Pedestrian stuff

 Today I went for another pedestrian mobile activation of US-1518. The bands in a great shape and I could not pass up the opportunity. It was a cold, cloudy day with temperatures in the mid 20s (about -4C). 

I believe the KH-1 has to be quickest radio to deploy on the field in situations where you do not have the radio already configured for operating. So as long as you are comfortable with the 3 supported bands with the built-in whip and tuner, all you have to do is to get the antenna screwed in, and the counterpoise connected. You're off to the races! I chose to work the 20m band today.

In the previous post [https://motopota.blogspot.com/2025/02/qrv-from-sanatorium.html]  I had talked about making a few modifications to make using the KH-1 easier in a pedestrian mobile setting. I had also mentioned difficulty using the pen and paper logging on the field in the cold. The KH-1 has a facility where it can automatically log all the CW characters sent from the rig with timestamps. This is supposed to ease logging in the field. It is enabled very quickly by going into MENU:Logging and turning it on. [See pp. 22 of the printed manual]. The log can hold up to 50000 characters, more than enough for any POTA activation. The logs can then either be browsed on the radio [the 2 line LCD will make it painful...see below] or you can use the data cable and hook up the KH-1 to the computer and use their supplied utility to view the logs.

Built-in logging on KH-1. Notice how the call sign WJ5K and spaces between words are not just right

 

On this activation, I enabled the logging. However, I am not satisfied with the results. The built-in character recognition from the paddle inputs is very picky. First off it seems to be the best at about 19-20WPM. I like to operate at 25-26wpm. But at those speeds the logged characters are not what you sent. For eg. KE8UEX would show up as KE0IEX. I am not sure what Elecraft's idea of a perfect fist is; mine is not perfect but not atrocious either. The issue is present even when I am sitting down at the table; so any issues that are due to less than ideal paddle work when being pedestrian mobile is eliminated. At around 20WPM, the character recognition is mostly good, but the spacing between them is hit and miss. I have looked around for any settings to tweak this but have not found any. So until such a time I am going to stick to paper logging. Let me know in the comments if you use the built-in logging feature and if so how is it working for you.

QRV from a Sanatorium!

 The Elecraft KX-3 is what I usually use when activating the various parks around the region. It is the perfect rig to operate when sitting at a table or operating from within the vehicle during winder months. I have a KH-1 as well. I prefer to use it when I am pedestrian mobile (PM). I am still tuning the Elecraft KH-1 to become my perfect PM rig. 

The main issues I face with the KH-1 have to do its form factor. While one part of me cherishes its light weight and miniature design I found that holding it for long (especially when walking where I need to maintain a tight grip) really cramps my hands. It does not help that I have a relatively larger palm and longer fingers. I use paper logging using the provided pen and logging tray. The pen is a mini one as well and I did not want to lose it or drop it when walking.

Today I made a few modifications.

I added a hair rubber band at the back of the rig as shown in the picture below. This means I am able to now slip my hand between the rig and the band. I no longer fear that the rig is going to slip away if I loosen the grip a little. I find that I was able to keep the rig secure in the palm without having to tighten my fingers around it

KH-1 with the hair band mod

In addition I also used a piece of dental floss to secure the pen to the rig. So off to the sanatorium I went. [Maybury State Park US-1518 was formerly a sanatorium!]. It was pretty cold, around 20F (-8C) and the winds were icy. I found that I was able to slip the band over my gloved hand and the rig stayed put. Once ready, I used the built-in CW memory keying to put out CQ on the 20m band and started my walk along the paved trails. I had to be extra careful because there were quite a few patches of ice on the trail that I had to navigate around. The left hand stayed warm in the ensconce of the glove,  The issue was with the right hand (my paddle hand). I used cut-off gloves to get better feel when operating the paddles. But I lost all the feeling within about 10 minutes. 

My fingers were frozen like icicles. I forged ahead still seeking the elusive three contacts for a successful activation. When the responses came back, I could not write it down as the pen was too slim to hold in the cold and my fingers were not nimble. I yelled out the call to my XYL who took it down on her cell phone. The mild dyslexia added to the confusion. So I got a few calls wrong with transposed letters. Thankfully the hunters were patient and repeated the calls till I got them right! I got the required number of hunters soon enough and I was never so happy to wrap up an activation. I am confident that if I am able to operate the KH-1 pedestrian mobile in these cold conditions it should be much easier during the warmer months. The outlook for the upcoming year for my pedestrian mobile activations looks good.

KH-1 in the field with the mods

Note: The KH-1 has an automatic logging function where it logs all what is sent via the paddle into a durable memory. I have not yet tried it yet. But that should eliminate the need for a paper pen logging on the field

[Update: My attempt to use this in the field with limited success https://motopota.blogspot.com/2025/02/pedestrian-stuff.html ]

Yours truly at the park pedestrian mobile