Radio Interrupted

A little over a month ago the tree I was using as an antenna mast was removed. There are no other trees that I can use. I live on a small lot (0.08 acres) in a tight, suburban neighborhood. There are plenty of trees around me but none suitable for elevating a wire antenna.

In this satellite photo of my home the lost tree is circled in blue. The red line shows the previous configuration of my end-fed half wave.

Losing my antenna tree

In past journal entries I’ve described my QTH antenna setup. My most recent home antenna was a self-built End-fed half-wave. Here’s an earlier photo showing my wire antenna elevated by a pulley system I lofted into a tree using an arbor throw line.

As you can see from the picture above, the trunk of my “antenna tree” grew from the other side of the fence at the boundary of my property. From a “no man’s land” between two neighbor’s fences. It was been rubbing against my neighbor’s fence as it swayed and causing damage. To protect their fence, they removed it.

My neighbors are wonderful people; they had no issue with my antenna placement. And they kindly reached out to warn me they needed to remove the nuisance tree.

With no antenna, I haven’t been able to get on the radio since April 27. With two teenagers I spend a lot of time taxiing them to their activities and generally keeping things moving at home. So my time and ability to install a new antenna is limited.

Going forward

My general plan is to mount a short mast on the corner of my house (at about 23 feet) where I can set up a halyard for raising and lowering wire antennas. Then I can use the halyard to experiment with different antennas. Most likely configured as an inverted L or V.

I’m not sure when I’ll have time enough to mount the mast and halyard. It’s not the biggest project but Spring is a busy time in our household. Maybe once my kid’s summer vacation arrives in a few weeks.

Failed field operations

When I first lost my antenna I thought, “No problem, the weather’s getting nicer. I’ll head out into the field and do POTA.” Space weather had different ideas and has been horrible lately.

On May 2nd, I had my first failed POTA activation at Walden Pond State Reserve. I was trying to get a quick activation in on a mid-week day off before an afternoon Red Sox game. With horrible propagation and little time to experiment with equipment, modes and bands I had to pack up and call it quits after only two contacts.

With horrible propagation and little time to experiment with equipment, modes and bands I had to pack up and call it quits after only two contacts.

Don’t worry, the terrestrial weather was beautiful and I spent my afternoon at Fenway Park watching the Red Sox win. Here I am, near Pesky’s Pole representing our hobby with my Long Island CW Club t-shirt.

I try to remind myself that POTA actually takes some skill (and luck) and no activation attempt is guaranteed. I posted on the Fediverse and we had an amusing conversation about it.

Again, with a busy family schedule, I haven’t been able to get out to nearby Parks to play radio. I learned from my failed activation that I don’t like rushing. I like to have time to experiment and enjoy radio operation.

I don’t like rushing. I like to have time to experiment and enjoy radio operation

Going forward in the field

The poor space weather has been ongoing this Spring. But it will clear up. I purchased and plan to build QRPBuilder’s QBV 40m/20m-10m Switched Antenna kit. Pairing that antenna with my G90 should allow me to setup more quickly; I’m hoping that it encourages me to get into the field more often.

I also ordered a KH1 transceiver a few months back. They finally requested payment and I believe it will ship in the next week or so. With a KH1, I should be able to operate outdoors very easily and get on the radio even without an antenna setup and ready at home.

Summer goals

I definitely need to get the antenna situation fixed before the end of summer so I can operate through next winter!