PODXS Ø7Ø Club

APE - August PSK31 Expeditions

2005 APE Tall Tales

K9VIC, 1 August

My APE got underway promptly at 0000 UTC when I called Kevin, KJ4QF, on 40 meters. We normally have no problem making solid contacts when I'm at home, and figured moving a couple hundred miles wouldn't change things much. Kevin was listening right on schedule, but two things were immediately apparent. First, the 339 signal report I received (I copied him 579) pretty well told me that my set-up wasn't the best. Second, the fact that he appeared to be transmitting 30 or so Hz lower than I was had me a little worried about the laptop sound card.

Anyhow, Kevin was kind enough to spot me on the reflector and the contacts started rolling in - for a little bit. I managed to quickly work 4 stations before Charlie, K8IJ, called me a second time and asked me to QSY to 20 Meters. My setup was rather simple as much of it wasn't mine. At the last minute I'd decided not to bring along a radio. My dad was going to be there, and he has an Icom 706 MKIIG in his car. He typically only gets on the higher bands mobile, so I brought my mobile whips (6 - 80 meters) and a tripod with a mount. Antenna-wise, I also brought along a lot of wire and a tuner, but the site we were on had too many trees too close together to string up anything useful (well, that's my excuse for not trying). I did finally get the 80 meter whip to tune on 3580 by fashioning a capacitance hat out of aluminum foil, but never used it. I moved up to 20 meters and things started looking up. As soon as I'd finish a qso, someone else would call me. It was great for a little while, but the contacts eventually started to dry up, and even worse, it was getting dark. I was sitting in the parking lot with my laptop in the hatch of the car. The light in the car times out after a short while, so when the sun went down, that was pretty much it for light. The xyl eventually stopped over to see what the heck I'd been doing for the last couple hours, and brought me a lantern. At some point I also fixed the frequency problem. I didn't want to do a sound card calibration, so I unlocked the Xmit/RX frequencies in MixW and listened down 30 Hz. It worked OK, and the complaints stopped.

To make a long story somewhat shorter, propagation on 20 was up and down. Signal reports varied widely, and while the band was mostly good, it would drop out in a hurry. I had originally planned to run off a marine battery, and brought the battery and solar panel charger along (to use the next morning). At this point in the trip my marine battery was at the camp site charging a DVD player. Tapping into the mobile rig without monkeying around with stuff was just too easy to bother with hooking up extra batteries. Speaking of monkeying around, I'd decided to forgo the monkey drink until after the 20 contacts were made. I tried one on each of the first two days I was out there, and I'll just say that they aren't as bad as they sound. They are rather potent, though, and I wanted to make it to sleep in the tent rather than a parking lot. Charlie might even like them. The main flavors seemed to come from the tequila and the beer. The whiskey provided relatively little flavor. (Who ever heard of someone from Kentucky who doesn't like whiskey?)

A little after 10:00 local time, Dave, KR4U, answered my CQ. A quick log check showed Dave as the 22nd qso, so I wasn't worried about making the required number of contacts. We had a rather nice qso going until I noticed an odd beeping noise coming from inside the car. Dang! It was the low voltage indicator on the inverter I was using to power my laptop (a rather clean inverter, I might add, not like the one I used last year). Well, that was it, time to shut it down.

I went qrt and checked the log. Both of Charlie's contacts had been logged, as had the two qso's with Joe, KD5ROC. That brought the total down to 20, rather than 22. I still made it, but will probably be a little more prudent checking the log next year. I'd hate to have made 19 contacts, some filled with casual chit-chat, only to find out later that I missed it by one. Anyhow, the car battery was dead so I helped out with a push start.

I uploaded the log to LOTW, and see that I already have a few qsl's Paper qsl cards will be in the mail as soon as I pick out a picture and print them up. No return qsl is necessary, but if you want to send one, I certainly won't mind.

A big thanks to the following stations that made it into the log: KJ4QF AC0AX, K8IJ, K8AJS, KD5ROC, KT4NM, WM4B, K5PAX, W3HF, N7HJ, N2HU, W5DP, KN6Y, KG4FSN, W7DO, K1GMD, W5SWA, KF4NDH, W0JFR, and KR4U.

Thanks also to anyone that listened but wasn't heard on my meager station (or who gave up listening during one of the longer contacts).

The park is a great place for a large group. We have a family reunion there every year with my wife and kids, all my sisters, brother, nieces, nephews and dad (but not my mom who won't camp). There are three group sites, each approximately ¾ acre, located in the campground portion of the state park which also contains around 100 smaller sites.

Anyone interested can find more here:

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/parks/regions/scr/kegonsa.html

or here:

http://www.reserveamerica.com/jsp/commonpage.jsp?goto=/usa/wi/kego/newindex.html

73, and hope to catch the rest of the APEs in the upcoming weeks.

Eric, K9VIC

KD7KST, 6 August

Well it went like this:

Friday August 5th I left at 5:00 am local time and figured I would kind of go the long way and run a few of the rare counties in Washington on the SSB County Hunters Net. I made good progress down the highway and figured I had time to make it as far east as Stevens County before heading back west. So I ran 6 counties on the County Hunters Net and also worked a 070 Member Risto, W6RK on 30 meters PSK31 while I was in 4 of these counties. So far so good, but running that extra county put me a little behind schedule.

Contest Time 00:00 zulu August 6 was getting close so I figured I better made tracks to my planned starting point in Grid CN98.

I better first explain the grid corner I was planning on circling is located near Lake Chelan. Lake Chelan is 50 mile long lake that is surrounded by 3,000 foot high mountains. The outlet of the lake and the town of Chelan is located in Grid CN97.

So I looked a map and figured that I could drive on some Forest services road and get into CN98. I found the road and it rapidly turned into a single lane rough road. I kept going according to plan and finally made it into CN98 at 00:15 zulu. Trouble was that I was in a steep canyon, completely blocked with 2000 foot high mountains to the North. But I was there and I gave it a try. Guess what Harvey, K5PAX found me and he was 599+ and he said he was running QRP. The opening in the canyon must have been pointed like a shotgun right at New Mexico.

After 45 minutes and 2 QSO's I retreated back into Grid CN97 which had a clear view up and down the lake and had pretty good luck. So the rest of the evening I worked out of grids CN97, DN07 and DN08 and made a reasonable number of Contacts. I finally gave up at 10:00 pm local time and crashed for the night.

Saturday morning local time I got up early and No Joy. I couldn't make contact with anyone so I decided to head south. Finally around 10:00 am local time after I got out of the canyons my number of QSO's in every grid started to improve. I kept going south and finished the contest in Grid DN05.

I made a total of 66 QSO's in 8 different grids and worked lots of 070 Club Members. I know I worked Harvey in 6 of the 8 grids and some of the other members were also worked in multiple grids. I'll have to sort out my log and see how many member I worked.

I couldn't find much RTTY activity. I worked the same guy in 4 different grids on RTTY and I'll turn in that score to see if that makes me the top RTTY Rover. (Last year I won that honor with 6 RRTY QSO's)

Another interesting thing is that I had trouble with people thinking I was a dupe. "New Grid" "New Grid" darn it, give me ur report so I can log it.

Well I had a good time and a lot of people got some fairly rare grids from this contest. Next year I'll have to figure out another place to go.

Now I better go over to the club house and have a chat with Bernie, he said I was "Elusive".

73

Bill, KD7KST

PS - I dug through my log from My APE/Tara Grid Dip Contest and I thought I would let everyone know the results. I operated (Roved) from 8 Grids during the contest and worked a total of 35 grids. A total of 63 QSO's on PSK31 and 3 on RTTY. Only 1 DX station and no Canadian Station's showed up on my waterfall.

I made contact with 14 different 070 Club Members and some of them had multiple contacts while I was in different grids.

6 Grids - Harvey, K5PAX tied with Paul, K9KDR

5 Grids - Craig, KF4HOU

3 Grids - Tom, N9SV

2 Grids - Rick, K0SU; Joe, KD5ROC and Art, WB4MNK

1 Grid - John at the Club Station, K3VOA; Tony, KE9PH; Brad, KJ7NO; Dave, N0IBT; Dusty, W5DP and Don W5VGR.

I also made 5 different contact with Risto, W6RK in 5 different counties and 3 different.

Thanks for all the contacts during the contest and I'm already kind of thinking about next year. I'll confirm all eQSL's in either my KD7KST or KD7KST/R with a note which grid and county I was in. No LoTW, sorry. I'll also get out custom QSL cards to all 070 members in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks again,

Bill, KD7KST

KF4FHS, 6-7 August

We got to Millersylvania State Campground, EM86 Thurston County,WA. on schedule,
and the campsite and rig were setup without problem.

I started hollering CQ APE right on time and Rick / K0SU was the first to answer,
and all in all only 4 QSO's were made on bands other than 20m. John, WB9AUJ and
Dusty, W5DP were on 40m. And, Scotty, N7HJ and Bill, KD7KST on 80m. Hey KD7KST,
ya should really consider moving your station out into your driveway, I chased you
all over the PN/W watching folks work you but never saw ya till ya was back home :-)

The camping was a lot of fun, with one exception, the girl camped beside us last year
with the huge jug of Jose wasn't there this year, so we had to rough it and keep the
portable warshin machine running to keep from getting dehydrated.

My most sincere Thank You to all the folks that were able to put up with my APE
being kinda sporadic and not a very good signal.

BTW: I was using my same old TS-430 and a Doublet throwed into the trees,
running abt 15w most of the time.

73, Bernie / KF4FHS

KF4FHS APE Log 2005

Asterisks are 070 members

K0SU *
K5PAX *
KD5ROC *
KJ7NO *
N0RQ
K0RFD
AA5VU
AC0AX *
W5SWA *
W7GET
WB6YTE
TG4P
W5DP *
K8IJ *
N3FX
K9KDR *
N9SV *
WB9AUJ *
N7HJ *
KD7KST *
XE1FXM
KD6EVM
W0NAC/M
K6MKF *
K7VN
W7ASC
WA6OVP

DL2RR & DF5JG, 6-20 August

So, now the bad message about APE:

We used this year for the first time the airplane. The weight of the
baggage is limited, so I could take only my PSK20, the 1 watt QRP
TRX. With this rig, a simple antenna and the bad conditions, this time
no QSO was accomplished. All the previously years I was there in
Sept/Oct or/and in Apr/May with much better condx.

Therefore, we changed to another kind of communication, see the
attached photo.

Sorry for that info, 73's de Dieter - DL2RR

W3HF/4, 7-12 August

Good News: - 97 contacts (95 PSK31 and 2 SSB)
- 12 070 members worked
- Contacts on 40, 30, 20, and 17
- Lots of interesting QSOs with stations I hadn't worked before
- Giving NA-112 to three stations who desperately wanted that IOTA
- No radio equipment problems
- Great weather all week

Bad News: - Having to buy an alternator on the way down, which delayed our
arrival (and prevented my putting FM14 on the air during the Grid Dip)
- Propagation conditions that prevented contacts on 15m and up
(though I did hear some signals on 15m that couldn't hear me), and
even most contacts to Europe
- Once again, no contacts on 6m (Special thanks to Peter N4LI for
telephoning me to tell of a partial band opening. Unfortunately, I
was never able to actually hear a signal well enough to call anyone.)
- Hearing 18 (!) other club members that couldn't hear me

I just uploaded the log to eQSL. Please note that I have a specific
eQSL account for W3HF/4, so you get credit for the right
state/county/grid. Please do not eQSL to W3HF--I'll reject any eQSLs
sent to the wrong callsign.

I'll be sending paper QSLs to all club members (direct) once I get
them printed up.

Thanks again to all for looking for me, and my apologies to all I
couldn't find. I hope to be back there again next year.

73, Steve
W3HF

W3HF/4 Log:

8/7/2005 1:15 LU7EEN PSK 20 599 579 Ezeiza Ismael GF05
8/7/2005 1:37 K5TXG PSK 20 599 589 Cedar Park TX Gerry
8/7/2005 2:16 K8IJ PSK 40 KY Charlie 070 #
8/7/2005 2:32 KB9WWM/1 PSK 40 Newport RI Jim 070 #381
8/7/2005 2:46 KR4U PSK 40 FL Dave 070 #
8/7/2005 2:50 K9VIC PSK 40 IL Eric 070 #
8/7/2005 12:58 VE3TMT PSK 20 599 Kingston ON Max
8/7/2005 13:17 VP5/K4SV PSK 20 599 579 Dave
8/7/2005 13:20 N9BUB PSK 20 599 Dave 070 #
8/7/2005 13:54 TI8CBT PSK 20 599 599 Carlos EK70
8/7/2005 15:19 VE3SC PSK 20 599 Ottawa Bob
8/7/2005 15:48 KA4ICK PSK 20 599 599 Kingsport TN Mark
8/7/2005 16:00 K4CMC PSK 20 599 599 Ocala Bruce 817
8/7/2005 16:26 NU0R PSK 20 599 559 Carthage MO Bruce
8/7/2005 17:02 CO2IZ PSK 20 599 566 Havana Jesus EL83, via EA1EAU
8/7/2005 21:39 KB3FEI PSK 20 599 549 New Castle DE Dale
8/7/2005 23:03 OO5UR PSK 20 599 599 Zichem Max via ON5UR
8/7/2005 23:08 AB2PP PSK 20 599 599 Mt Holly Springs PA Tom
8/8/2005 0:01 KJ4QF PSK 40 579 Kevin 070 #
8/8/2005 0:13 KC2MNZ PSK 30 599 559 Pine Brook NJ Paul age 14
8/8/2005 0:33 W2KKZ PSK 30 599 599 Western NY Bob
8/8/2005 0:45 P4/N9LAH PSK 30 599
8/8/2005 0:48 W9SE PSK 30 599 Normal IL John
8/8/2005 2:25 NC2W PSK 40 599 599 Albany NY Eric
8/8/2005 11:54 P4/N9LAH PSK 20 599 599
8/8/2005 12:08 K1DWU PSK 20 599 599 Long Island John FN30
8/8/2005 12:31 N8WS PSK 20 599 599 Brook Park, OH Bill FP#652
8/8/2005 13:01 N9HM PSK 20 599 47 Columbia City, IN Henry
8/8/2005 13:36 KC2MNZ PSK 17 599 599 Pine Brook NJ Paul FN20
8/8/2005 13:47 W2QO PSK 17 599 599 Island Heights, NJ Jamie FM29, callbook client
8/8/2005 14:40 W3FDQ PSK 20 599 Springfield (Delco) PA Al age 86, licensed since Aug 36
8/8/2005 15:07 NN3SI PSK 20 599 559 WDC Smithsonian
8/8/2005 15:11 K3UAL PSK 20 599 559 WDC Joe
8/8/2005 15:16 AE2AA PSK 20 599 579 Bayonne Walt
8/8/2005 20:28 KI7PM PSK 20 599 Tucson Bob
8/8/2005 22:06 ON7GB PSK 20 599 599 Hugo via EA5KB
8/8/2005 23:04 HC1AJQ PSK 20 599 599 Alexandre via EA7FTR
8/9/2005 1:44 KB2AMY PSK 40 599 Westbury LI Evan
8/9/2005 2:10 K5PAX PSK 20 599 559 NM Harvey 070 #
8/9/2005 13:05 VE3FBG PSK 20 599 Kingston ON Fred
8/9/2005 13:39 W8ZEP PSK 20 599 599 Nr Cleveland Alex
8/9/2005 15:20 KF4LYC PSK 20 599 599 North Augusta, SC Paul
8/9/2005 15:52 W4JU PSK 20 599 579 Crittenden KY Reg
8/9/2005 16:05 K1YAN PSK 20 599 MA Gary 070 #
8/9/2005 17:25 AI4FR PSK 20 599 Lutz FL John
8/9/2005 17:44 AK5T PSK 20 599 TX Jim
8/9/2005 17:56 KD5ROC PSK 20 599 579 Wallisville TX, Chambers Cty Joe 070 #
8/9/2005 18:34 N8WE PSK 20 599 Glen
8/9/2005 19:19 KA1BSZ PSK 20 599 579 Fairlee VT Clyde
8/9/2005 20:02 W1QMT PSK 20 599 569 MA Jim FN42
8/9/2005 22:50 UR7FM/mm PSK 20 599 599 Gennadiy HI44
8/9/2005 23:06 LU1LS PSK 20 599 599 Corriente Abel
8/10/2005 0:29 YV1GIY/2 PSK 20 599 Carlos
8/10/2005 1:35 HP1CPE PSK 20 599 Gus 070 #
8/10/2005 1:41 W8JNK PSK 40 599 Springfield OH Jack
8/10/2005 12:13 KC2NJB PSK 20 599 579 New Paltz NY Ted
8/10/2005 13:48 W1OER PSK 20 599 579 Waltham MA Don
8/10/2005 14:15 AE4TR PSK 20 599 579 South Shore KY Ben
8/10/2005 14:27 WA3TRE PSK 20 599 599 McClure PA Don send IOTA card
8/10/2005 15:29 WB4CIW PSK 20 599 Colorado Frank DM79
8/10/2005 15:42 N0BIL PSK 20 599 LaPorte IN Bill
8/10/2005 15:49 WM4B PSK 20 599 559 Kathleen GA Mike 070 #348
8/10/2005 16:01 K3ML PSK 20 599 599 Cudjoe Key FL Mel look at notes
8/10/2005 17:25 W8PBS PSK 20 599 Wadsworth OH Phil new to PSK, send card
8/10/2005 18:28 K3FBI PSK 20 599 599 Quantico Jay FBI!
8/10/2005 20:59 UR7FM/mm PSK 20 599 599 Gennadiy HI68
8/10/2005 21:03 K9CZL PSK 20 599 599 IL Lee
8/10/2005 22:15 VA3AC PSK 20 599 559 Oakville ON Paul FN03
8/10/2005 23:00 KB9GPN PSK 20 599 588 Manitowoc WI Steve EN64
8/10/2005 23:29 LU2FQ PSK 20 599 599 Baigorria Carlos FF97
8/11/2005 0:07 KO2J PSK 40 599 599 Avenel NJ Jose
8/11/2005 0:29 YV5ESN PSK 20 599 599 Margarita Island Rafael
8/11/2005 0:33 HK4MKE PSK 20 599 599 Medellin Andrew
8/11/2005 0:47 KI3R PSK 20 599 Belle Vernon PA Tom
8/11/2005 1:13 XE1ZVO PSK 20 599 599 Alex via EA5KB
8/11/2005 1:20 KD4WAX PSK 20 599 599 Hampstead NC Bob
8/11/2005 1:45 KX9Q PSK 20 599 Tinley Park IL Don
8/11/2005 23:02 WA3MWT PSK 40 599 439 Harrisburg Bill
8/12/2005 0:20 K1OA SSB 40 59 Scott
8/12/2005 0:21 K3PT SSB 40 58 55 Bobby
8/12/2005 0:27 WB9DLC PSK 40 599 579 Columbia City, IN Mike
8/12/2005 4:02 P4/N9LAH PSK 40 599 599 Phil
8/12/2005 12:36 N9PVW PSK 20 599 599 Jonesboro LA Dick
8/12/2005 13:10 KD1YQ PSK 20 599 Vermont Tom
8/12/2005 13:35 KE9PH PSK 20 599 599 Chicago Tony 070 #
8/12/2005 14:48 KC5BYE PSK 20 599 New Orleans Paul
8/12/2005 16:40 K3GMT/2 PSK 20 599 599 Watkins Glen John NASCAR event
8/12/2005 17:25 W8GND PSK 20 599 589 Detroit Jerry
8/12/2005 19:11 N2BJ PSK 20 599 IL Barry remote op from Branson MO
8/12/2005 19:29 N8CE PSK 20 599 599 Grand Ledge MI Geff
8/12/2005 20:30 UR7FM/mm PSK 20 599 599 Gennadiy
8/12/2005 21:50 G3GIQ PSK 20 599 599 Henry
8/12/2005 22:55 DF3VM PSK 20 599 569 Saar Mike
8/12/2005 23:58 KJ4QF PSK 40 599 Kevin
8/13/2005 0:13 WZ1F PSK 40 599 599 NH Lee
8/13/2005 0:48 AB9DU PSK 20 599 599 Ralls County, MO Bob
8/13/2005 3:36 WB3BOT PSK 20 599 599 Swoyersville PA Frank

070 members:
HP1CPE
K1YAN
K5PAX
K8IJ
K9VIC
KB9WWM/1
KD5ROC
KE9PH
KJ4QF
KR4U
N9BUB
WM4B

And now some photos:

This is (obviously) the antenna. This is still the AD5X design from the July 2002 QST that I've used before. (Phil has an improved version in the July 2005 issue, too. I'm building that one, but still using the old one.) View is looking southeast from the house, across the deck towards the beach and the Atlantic Ocean. Careful observers will notice the cable ties attaching the antenna to the railing, to prevent the accident that occurred two years ago when the duct tape failed and the antenna fell and was broken. The radial system was run over the top of the deck this year, as I had forgotten the staple gun.

This is me next to the antenna. The shirt is my Eastern PA QRP Club shirt. In the background are (from the left) my son Matthew KB3JJV (sitting on the railing), daughter Stephanie (the art education major), brother Paul, and daughter Sarah. I still have hopes of convincing Sarah to get a license, but Stephanie seems to be a lost cause.

This is the indoor equipment. From the left, the Yaesu FT-817, Radio Shack 3A power supply, microphone (for the two SSB skeds), Rascal interface (black plastic box), (cheap) Toshiba 660CDT laptop, and the tape measure used to adjust the whip length for bands above 20m. Note also the paper logbook and the list of 070 members on the loose piece of paper.

This is the basic station equipment packed for travel. The laptop bag is obvious. The dark blue bag at the upper right (an insulated lunch bag) holds the 817, power supply, Rascal interface, and the mic. The carboard box protects the antenna loading coil and the antenna base unit (white PVC tee in the first picture). The long blue bag (made from a leg from a pair of blue jeans) holds the antenna pieces. For the record, the blue lunch bag is the only equipment I bring to California for my W3HF/6 operations.

This is everything unpacked. The Toshiba laptop is visible-- less visible on the black bag are the computer's AC power supply (below the mouse) and 12V DC adapter (above the mouse) for operation from the car. The 817, Rascal, mic, and RS power supply are shown unpacked. The complete antenna is on the "blue jean" bag--three 18" vertical pieces, the PVC base, the loading coil, the telescoping 6' whip, and the radials (the multicolored coil of wires). The RG-58 feedline (BNC connectors) is there, too.

Not shown in either of these two pictures are the backup equipment-- e.g., a box of miscellaneous tools, soldering iron, multimeter, the antenna analyzer.

N3JWJ, 12-28 August

For 2005, I made my 3rd visit to Greece in August with a ham radio, and thus my 3rd Greek 070 club APE. New this year was a weeklong visit to a Greek island.

My equipment needs to be compact and light to fit into checked luggage. I often have to lug everything quite some distances such as getting to and from ferryboats. I put everything I take into a laptop bag measuring about 15" x 10" x 3". Inside there is an FT-817, RS 3 AMP power supply that works on 110 or 220, Rascal interface 20M dipole, Par EF-10/20/40, MP-1 base loaded whip, charger for the digital camera batteries, and quite a few tools and other miscellaneous things. I carry my IBM T-20 ThinkPad separately.

Last year, both my bags were delayed by a day and I found TSA notices of inspection in each. I assumed their equipment saw electronics and wires and they needed to take a closer look. Inside my suitcase, I labeled the bag of gear to give them a clue what was inside. Imagine my surprise that the only bag opened and inspected this year was my wife's. All her neatly packed things were found upside down and backwards in what appeared to be a "slam dunk" inspection.

We arrived in Greece on Friday afternoon. After some quick repacking and consolidation, we drove up to Zemeno Saturday morning. Zemeno is in the mountains near ancient Delphi. It's high enough to be pleasantly cooler than most of Greece. Nearby is the biggest ski area in Greece, so summer is actually the low season for this area.

Based on previous years, I was expecting an easy time rolling up well more than 20 contacts from Zemeno. In each of the last 2 years I had more than 50 contacts with my full size 20M dipole in an inverted-V configuration from the balcony rafters with the ends tied to a fence and a tree. The first problem was the missing power strip and extension cord. As soon as I could, I headed into Arachova to get some shopping in before everything closed for the 3 day Assumption holiday weekend. Not much was open, but I finally did find a power strip in a tiny appliance store that was ready to close.

Even though I could hear stations, they couldn't seem to hear me. No answers to my CQs and well under a 10% contact rate when I answered CQs. If I got a QRZ? back, I knew I had a chance of a contact. Finally in frustration I stayed home while everyone else went swimming assuming I could knock out the contacts. I only had 2 contacts in over 4 hours. I took down the antenna and put everything away. We were hosting a party that evening and then leaving for Athens in the morning with only 10 contacts in the log.

When we arrived on island of Skiathos, I had the choice of 2 different rooms. I picked the end unit, hoping it would give me a way to deploy an end-fed antenna. I had picked up a Par EF-10/20/40 and hoped to use if from the balconies I could see on the hotel website. I found no way to deploy a 10M antenna across the busy narrow alley behind the building and every attempt to wrap the wire around the side of the building resulted in an unacceptable SWR. By this time, I was glad I did bring my MP-1 whip antenna, even though I had never had many contacts with it from portable locations. I had considered leaving the MP-1 behind when I added the end fed antenna. Each time I was ready to operate, I attached the whip to the railing and hauled my gear out to the balcony. I rarely had much more than an hour to operate

I had hoped that working from IOTA EU-072 would make me an attractive station and generate some activity. The first day I had only 1 contact and he was a repeat from a few days earlier in Zemeno. I made just enough contacts over each of the next 4 days to total 22 contacts from SV8/N3JWJ. A couple of stations thanked me for the IOTA and one Russian called me after noticing my LoTW information. (My 3 Greek call signs account for a significant percentage of all Greek LoTW users.) I finally got a few answers to CQs and started to feel better about the effort I took to take the equipment. My final contact from Skiathos was my only 070 contact. EA7ESI Jose is member 430 which made him the newest member at the time. I ended up with 23 contacts.

We came back to Athens and I was determined to get some contacts. I never had gotten a contact from 3rd floor Athens (Agia Paraskevi) apartment balcony on two previous trips. I dropped the end-fed over the edge and discovered I wasn't high enough to use it vertically. The next day I dropped it again and went down to hook the far end to the nearest tree. I discovered that it reached all the way to the fence along the sidewalk and was barely visible because it was tiny wire covered in a black jacket. I had good SWR on 10, 20, and 40, but only heard stations on 20. 11 contacts from Athens were all I could fit in, but they helped make my trip a success.

There was some discussion of an official APE beverage. While actually operating, the only thing I might be drinking was water, Coke Light, or a coffee frappe. But in the evenings, we often enjoyed our `official' trip drink - ouzo. We've settled on Plomari brand as first choice, but will settle for Mini in a pinch. Ouzo is best enjoyed on the rocks with small amounts of water added while sitting at an outside taverna enjoying the evening with appetizers like grilled octopus. Ouzo also helps one forget the frustration of not getting contacts.

I will print cards for each location and send them via the bureau. I've already uploaded to LoTW and eQSL (which is AG). Almost half of my contacts signed off with "no electronic QSLs please" which surprised me. I'm a little puzzled as to why so many folks would be so adamantly opposed unless they were bothered by increasing numbers of contacts urging them to register with eQSL.cc. Perhaps they're not willing to deal with what is still essentially an English language only site.

I do thank my wife Anne, her sister Frieda and my nieces Marianna and Zoe for putting up with my hobby intrusion on everyone's vacation. I'm sure they really couldn't understand why I was going to this level of effort. I did explain it as another example of "boys and their toys".

72 de Darrell

Zemeno - SV1/N3JWJ
14-Aug-2005 05:10:14 IK6IKJ FRANCO MACERATA JN63RH
14-Aug-2005 16:45:24 UA6PL Zaurbek Grozny LN23VI
14-Aug-2005 20:29:30 DL1FCI Ronald Florstadt JO40KI
14-Aug-2005 20:40:12 DL1RWG ADI HENNIGSDORF JO62OP
15-Aug-2005 05:12:07 CT1FUH Paulo Gouveia IN60EL
16-Aug-2005 05:03:21 EA1EVS Bob Aviles
16-Aug-2005 05:59:02 IT9/IZ2GOL Luigi Sicily JM77KN
16-Aug-2005 06:25:34 DG0VO Thomas Isle of Useiom IOTA EU-129
16-Aug-2005 10:39:50 F6DHI Chris Simiane JN23RK
16-Aug-2005 12:48:53 F1RLF Hubert Salvizinet JN 25 DS

Skiathos - SV8/N3JWJ
19-Aug-2005 05:53:17 IT9/IZ2GOL Luigi Sicily JM77KN
20-Aug-2005 14:43:24 OO4LJA John KAIN JO10QO
20-Aug-2005 15:18:23 SM6MCU Inge Hjo JO78DI
20-Aug-2005 15:27:25 F8AEJ
20-Aug-2005 15:47:00 SM6SLJ HÄRJA JO68XA
21-Aug-2005 16:16:01 DF8WI Michael Lörrach JN37UO
21-Aug-2005 16:26:03 IZ1CQY Piero Piemonte Torino
21-Aug-2005 16:35:04 HB9DLO Michel Orpund JN37PD
21-Aug-2005 16:48:58 RV6LAF Alex Taganrog
21-Aug-2005 17:01:49 DL1ATW Wigbert Warnau JO62CR
22-Aug-2005 15:42:04 OO4LBN FRANS DURNAL JO20LI
22-Aug-2005 15:50:35 UA6JD Vlad
22-Aug-2005 16:21:37 DH2PU wolfgang lahnstein JO30TI
23-Aug-2005 07:54:03 DL2KXA/P Dieter Kehnert JO52WI
23-Aug-2005 07:59:15 F5IDD BERNARD JN 37 PR MULHOUSE
23-Aug-2005 08:14:31 DR0A Leo JO41SM KASSEL op DF1OLS
23-Aug-2005 16:00:21 DL1RWG ADI HENNIGSDORF JO62OP
23-Aug-2005 16:16:18 DK5GE Karl-Heinz St. Blasien
23-Aug-2005 16:21:29 DF1BGQ ALEX KITZINGEN
23-Aug-2005 16:28:22 DL1ROG Otmar Neuseddin/Pdm. JO62LG
23-Aug-2005 16:42:03 DJ1UJ GUENTHER NEUHOFEN JN49FK
23-Aug-2005 16:51:16 UA6CE Vlad LN05BM
23-Aug-2005 17:09:46 EA7ESI Jose Malaga IM76RP 070# 430

Athens - SV1/N3JWJ
26-Aug-2005 10:21:27 UR4QKI/M ANTON CAPE TARCHANKUT KN65GJ
26-Aug-2005 16:18:22 EA8/W4GKR Rich Gran Canary Is. IL27fs IOTA AF004
26-Aug-2005 16:28:26 RV3AMV EDUARD MOSCOW KO85TU
26-Aug-2005 16:40:47 UT7NR YURI VINNITSA KN49FF
26-Aug-2005 17:46:58 I1LEP Luigi Ivrea JN35WL
26-Aug-2005 17:55:07 HB9LDR GEORGE ZURICH JN47FL
26-Aug-2005 18:24:00 DL2GH Gena Hagen JO31SI
26-Aug-2005 18:30:46 DL6FJ Werner Aschaffenburg JN49NW
26-Aug-2005 18:35:49 DG9SJ Wolfgang JN58AI Gerlenhofen
26-Aug-2005 18:54:09 DL5BBF Willi Bremen
27-Aug-2005 07:36:32 YZ1FA dejan Matejefac

Cottages in Zemeno. Part of my 20M inverted-V dipole is visible as are some of
the mountains that ring our high valley location. TV reception is nearly impossible,
but I’ve had quite a few contacts in years past. Unfortunately, 2005 was a hard year
for contacts.

Operating position from balcony in Skiathos. MP-1 whip antenna attached to railing
via C clamp under the overhead power line. The blue sea in the background did help with
attitude adjustment.

N7HJ, 20 August

WELLL NOW that was different.

Day started out, got up at 6am to catch the 7am Ferry to Whidbey Island. Got truck loaded. Rig in and ... go back into the house and get the Power Pigtail for the truck. Off to get Pie for picnic and then Diesel. Great Diesel pumping slower than a snail. Pay way too much money for the fill up and head for ferry. I arrive at the Pay window as they lower the get on gate. Well at least Im 5th on the next one ... In a 1/2 hour. Day is not starting well. Go get coffee, coffee is good for this early. Get back in truck with paper and take sip of coffee ... UGH what did they straint it through an old Fishermans sock or somthing. NASTY. Day going down hill fast.

Arrive at Admiralty head Lighthouse. Pull in near gen and start setting up. Fire up rig and signals booming in. Hookup laptop and enusre the 2 USB ports adapter went exactly where I had them Rig control in 1 and Key in other, ports were set last night. Turn laptop on and rig keys and stays there.

Oh great, go in and try to get the port switched. Unkey rig finally by shutting off laptop, things were hung up. Oh peach RF. Get laptop fired up again, Windows protection fault when starting MIXW and keeps doing it everytime I click on it.

Unplug Rig control cable an switch to Digipan. Now I need to learn and do macros on the fly. Key up right and send CQ ... MOUSE pad on laptop is locked ... GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH I scream and fellow hams look at me funny.

Get my chair out (Hey I rememberd one) and sit outside the truck with door closed, Laptop works fine. Call CQ. Get Wyoming AC7IU ... 599 ... things looking up. Get good coffee and donuts, things looking better. Work Charlie K8IJ, hey now I can forget the bad and get going.

Fellow ham comes running up HEY YOUR WIPING OUT our Light House stations. HUH, Im only running 30watts. Seems their two big TS950s get wiped out on 20 and 15 with my little pipsqeak ... I cant hear a thing from them. Band clean when they CQ. Great ... Now what.

Dont have Battery adapter as Dell sent me the wrong Auto/Air and then said tough you ordered it (Even though I clicked the link right off my Laptop to auto air accessories). One ham says I have a 200w cig plug inverter. Great Move down to other end of light house from boys and set up. Plug in Inverter. HASH at S30.

So then I start my CQ and talk for 1 hour and then go recharge pattern. Get 3 contacts because 2 of them insisted on telling me about thier Life story and sending the LONGEST Gawd Awful Brag tapes Ive ever seen. On one I actually had time to close the door, walk 50 yards to the TEE TEE room and come back and it still wasnt done (I kinda figured from the Bigining it was going to be long).

Go recharge and have lunch ... go back. Fire up and work several stations ending with Ritzo, man maybe Ill do better now. Go back and they have given up on Lighthouse day as 0 Lighthouses were on so they gave me permission to Just stay, so at 2pm I plug in and CQ and CQ and CQ. for an hour. Nothing. Had S6 hash noise that had crept in and 20 died.

then they turned Generator off at 3pm and noise went away. Called CQ for 1/2 hour more and called a couple stations.

Gave up.

Total in Log 12 stations.

Result, NO APE, Frustration and Cant wait to try again next year.

Sorry guys not official, but Its gave me some big lessons for next year to try it.

Here is who made it. Locals mostly
AC7IU 599 599 FRANK Casper wy Natrona County
K8IJ 599 559 Charlie Alexandria
K6MKF 599 599 Mike San Jose Calif
KE7AMS 599 599 Mike Port Townsand Washington
KJ7YL 559 599 steve Snohomish
WZ6P 599 599 Rich Newbury Park, CA DM04me 070#416
K5PAX 599 559 Harvey NM
AC0AX 539 QSB 569 Hal Octavia Nebraska
WB6YTE 599 599 Ed Chula Vista, CA . .
WB8EJN 599 429 tom saint peters, missouri
WA7SLD 559 599 Jim Sierra Vista, AZ
W6RK 599 599 Risto Alameda County 070 #93

Scotty N7HJ
Apeless in Seattle.

A few photos:

KF4FHS, 20-21 August

Our APE Chapter 2 was just a bit different from the first one.

We arrived at Westport WA CN76 Grays Harbor County a couple of days early to do a bit
of Salmon fishing before our APE started. The XYL beat the heck out of me fishing,
she caught a nice Silver, while I only caught a nice sunburn.

We setup our camp as close to the ocean as possible but still next to the trees where
we could stretch the wire amongst the trees.

I did get on the air later than I had hoped, and I will explain why.

I was assuming my position of making sure that the chaise lounges were in working order
and the warshin machine was functiong properly, while Melonie was climbing up one of the
trees to secure one end of the antenna. Unbeknownst to her the bark on the limb that she
was standing on was a bit loose and her foot slipped off and she fell down a couple of limbs
and was only saved by her bra being caught on a limb. Now folks, picture this...
a 50 something year old yankee woman, hanging 30ft off the ground in a pine tree, by her brassiere,
never turning loose of the one end of the doublet that she was installing.
Heck, I would have left her up there, but the reflected power was too high :-)

Anyway, I hollered up and told her to get down from there right now, so I could start
CQ'ing APE. Somehow she got unbridled from her lifesaving harness, and came flopping
and shinnying back down to the ground after securing the aerial.

After all this the rest of the weekend was rather docile. Maybe next year I should
consider using a vertical.

One, thing that I enjoyed was making my first APE 2 APE contact, K8IJ and N3UYI.

Here's my contacts during our fish catchin, tree climbin, not so graceful XYL APE.

Thanks to Everyone !!!!

73, Bernie / KF4FHS

(070 Club members are marked with *)

K9RMJ
K1GMD*
AG4QX*
KD7KST*
W4LGY
N7ZSD
N7XB*
W6RK
K6MKF*
AC0AX*
KD5ROC*
K3NJ*
WA6OVP
K8IJ/APE*
N3UYI*
WA4EEZ*
KJ4QF*
KJ6MC
N6IL
WM4B*
W7GET

K8IJ & N3UYI, 21 August

It was a dark and stormy night. Uh, morning. Well, it was just real, real foggy as
I headed out for Kincaid Lake State Park in Northern Kentucky. It took about an hour to
get to the State Park due to limited vision and it was only 27.5 miles on the pickup’s odometer.
I arrived to find the park mostly empty, save for cleaning crews. A cold front had
rolled through overnight and all the trashcans had been knocked over. It was quite a
mess but the park folks had it cleaned up quickly.

I had been to this park previously on other APEs, but always by myself and I had
just operated out of the front seat of the pickup. But Steve, N3UYI, was to join me
shortly so I looked for a more comfortable setting. A card table and a couple of folding
chairs were in the bed of the truck just in case. I drove around and found a picnic
area with nice trees and tables. Since there was no one else around I chose the best
spot – one with a table that would be shaded by the trees for many hours.

My cell phone was not able to get into any system and I don’t have any 2 meter gear,
so I was kinda out of touch with Steve as he motored down from north Cincinnati. I began
to set up antennas and the rig to get things going.

The first antenna was real simple – place the 40M Hamstick on the magnetic mount on
the roof of the truck. A 50 foot long piece of RG-8X reached nicely to the picnic table.
The second antenna took only a couple of minutes to assemble. It was a 20M dipole made
from 2 Hamsticks. The dipole was bolted to a 10 foot long piece of electrical conduit
and placed in a short tripod, really a roof mount tripod, but it’s always worked FB on
the ground. The cooler (filled with ice, liquid refreshments and a little chow) was used
as ballast for the tripod – a bungee cord held everything together. Another 50 foot
long piece of RG-8X ran to the rig.

The rig was the ever-faithful TS-570D. Since it has 2 antenna connectors we had
instant band-change capabilities. Power came from a marine deep-cycle storage battery.
The old dawg Dell Inspiron 3500 laptop running MixW and a RigBlaster nomic interface
rounded out the gear. A booster battery was available (and used later). I had tried
to buy another marine battery (I like the screw terminals – very handy) but could not
find one in the local Walmart.

40M was first and there was Kevin, KJ4QF (now K4VD). Kevin was kind enough to spot
me on the reflector and then y’all were all over the screen for the next few hours.
Steve and his great dog Molly arrived about 10 AM and I had 6 QSOs already logged.
Since Steve and I had never met before, we were tag-team operating and chatting the
whole while. When lunchtime came about Steve fired up his little grill and we enjoyed
bratwursts, potato salad, chips and dip. Yum!

Both of us were running a little low on free time, so shortly after hitting the 20 QSO
mark and making our APE “official” we packed up and took off. Feeling adventurous,
I took the road less traveled going back home north to Alexandria – it was a nice ride.

Many thanks to all the Club members we worked, especially the 2nd APE from the KF4FHS
team – our APE-to-APE QSO was a blast.

Vy 73,

Charlie, K8IJ

Here are some quick photos:

Log data:

Start date UTC TX kHz Call RST S RST R Name QTH
-------------------- -------- ------ ----- ----- ------ ------
21-Aug-2005 12:30:38 7070.0 KJ4QF 579 579 Kevin VA
21-Aug-2005 12:40:09 7070.0 N2LD 579 599 John NJ
21-Aug-2005 12:50:07 7070.0 AB0SR 599 599 Jesse IA
21-Aug-2005 13:01:02 7070.0 K3KYT 599 599 Lynn PA
21-Aug-2005 13:23:12 7070.0 K1GMD 599 599 Phil GA
21-Aug-2005 13:51:23 14070.0 V25WX 599 599 Bill Antigua-W4WX
21-Aug-2005 14:04:06 14070.0 KD7KST 599 559 Bill WA
21-Aug-2005 14:08:02 14070.0 K4FBP 599 589 Don FL
21-Aug-2005 14:23:22 14070.0 AE2AA 599 599 Walt NJ
21-Aug-2005 14:40:48 14070.0 KC5GNB 599 599 Bill TX
21-Aug-2005 15:01:01 14070.0 W4GTM 599 599 Karen VA
21-Aug-2005 15:11:09 14070.0 KC6T 579 579 Bill CA
21-Aug-2005 15:23:35 14070.0 KT4NM 599 599 John FL
21-Aug-2005 15:29:02 14070.0 WM4B 599 599 Mike GA
21-Aug-2005 15:38:44 14070.0 KD5ROC 599 599 Joe FL
21-Aug-2005 15:45:37 14070.0 KA5MEI 599 599 Carl TX
21-Aug-2005 15:53:45 14070.0 KD6EVM 599 599 Tom CA
21-Aug-2005 16:04:39 14070.0 N7HJ 599 599 Scotty WA
21-Aug-2005 16:13:06 14070.0 K6MKF 579 559 Mike CA
21-Aug-2005 16:20:52 14070.0 W2QO 599 599 Jamie NJ
21-Aug-2005 16:55:31 14070.0 KF4FHS 599 599 Bernie WA-APE 2 APE!

W5DP, 24 August

I ended up having to work all that week unexpectedly and canceled what I really wanted to do, and that is going APE!

Hopefully next year will be better!

73 de W5DP,
Dusty

Club members appearing in 2005 Official APE logs and getting 2005 APE "attaboys":

	K9VIC	KD7KST	KF4FHS	DL2RR & DF5JG	W3HF/4	N3JWJ	N7HJ	KF4FHS	K8IJ & N3UYI	W5DP
	Official!	Official!	Official!		Official!	Official!		Official!	Official!
AB0SR									X
AC0AX	X		X					X
AG4QX								X
EA7ESI						X
HP1CPE					X
K1GMD	X							X	X
K1YAN					X
K3NJ								X
K3VOA		X
K4FBP									X
K5PAX	X	X	X		X
K6MKF			X					X	X
K8IJ	X		X		X			X	X
K9KDR		X	X
K9VIC	X				X
K0SU		X	X
KB9WWM					X
KD5ROC	X	X	X		X			X	X
KD7KST		X	X					X	X
KE9PH		X			X
KF4FHS			X					X	X
KF4HOU		X
KF4NDH	X
KG4FSN	X
KJ4QF	X				X			X	X
KJ7NO		X	X
KR4U	X				X
KT4NM	X								X
N0IBT		X
N3JWJ						X
N3UYI								X	X
N7HJ	X		X						X
N7XB								X
N9BUB					X
N9SV		X	X
W3HF	X				X
W4GTM									X
W5DP	X	X	X
W5SWA	X		X
W5VGR		X
W6RK		X
WA4EEZ								X
WB4MKN		X
WB9AUJ			X
WM4B	X				X			X	X

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