What use is an F-call?

For a little while now I’ve been working towards obtaining my DXCC, contacting 100 countries. When I talk about it, often the first question is, how many contacts have you made? I’m always a little ashamed to admit that I’ve yet to make my first.

Often I then get lots of helpful advice on what to do.

Let me share with you what I’ve been doing since I made the commitment to obtain my Low Power, or QRP DXCC. As I said at the time, I don’t know if this is going to take a week, a month, a year or a decade, but I intend to get there, if not for others, but for myself as a personal challenge.

My first quest along this road was to get on-air. I started thinking that I would do this from my car, set-up my mobile vertical at a suitable location and just start making QSO’s. I spent a fair amount of time scouting for locations, found a few to test and after sitting for a couple of days in these spots a number of things became apparent to me.

My antenna, as great as it is, is a pain to set-up for an hour. It’s fine for a day or a weekend, but not for an hour here or there.

Secondly, I didn’t feel particularly inconspicuous sitting parked in my car with a big stick standing next to it and at night I felt particularly uncomfortable.

So, after doing some research and evaluating how much space I have available at home, I came to the conclusion that I should get my shack set-up at home with a suitable antenna.

I’ve been researching antennas and as you might know, have settled on a Magnetic Loop Antenna. This in turn lead me down the path of finding a suitable and eventually with the help of several amateurs, building a variable capacitor. All credit to them. Then I couldn’t measure the capacitance of this contraption, so I needed the ability to measure small capacitance, in the order of Pico Farad, something my Digital Multi-Meter is completely incapable of. So I built an LCR meter.

Although I’ve been soldering for years and every time learning more about this art-form, this was the first time I actually built something. So, now I have a variable capacitor, an LCR meter, I’m working on how to feed my loop and control the actuator that adjusts the capacitor, I’m getting closer.

Once I’m on-air, I’ll still need to sort out logging and QSL and no doubt I’ll learn more about what else is needed. One I know is needed is Morse and I’m struggling a little with that, but a day at a time.

I aim to get to the point where Neil, VK6FSKB got to recently when he heard a station calling on 15m. He called back and made a QSO with GB0IDD, the special event station for the 2012 UN International Day of Disability.

So, learning, doing and having fun. That’s what it’s all about. What have you been up to lately?

I’m Onno VK6FLAB