Hello and happy new year to everybody.
Over the holidays i did a bit of QRP / P while visiting my family in Scotland.
I usually operate on the coast, in Aberdour, Fife (IO86ib). This year conditions were not great, but I worked Euro stations easily. As normal, I had my FT-817 and Palm Radio mini-paddle but I had three new bits in my /p kit.
1. Buddistick shock-cord mast. This made setup easier than normal. The standard clamp is a bit weak, and there has to be an object to clamp to (picnic table etc). The the mast is rock-solid even in a strong breeze and you can strap/tie it to just about anything.. you can also use guy lines to erect and stabilise it.
2. The new Buddistick short-coil. It's a neat coil and if you are happy to operate at 14MHz and up, it saves weight and space.
3. RG-174 For feeder, I used 3m of thin RG-174. This was substantially lighter and easier to pack than normal RG-58. Over the 3m run the loss is minimal and an acceptable compromise, I think.
See the attached image of my modified Buddistick.
Best 73 de Rob M0KCP
