No, this isn’t a tongue twister.
What my plan was
I built a center loaded multiband vertical antenna and planned for an activation test in Mt.Baratxueta, EA2/NV-068.
Activation date: Jan 18th 2025
What it turned to be
I left the car reading a low temperature of minus 5 C, and the freezing path was like being in a black and white film.
Anyway I enjoyed a pleasant hike up to the summit and soon the sun rays transformed all that sleepy nature into technicolor.
When I arrived in the summit, it was a glorious bright and sunny day, excellent views and little breeze, perfect for testing my homebrew antenna.
After a few pictures of the stunning scenery I removed and put on ground my rucksack, but…
What ?! Where is my fishpole !?
Doh, it has fallen during the ascent! How can I put my vertical antenna on this flat bald summit now?
I was tempted to abandon and get down to search my fishpole, but what the heck, let’s try some emergency setup, just in case…
The summit is quite flat and trees are down the summit, obstructing the RF path.
Why not using a tall bush then?
There was a 2 meter high bush, not quite good for my 4 meter long loaded vertical.
I just clamped the center coil in a branch, allowing the lower 1,5 m of wire to hang all the way down to ground, where I put the feeder, a choke and 4 short 2,5 meter radials extended out.
The remaining 2,3 meter after the coil should be vertical, but all I could do was to toss the wire over the bush. The final form of the antenna was an ugly inverted J, as the end of the wire got down between the sticky branches: no way to access and deploy the wire properly stretched. The bush-antenna was born:
I wasn’t expecting a great performance, and connected the antenna analyzer I had brought. Resonance was about 17 MHz bypassing the coil. It was very easy to tune the antenna in 14 MHz moving the alligator clip a few turns down the coil.
I started the radio and checked on Sotawatch, finding Jarek @SP9MA active from OM/ZA-109. There I went and to my surprise I could hear him! A bit nervous I gave him a call and thanks good Jarek’s ears he picked me out the pile up and had the S2S, great fun!
I then called CQ on 14 MHz CW where I had a good run with a good level of reports and a couple more S2S (tnx @IK2LEY and @OM6AN). Then moved to SSB and again had a decent stream of chasers at a good pace.
20 m did the deal and I decided to try 10 MHz. I adjusted the coil easily and found Alberto @EA3GNU calling CQ there. I was excited to tune and hear him with my ugly wire but had a good S2S (354 km far away, no ground wave then). After my return I was aware that Alberto was using a QMX with a short whip, amazing. His station was even more compact than mine and we did get the QSO!
He sent me this picture:
My run on 10 MHz produced again a good bunch of chasers. I had a break to chase on VHF a number of close stations S2S (tnx EA2DCA, EA2DNO,EA2FDW, EA2FBA & EA2EEB , wow!).
Time was running and decided to stop but a last look in Sotawatch revealed Colin @M1BUU activating on 21 MHz. Should I try?
In a rush, I pulled from the top wire and folded about half a meter on itself, fixed with a clamp and then tossed the wire back again over the bush. All right, SWR= 1,6:1 , enough. Tuned and there he was!!
Sent a call, he asked ?, and I called again. Bingo! A last funny S2S to close my log with 52 QSO in my pocket. I was superhappy with result of my marginal setup.
Worked EA, EA8, CT, F, G, GW, DL, HB, ON, I, OM, TF, SA, SP, OK, YO
What about my missing mast?
A group of mountaineers arrived in the summit. One of them approached and said:
-I see you’re doing something with wires: have you lost a fish pole?
He was very gentle to bring it back to me, so nice.
HAM radio, why?
People ask sometimes why do we, amateur radio ops, find amateur radio interesting.
As for me, I have several reasons, but an important point is the capacity for being surprised, like children are, when they get some gift, or they encounter the unexpected.
Today’s experience provided such a surprise to me. After the adverse initial situation I could greet some radio friends with this low efficient installation. These kind of stories, the emotions and the excitement I got are engraved into my memory.
I went down the hill really happy, remembering the highlights of this activation and those hard to believe QSO I got. I thank for having that bush at hand in the summit: was this casual?
Thanks all. Sure the propagation helped a lot, but next time I promise a better setup in my side.
Let me share another gift, the nature I saw in today’s splendorous winter break, another good reason for portable HAM.
73 Ignacio
, I can imagine your cold operating inside the bothy bag, hats off ! Looking forward our next QSO Colin.