VE6AB Portable Ops
DXpedition On The Ice
This photo finds me south of Canmore AB in the Spray Valley where I had my portable HF station set up on Spray Lakes Reservoir.
I was also doing some ice-fishing as you can tell by my fishing rod set up over a hole that I had drilled through the ice with my ice auger.
While waiting for the fish to bite, I was running more tests with my new antenna that continues to impress me with how well its performs on the various bands that I worked while out on the ice.
The antenna was a snap to set up, and the secret to allowing this to happen, was with the use of my cordless drill visible in the photo. With a 1/2" sheet-metal drill-bit installed in the chuck, I drilled a hole approximately 4" deep in the ice for the spike of the coaxial junction box to be inserted in.
I also was pleased to find that my Yaesu FT-897D performed well while out in the cold, as the temperature was howvering in the -17 Celsius range, and after 3 hours operating on the A battery, the voltage was still reading above 12 volts on the meter of the 897, and I never did have to switch to the B battery.
Click on the photo for a closer look.....
Check out my latest blogpost here with a more complete read and extra photos.....
http://ve6ab.blogspot.ca/2016/01/dxpedition-on-ice.html
