October and November of 2018 my wife and I went on our annual 6-8 week excursion out to North Carolina to the Overland Expo. During that time I operated from various place along our route and never had a problem making contacts with my friends in Missouri and Tennessee. Though I did find myself operating from Walmart parking lots on more than one occasion.

75%-80% of my operating is done either mobile or portable with 90% of that being on 80m. Doing 80m mobile HF is a feat in itself! I might do a post on what I have done to set up my Jeep for 80m HF operations…

Doing this kind of operating allowed me some testing since I was far away from my QTH. First a 80m Hamstick is not very efficient, although it has worked for me surprisingly well 159-250 miles from home. We were much farther away then. 925 mile by road or roughly 775-800 miles as the crow flies. I still made contact with my friends with my 80m HF Hamstick. I then quickly changed to my MFJ 17 foot telescoping vertical and made contact again. WOW! What a difference it made both on receiving and transmitting. It went from them struggling to make out what I was saying to 2-3 S-units above the Hamstick which is a big improvement.

Don’t forget I am still a relatively a “new Ham”! Furthermore, I am working on my 4th year as an amateur operator and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I am always learning new things and new ways to do stuff. I do enjoy antenna testing and trying out new antennas!