[SCCC] Plan C Orion Antler Ranch, DM24, Now On 144 MHz CW (Long)

[Steve Harrison]

Greetings:

I don't know whether there is (or has been) any persistent activity 
lately on V/UHF from DM24; but as of yesterday afternoon, I now have my 
old 13B2 up and running (albeit only around 12 feet high at present). 
Thus, I'm available for skeds from DM24ad on 144 MHz CW. (I'll also very 
reluctantly attempt SSB, of course.) I've been on 2m FM for several 
months but since I can hardly understand a blessed word said on the 
local club repeaters, I don't bother monitoring that much any longer. 
I'm using my FT-991A radio and have no idea how sensitive it is on 144 
but I bet it's no better than a good nuvister converter back in the 
'60s. I can also operate 50 and 432 MHz but don't have anything up for 
those bands yet; maybe an inv vee on 6m later this week?? Is there a 144 
beacon I could listen for from here??

I've been on HF CW for a couple months with a 40m inverted vee up 38 
feet which has been working VERY well even with just 100 watts; and the 
quiet reception out here in the desert has to be heard to be believed. 
Often, I can hear weaker ordinary Europeans calling some big-gun east 
coasters who don't seem to hear the Euros, and I've been able to work 
schtuff from here that I wudda killed to be able to work back in '68 
when the 5BDXCC award first started up. I converted the inv vee into a 
delta loop the other day, but I think I'll change it back to an inv vee 
which seemed to transmit much better, as well as heard the weaker 
schtuffs better. The storm noise has decreased on the loop compared to 
the inv vee, but the loop just doesn't seem to hear/transmit nearly as 
well, probably because the lower wire is only 10 feet off the ground. 
Unfortunately, the inv vee resonates too high to useful on 21 MHz CW 
without a tuner and even then, seems to be a mediocre performer. I need 
to lower the 40 foot tower to put an insulated mast in the top from 
which I'll hang the inv vee again as well as other ropes/pulleys to pull 
up other wire antlers such as an inverted L for the 160 contest coming 
up in a couple weeks, and then an 80m inv vee (which may also work on 20m).

As for facilities out on the 10-acre ranch-spread: since I now live in 
the desert with no commercial power facilities at all, I have a small 
trailer powered  by propane and 420 amp-hours of LiFePhO4 batteries, 
recharged by four 250-watt solar panels lying tilted on the ground. So 
far, this has been sufficient to run overnight barefoot (100-watt 
output) radio operations as well as the trailer's furnace (it gets COLD 
out there in the desert after sundown), dual-mode refridgerator, 12V 
lights, and a coffee machine in the mornings, plus the trailer's 
microwave to fix supper at night (running from a VERY noisy 2 kW Harbor 
Fright "simulated sine wave" inverter, which is actually just generating 
rectangular waves). The only times I've had to be careful about my power 
consumption have been extremely overcast days such as today (and last 
Tuesday, in particular). Even then, the panels generally completely 
recharge the four batteries by the mid-afternoon sometime. When the sun 
is shining from sunrise, the batteries get completely recharged by 
around 0930 or 1030. Later this week, I'll probably add another pair of 
batteries to the existing bank of four, making the total battery 
capacity about 630 ampere-hours (at 12V). I have another 20 250-watt 
solar panels that will eventually get mounted on the roof of my 40-foot 
cargo container. Half of those will replace the existing four panels now 
lying on the driveway while the other ten panels will recharge a 
dedicated 48-volt 100 a-h system to provide 120VAC inside the container. 
Hopefully, the two systems (6 - 105 ah batteries, plus the separate 48V 
- 100 a-h system) will suffice to provide all the necessary Plan C Orion 
Antler Ranch power requirements, including HF amplifiers.

This week, I'll also connect and try out a 2700-watt pure-sine wave 
Xantrex RS3000 inverter; hopefully, it'll be quieter RFI-wise than the 
existing HF inverter but I'm sure its idling power consumption will be 
sufficiently-high that I won't want to run it any more than necessary. 
If it's not, I may have to fire up the 48-volt system inside the steel 
cargo container sooner than I'd planned in order to keep RFI from being 
radiated while powering amplifiers. I do have a couple generators but 
have not had to use any of them as yet.

Trying to find steel or aluminum poles to use for antenna masts has been 
fruitless out here in the desert; I have yet to come across anything at 
all other than old 10-foot fence posts, and the old towers out at W6BA's 
(ex-W6ANN) granddaughter's spread. I'll have to stop by there again soon 
and have a good look at those towers to decide whether I want to invest 
in salvaging any of them. There are still five of them up, one with the 
remains of a pair of monoband yagis on it.

Meanwhile, if anyone would like to try a sked with DM24 on 144 CW, 
please e-mail me at shk0xp at gmail.com instead of this k0xp at k0xp.com 
e-mail addy. This one requires internet access which I only have on the 
spread by using my cell phone. When I need to check e-mail or get on FB 
or do something else on the web, I have to come into town and "steal" 
internet from the WiFi of a local motel. I'm hoping to get setup soon 
using my cell as a hot spot for my laptop but that won't be for another 
cupla weeks, at least. I plan to be at least somewhat active in the 
January VHF contest next weekend; it'd be nice to see whether 
propagation back to the LA/Orange county area exists at all from my low 
antler.

Steve, K0XP