Author Archive: Paul Harrington

EFHW Kit Build!

Last Month we learned about the End Fed Half Wave antenna (EFHW). This month we built it!!

On Saturday, November 18th we built our EFHW portable antennas for 40m, 20m, 15m, and 10m.
Seventeen club members of various skill levels participated and all successfully built their own portable multi-band antenna.

In December we took the antennas into the field and tuned them for optimal performance. The project was great fun and we anticipate another build project or two in 2024. If you have ideas for a fun build project talk to Steve W5HK, Greg KA9SUU, or Paul W5PFH.

Found Some Old Friends at Belton

So . . . we’re hanging out at Belton, and a Life Member drops by to say hello. Charles Penry WA5VHU and his wife Cindy KD5CCB were visiting the HamExpo and visited with us for a while.

Charles is holding a radio we brought for sale that was once owned by Betty Roden and donated to the club some years ago!

We set up next to Jason KC5HWB (Ham Radio 2.0). The weather was perfect! Several club members stopped by to say hello.

2023 Winter Field Day

Our 2023 Winter Field Day was great fun!! We operated as 3-Oscar (three stations, outdoors). We used independent power (generator and battery) for the entire event! Three stations operated continuously throughout the night. The bands were pretty good. We operated 10 and 20 meters until early evening, then 40 meters, and finally 80 meters for the last few contacts.

For a few hours, we shared the park with a church group of nearly 100 kids who seemed to be using our antennas as goals for their football game. After they left, our antennas were still standing and we continued to operate.
Jeremy, N5KKE brought a smoker and prepared chickens and hot dogs. We ate well and enjoyed moderate temperatures throughout the night, until about 6:00 am.

In the early morning, the thermometer plunged and the wind picked up. We got a taste of real winter and decided that some kind of tent or shelter with sides would have been a great idea! Great spirits and good fun kept us warm and we operated until about 9:00 am on Sunday. After filling ourselves with doughnuts and hot coffee we packed up and headed for home and warm beds.

These events are a ton of fun. If you haven’t been lately you’re missing out. Our next field day is at the end of June. I hope you’ll join us.