September 2003 Ham-Out

Saturday & Sunday September 20 & 21, 2003

 

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September is the time for the fall 4SQRP "Ham-Out". This is our annual celebration of the end of summer and the return to cooler temperatures in the four states. The Ham-Out is a combination camp-out, cookout, swap meet and fall field day all rolled into one fun weekend and is timed to coincide with the New England QRP Club's QRP Afield contest.

We set up at the Twin Bridges state park near Wyandotte, Oklahoma. Four intrepid QRP'ers, AG5P, NQ5R, NØMQ, and KCØOCK arrived early Friday evening to claim our favorite camping spots. WØCH and AB5XQ arrived in time for charcoal grilled hamburgers but did not camp out Friday evening when the temperature dropped to the low 40's.

The pictures that follow are "clickable" to view a larger image file. 

Tom, N2UHC's portable station. Tom's home built 20 meter CW transceiver is on the left along with a homebrew keyer. A short wave receiver is in the center of the table.

Here is a better view of Tom's Target receiver, dialed up on WWV at 10 MHz for a time check.

Bill, AB5XQ is working 40 meters CW with his homebrew SST transceiver. (N2UHC photo)

Here is a close-up look at Bill's scratch-built 40 meter SST. Bill etched the PC board and even made the case. Very nice!

Rex KC5UVN and Dave, WDØBBN admiring Bill's SST transceiver. Dave drove over from Wichita, Kansas for the Ham-Out today.

Rex's "shack-in-box" station. In the foreground is his White Mountain 20 meter SSB transceiver with a built-in digital frequency display and internal battery pack. (N2UHC photo)

Rex, KC5UVN and Walter AG5P erecting Rex's rotatable ham-stick dipole antenna.

WØEB's Pac-12 on it's maiden voyage on the airwaves. Jim reports that it worked very well.

Jay, KØETC checking out Rex's latest project, a home brew all-band antenna tuner.

Here is the innards of KC5UVN's homebrew antenna tuner. Rex uses a bandswitch to select toroid inductors for 80 to 10 meter coverage. (N2UNC photo)

Jim, WØEB's portable station is on the air. Bill came over from Wichita, Kansas for the Ham-Out.

WØEB demonstrates how to use one of the 4SQRP "KD1JV Tenna Dippers" to adjust his antenna tuner and homebrew PAC-12 antenna.

WØEB's good looking homebuilt "KG6CYN DDS signal generator/VFO".

The back view of WØEB's DDS VFO reveals the secret Altoid based technology behind the project.

Table one of the swapfest. Mark NØZPD, Jim Newton and Glen, K5UP checking out the goodies.

Table two of the swapfest. Lots of neat items, many of which found new homes. (N2UHC photo)

More of the gang checking out the treasures. That's John, KBØISE in the far background. John and Larry, ABØAH (in the red ball cap) are from Augusta, Kansas.

Larry, AB5AH in the foreground with Larry, NØBHU and Tom, N2UHC in the background looking for swapfest parts.

Larry, NØBHU having a "trunk sale". Jay, KØETC looks like he found some goodies.

Jay, KØETC's DDS VFO based on the NJQRP club's Daughter Board kit. Using software written by WBØLQZ, it sweeps from 10 Hz to 30 MHz.

Bill, AB5XQ and Bob, K6KK at Gene, NØMQ's portable station. Gene is experimenting with a 84 foot end fed wire antenna. Gene reported that it performed very well.

Bob, K6KK working a bit of 20 meter CW at Dave, WØCH's station. That 300 Ohm twinlead goes up to a 20 meter Extended Double Zepp antenna.

Wayne ,KCØPMH and Shirley came over from Columbus, Kansas for the afternoon. Wayne is a "G" amateur and recently moved here from London, England. Welcome to the four states!

Walter, AG5P and Joy, NQ5R took charge of the 4SQRP Chuck Wagon. Thanks for the wonderful eating! On the right is Foy, KCØOCK.

Joy, NQ5R did not have to call the gang twice for lunch! Boy, what a feast with Joy's pot roast as the main course. (N2UHC photo)

The world famous "Pink Stuff" desert, prepared by Tom N2UHC and Jeanette. (N2UHC photo)

We wish to thank Walter, AG5P and Joy, NQ5R for taking charge of the wonderful ham-out cooking. In addition to the pot roast lunch, Joy made charbroiled burgers for the Friday night crew, and again for the Saturday night gang. Sunday morning breakfast was a delicious pile of campfire biscuits and gravy. Yum-yum!

Next month, we will shift the date of our regular "Barney's Kitchen" group get-together to accommodate the Grandview hamfest near Kansas City. Watch the 4SQRP home page for updated information.

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