Whenever we vacation on the North Carolina Outer Banks I try to get in a few days of operating battery powered HF portable from the top of the sand dunes (Grid FM26 / Currituck County). For more information about Carova visit my Carova Beach Pictures page.
My portable station is pretty basic:
- LDG AT-100 Pro II Tuner
- Icom 706 MkIIg
- Signal Link USB
- Bioenna LiFePO4 Battery
Rig control / logging is done with an old Windows laptop running
Log4OM / FLDIGI / WSJT-X / JS8Call
For an antenna I use an OCF Dipole supported in the center with a SpiderBeam Fiberglass Mast with the ends hanging from some fishing poles stuck in the top of the sand dunes. If you look carefully you can see my antenna in the picture below:
I applaud the hams who do the real DX Expeditions, I have learned a lot setting up my mini activation on top of the sand dunes. Some of the events I have encountered:
- Wind blowing the antenna masts out of the sand
- Battery coming unhooked in the middle of a QSO
- Mosquitoes / Biting Black flies
- Rain
- Hurricane Michael
- Unwanted attention from the Banker Horses
- and the list goes on and on
I normally mail QSL cards (shown below) to any contacts that indicate they accept QSL cards (no reply needed).
