Operating mobile for FYBO QRP 2013 with the KX3

It was such a beautiful day today I decided to take the KX3 out and participate in Freeze Your Butt Off Winter QRP Sprint. Wx was in the mid-30s with a breeze. I decided to drive over to the Palouse Ridge Golf Golf Club at WSU and set up on a bluff overlooking the Palouse.

I loaded the KX3, my speaker wire dipole, portable key, and AA batteries in my backback, jumped in the car and headed over.

The clump of trees seen in the aerial view on this page shows where I set up for FYBO.

The sun was shining, not a cloud in the sky, the wind was blowing. Perfect day! I had forgotten to bring a chair and my headphones, but luckily for me, there was a bench waiting for me. It was quiet enough that I did not need my headphones. So, I tossed my dipole into the trees, leaving the center about 6 feet above the ground. Hooked up the KX3 to the antenna, plugged in the key and battery pack and started scanning for FYBO CQs.

As a started scanning on 20 meters I heard KH6MB (Hawaii) calling CQ on 14.004. I responded, only half expecting him to hear my 3W CW signal. He came right back! Wow! My first mobile contact on the KX3 was Hawaii. Nice.

I went on to notch 3 FYBO contacts in the next hour: K7TQ in Idaho, WD7Y in Nevada, and W0DTJ in California. All on 20M. Not too bad for 3W to a dipole 6 feet off the ground.

I also worked Barry, N2BJ in New Lenox, IL on 15M RTTY. Tried PSK31 but had no luck, although the KX3 did an excellent job translating PSK to text for me. A waterfall display is nice, but this rig makes it pretty easy to run PSK without it.

All in all a very productive first outing with the KX3. My plan is to set up my 32 ft. vertical next time to see how it performs at that same location.

Till next time - 73!