This Monday I will run the new portable repeater from the Fire Department Training Center at Alameda Point from 7 to 9 pm. You can hit the repeater by using the "ROMEO3" frequency at 441.875 +, PL 88.5. If you need ROMEO3 added to your HT, come by and I will help you update your radio. I have cables and software for the commonest Baofeng and Yaesu units as well as for some ICOMs and the Wouxun KG-UV3D. If you have a different radio, bring your own cable, and I will try, best effort, to program it.
Bruce (KI6CYT) brought his new Field Day antenna for testing at Shop Night. It is a 20 meter dipole in an inverted "V". He has it mounted on a lightweight pushup fiberglass pole from MFJ. The mast employs two "crappie" poles as spreaders to secure the antenna ends.
Cass (AG6NT) and I helped set it up. One of Bruce's goals was to not only make it very light weight, but make it simple enough to set up so that one person could do it easily in the field. Achieving the hoped-for single person setup didn't happen on this first trial, but our experience gave Bruce some good ideas about how to improve the mast.
Otherwise the antenna met Bruce's goals. It was very light and portable. Three guy lines secured it safely adequately in the evening breeze at the Training Center. A check of the antenna analyzer showed that the whole twenty meter band had an SWR of less than 2.0. And a radio check showed that it was sensitive and could transmit 100w SSB.
Bruce and I agreed to meet again at the Sea View Park on Bay Farm Island to test his ideas to improve ease of use.
