My dear friends! Plese take your verge, Go to the forest and wander through the valley, Get tired on the top of hills, And during late night let be deep your sleep! A. Pushkin Dear friends, comrades in passion and hobby, please put your transceiver into a backpack and go to the forest... Forgive me, old man (or rather great-grandfather), for indiscretion, but I offer a new home radio amateur program “Live nature” (or perhaps "NATURA"), which should become very close in popularity to the programs "FLORA-FAUNA", IOTA. Once again sorry for being indiscreet, but I came to this not only by idle dreams, but by radio amateur efforts and disruptions, sometimes despair sometimes success… I made my first home radio amateur creation in far 1951, a very cold and famine year. It was the detector receiver. I soldered it with a soldering iron which was warmed on a stove, and the stove was heated with straw. And also the semiconductor diode – the detector – was created on the same stove in the only test tube in the village (and maybe even in the whole region)! During the years of amateur radio I’ve tried everything. No, obviously not everything, but definitely a lot: with a soldering iron, and with metal file, and with an oscilloscope, and on the air (CW, SSB, digi...). And of course, on the roof with antennas. And diplomas, and DX-ing, and expeditions!! Though I’ve never been to “horrible” Solomon Islands, and not even further than 100 kilometers far from so dear to my heart New Kakhovka and the Dnieper River. However, our amateur radio brotherhood has fulfilled the “Islands of Ukraine” program in the expeditions to all the islands of the Dnieper from the dam of the Hydroelectric Power Station to the estuary. And even more expeditions were carried out under the program "Mounds of Ukraine" (only in Kakhovsky district there are 500 of them!). It’s been 10 years I live by the sea and do home radio amateur not only in the shack. Now it is not a shame to admit that both in early years and in old age, I’ve been dreaming about a white yacht or a dirigible within an expedition, well, at least to a Mediterranean island or to Africa for instance... But for old age my dreams have faded as a triumph of realism. And many of my peers have left a radio amateur. It becomes harder and harder to keep up with microelectronics and computer technology. I think not only for me. However I recover antennas after hurricanes, I often turn on a soldering iron, an oscilloscope. I try to catch the DX. Why am I going with such a long introduction? Dear friends, fellow hobbyists, home radio amateurs! I’m wondering perhaps you’d prefer to displace your home shacks? No doubt, that for many of us the “shack” is a strong word, more likely it’s an adapted corner in the attic, or kitchen, or basement... It’s totally normal cause we are amateurs, not professionals. (And some shacks are also heavily smoked). Why not try to leave the cozy and lived-in shack and work in the middle of wild life? I’ve tried more than once before writing this, and I’ve got a huge amateur radio satisfaction! I’ve been preparing for a long time. And I assumed: 1. I’d rather work only outdoors – in the wild. Not even in the city park, not in the plowed land, garden, forest belt, but much less away from populated areas. This is the main and basic condition of the expedition conceived by me! But you can complicate: 2. You’d better provide power supply not from industrial sources (network, gas generator, battery that is charged at home from the network). But from the energy received locally: either solar panel (yes, in the buffer with an accumulator), or a wind generator, or even thermoelectricity... And then – use your imagination, create, invent, try... – and finelly get energy on the ground. 3. I bet you to get to the place of the expedition not by industrial transport (car, boat, motor ship...), but without the use of industrial energy: walking with a backpack, bicycle, skiing, sleigh riding, on horses, sailing, rowing! 4. Use only homemade equipment – a homemade transceiver. I have to admitt, that all four conditions were fulfilled during my three timid attempts to go to a radio amateur field trips into wildlife: The transceiver: "Drozdiver"-RA3AO, these two devices were assembled and adjusted by me in about 1991-1992. But 7 watts in output, this is not really enough for successful and active work. I’ve done 3 to 5 QSO per hour. I’ve tried out the SW-2012 twice, I don’t even know how to certify him, whether it is self-made or not. But 20 watts seemed much more fun. And it was just 850 grams! But such a full-value transceiver! Actually, no, I'm not used to it in CW, there is no QSK mode. The antennas: G.P. – 6.5 meters – a plastic rod, four wires we spread to a distance of 0.4 meters (so called “polevka”), successively a capacity of 100 pF and a wire of 75 ohms. And below, there were a plastic pipe one meter long and four long counterweight with duralumin pegs without insulators. Testing with self-made antennascope: norm –75 ohm. on the 20 in the whole range. In the yard I compared with the stationary G. P. 5/8 lambda: wasn’t really failing. This option is easily packaged and it finds a place on the bike. And the first radio amateur field trip was with IV – “just ordinary”, at 80 and 40 meters (two plastic poles – 11 meters). They also found a place on the bike, but I didn’t drive anymore, but rolled the bike with such an envelope. I bought a solar panel (50*50 cm2 – 30 watt) with a controller. The 65-A-CH battery was in the shack – the heaviest stuff. For a long time it didn’t let me fulfill the 3rd condition I had set: well, I didn’t load onto the bike at all. Okay, after all it was loaded, but the bike couldn’t move, better not say... The benefit was that the distance to the sea (quite a civilized beach) was about 20 minutes walk, but it took me about an hour to get to the "wildlife" outside the city. Well, we also needed “furniture”: something to put the device on, the key, the laptop, what to write on and etc. I used the case from the device as a table and a folding bench. So, my children gave me the old-aged laptop with a very dim and small screen and I loaded MixW: basically it’s possible to use it. I put the interface (TRX-PC), switching (digi, SSB, CW) key CW (and "drozdiver", and SW-2012 have built-in keys, but to change the key speed in SW-2012 which does not suit me very much, I made a foreign key CW with a handle “speed”). And a simple headset. There was one trip on the boat (smail boat). Just imagine the high seas, calm and a slight swell, 25 meters from the coast, the depth of 1.5-2.0 meters. And there almost happened an overkeel. Well, I am good at swimming, but the battery, transceiver, accessories are not... However about a dozen of QSOs have already been recorded. I gave: "CQ call/mm" and, it seems, this time I was responded more actively than to "call/p" while working from the land. I have to admit that it is very inconvenient working on a PSK boat. The laptop screen is lit up with bright sunshine. It feels the same while working with CW in a crooked position of half-sitting and half-lying. There are often failures in such position. Although, I’ve rarely managed doing LOG without MixW (hand-to-hand on paper). So what? What did you achieve, Mr. UY5HC? Well, I do not cherish the hope that my experiments will transform into the program “NATURE”, that may be compared in popularity with IOTA, flora-fauna, mayaki... Why not? Dear comrades and radio amateurs, we have always tried everything, we tested and created. On my next expedition, I will try to comply with all four conditions. I call it on air: “UY5HC/nature 4”, if I fulfill all 4th conditions, or 3, 2, respectively. But the first condition is mandatory! If someone supports me, we would establish a diploma “NATURE”. It won’t be a big deal to agree on the conditions of the diploma with enthusiasts and radio amateurs. But for now I solemnly establish a prize Cognac*** to the first expeditioner with the “NATURA” program. Please read again the epigraph from A.S. Pushkin, and then decide and make up your mind. Email me at: uy5hcradio@gmail.com UY5HC, Victor Deliev, postal address: 69, Odesskaya str. Chernomorsk, Odessa region Ukraine, 68003 But administratively I live in the village of Molodezhnoye (the even side of the street is the city, the odd side is the village ... hi, hi!). phone 0674845506.
Hello Victor - you are a very resourceful person. You also have a very fun idea, I hope you get some support. Most of us North American hams are "appliance operators (me) and I do not have the dedication that you have to create this. However, I hope to hear and work you one day - good luck. Joe VE2CY Здравствуйте, Віктор-ти дуже винахідливий чоловік. Ви також дуже весело ідея, я сподіваюся, що ви отримаєте деяку підтримку. Більшість з нас північноамериканських шинки "Appliance оператори (мене), і я не маю самовідданість, що ви повинні створити це. Однак, я сподіваюся почути і працювати вам один день-удачі. Джо VE2CY
