Death Valley Radio "Expedition" January 21st, 2011

[teotwaki]

Nice trip!

So, did the young couple with a CRV follow the desert rat advice the second go around?

I hope so. They were supposed to drive straight to Lone Pine or Olancha and get their own gas.

[James86004]

Oh, another question:

I thought I'd see if I could go all the way out on a tank of gas and use my own fuel cans to refuel and drive back.

You don't explicitly mention it, but I assume you were successful on this score?

[teotwaki]

Oh, another question:



You don't explicitly mention it, but I assume you were successful on this score?

Yes, even after giving away 2.5 gallons to the 20-somethings I was back at home and not in danger of running out.

From my notes on gas consumption:

At 291.9 miles I added three 5.5 Gallon cans of gas out at the hot springs

At 405.0 miles I added one and a half 5.5 Gallon cans of gas on the way home near Ridgecrest

Total ending mileage was 595 miles and I added 17.2 gallons to fill up again.

So if I am doing it right, my truck's gas tank usage plus the gas I put in came to 41.9 gallons for 14.2 MPG and I would still have 8.6 gallons between the truck's gas tank and the last 2.7 gallon Scepter can. If so then I could drive another 122 miles and then run dry. My total range would be 717 miles. If the trailer was lower in height and if I didn't run the roof rack I could probably improve the MPG.

[kjp1969]

If the trailer was lower in height and if I didn't run the roof rack I could probably improve the MPG.

Um, you could also bring less stuff. . .

(This from the guy who never sees the high side of 14mpg in his unladen mid-90's v-8 gas hog! )

[teotwaki]

Um, you could also bring less stuff. . .

(This from the guy who never sees the high side of 14mpg in his unladen mid-90's v-8 gas hog! )

Sir, are you daring to question my "need" for a trailer?

Seriously, it was a lot of work but the trailer is really meant for either longer trips or trips involving one or more passengers. I'd rather find problems on these short trips by myself than with family when we are far off the pavement in another state.

[teotwaki]

Nice radio setup! Great trip report.

Thanks! It is funny that the higher photo resolution allows me to see the frequency set in the dual band ham radio on the left. I don't think I included a photo of the two HF manpacks. The Z-100 auto tuner on the far right was a lifesaver as the Dentron tuner in the middle just couldn't get a good match to the HF long wire antenna.

[xtatik]

The 7 MHz range has a lot of Chinese broadcasters tearing up the ham bands here and they were booming in all too well when I was in SV.

Yeah, at night when 40m is working you've still gotta' stay below 7200.00. In the early AM when it's still working marginally you can make short contacts above 7200.00. What band did you attempt during daylight hours?

[xtatik]

The Z-100 auto tuner on the far right was a lifesaver as the Dentron tuner in the middle just couldn't get a good match to the HF long wire antenna.

Jim, just looking at the pics and it looks like the balanced line is connected directly to the Z-100. Were you using a balun to bring the 450ohm into the 50ohm ballpark?...cuz, I don't think the z-100 is a balanced line tuner. It wants coax and it'd really have to strain to match line impedance. One of the members at OAUSA showed me a great little balun from LDG at the Field Day gig last year.

[teotwaki]

Yeah, at night when 40m is working you've still gotta' stay below 7200.00. In the early AM when it's still working marginally you can make short contacts above 7200.00. What band did you attempt during daylight hours?

At 1200 to 1300 hours I was on 7204 KHz LSB with the Jefferson Noon Net (NorCal) and after that I chatted with a guy in Placerville, CO, a guy in Washington and one in Idaho.

I was reported as having an excellent signal.

At 1525 hours I checked into the "Century Net" on 7178 KHz LSB and the one callsign that I copied down is in Ohio. I thought that I heard Mississippi mentioned also.

[teotwaki]

Jim, just looking at the pics and it looks like the balanced line is connected directly to the Z-100. Were you using a balun to bring the 450ohm into the 50ohm ballpark?...cuz, I don't think the z-100 is a balanced line tuner. It wants coax and it'd really have to strain to match line impedance. One of the members at OAUSA showed me a great little balun from LDG at the Field Day gig last year.

The Dentron Junior (which can handle balanced lines) just hated the antenna. I still need to go back and see what was up with that.

I did bring a 1:1 balun but instead put the ladder line into a coax adapter and hit the tune button for the Z-100 and it was very happy. Go figure, just dumb luck. Probably would not work well at all frequencies. Another good excuse to take it all into the field again.