Category: DXpedition

Announcements of DXpeditions or DXpedition gear.

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Field DayA while ago Mark, PA4M and I planned a ‘field day’ of our own. Last Sunday would be the day if the rain wasn’t too strong. We picked a spot near the Gooimeer in the center of the Netherlands. We were in the middle of some farmers land. Mark did bring his homebuilt end fed for 20m and I bring a 1:10 MFTF-balun with the same 10 meter of wire as the end fed. This way we could compare both antennas.
Also I did bring the BuddiPole for it’s first run on new mast and tripod.

The IARU-contest was still going strong, so after setup the antennas and my Kenwood TS-590 rig Mark gave the key a spur and kicked 57 contacts in the log. Pretty nice when you take the bad conditions in consideration.

Too bad we didn’t hear any USA/Asia/Oceania. But after all a great day to be outside and testing our equipment!

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buddipoleA great birthday present this year: a BuddiPole! Always wanted a simple but flexible portable antenna for the outdoor activities. Until now I used a glass fiber fishing rod with 2 pieces of wire so I could work on 20m. But that is not a small package which you can drop in your rucksack easily.

The BuddiPole is a cool piece of hardware which you can build almost anything you (portable antenna-wise) would want. It’s usable for 40 to 2m. It’s possible to build a much smaller vertical BuddiStick with the components of a BuddiPole. An ideal solution for apartments or hotel stays where it almost impossible to setup a big (even portable) antenna.

On little side note: when you’re in the ordering process, consider what kind of base you going to add. You can choose the tripod or (in the BuddiStick-modus) the table clamb. Because when you don’t order a base(like I did) you have nothing to put the dipole on.

Now I really need to fix my Yaesu FT-817 so I can test my portable setup on a quiet place somewhere out there.

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Hello everyone! It was a while since I post something here. Thats because we enjoyed a little holiday in the south of France. Not the Alpes this time but we went to the Dordogne. Very nice trip! We rented a big house with swimming pool (although it was way to cold to swim in it) and a nice garden in a place called La Lardin-Saint-Lazare (JN

When we arrived I immediately setup the ‘travelkit’ containing a fishing rod, about 6 meters high, a few wires for a 20m inverted V dipole, some coax cable and ofcourse my good old Kenwood TS-50 and AT-50. Very nice singals from all over Europe! Noise level below S0 what is so rare these days. Even made qso with Cuba and Florida!