground. The shade of the Oak did help.
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| Suzy |
Having five contacts, It was time to make a RaDAR move. I thought Suzy had enough so I went home and setup in my front. I used the Chameleon Hybrid Micro with a tripod and the whip. With some effort I worked another four SKCC stations on 20 meters. I forgot to take any pictures on the second setup.
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| The Elecraft KX3 |
Well, I did get nine RaDAR Points on the day with one move after the first five. It is always interesting to select the antennas for each location. I did find the large oak at the park was a great support and provided helpful shade. I'll remember that for future outings.
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| The O2Cool Fan does help a little. I'll take any help I can get from the heat. |
