I’ve always been a fan of vertical HF antennas. They set up quickly and offer surprisingly good performance. They also are more forgiving when it comes deploying them in a tight location. Over the Labor Day weekend we were camping at Wildcat Mountain State Park in Wisconsin’s driftless region. The park is spectacular, but the campground is plagued with narrow, tight campsites often over uneven ground. While the tree situation in this particular site did offer support for a wire antenna, I chose to go the vertical route for this weekend activation.
Which brings us to this week’s video: Am I CRAZY to use three antennas in ONE POTA park? Watch here: https://youtu.be/bagq00z7mhs
With the extra day of camping, I used that time to put three vertical antennas on the air: the KJ6ER PERformer, KJ6ER Challenger, and my 53 foot inverted L. Each antenna had their own advantages and disadvantages. But using them head to head over the weekend let their particular features shine.
For those wanting more, here’s the background information so you can experiment with these antennas on your own:
Videos referenced:
KJ6ER (POTA) PERformer Antenna: https://youtu.be/wqw3ultuPQg
53 foot Inverted L Antenna: https://youtu.be/mR21EfjAjNs
Build your own 40 meter coil for the Chameleon SS25 whip: https://youtu.be/I6sgg5vA_J0
Wildcat Mountain State Park: https://youtu.be/_nMprCD96UE
More on the KJ6ER Challenger and PERformer Antennas:
KJ6ER Antennas Primer –
https://bit.ly/KJ6ERAntennasPrimer
PERformer 40M-6M Quarterwave Vertical –
Challenger 20M-6M OCF Halfwave Vertical –
https://bit.ly/KJ6ERChallenger
Dominator 17M-10M EF Halfwave Vertical –
Dominator 17M-10M EF Halfwave 2-Element Vertical Beam –
https://bit.ly/KJ6ERDominatorBeam
Ham Radio Cooking
Of our ham radio camping videos, the food is probably the most important part of the trip. The cooking interludes also seem to generate a very high number of comments. We love good food and really enjoy cooking great things outdoors. Meals are pretty well planned out, but sometimes we love a challenge. We will pack a few staples and then hit a farmer’s market to round things out. Our trip to the Viroqua Farmer’s Market didn’t let us down.
The Viroqua, Wisconsin Farmer’s Market, located in the heart of the driftless region is one of the best small town markets we’ve been to. A significant portion was local Amish farmers and just about everything in season was available to us. We found a beautiful eggplant for only a dollar, and some basil for two bucks more. Finishing things off was a freshly baked sourdough loaf. We had dinner.
Knowing that we had a good chance to find eggplant, I packed cheese, sauce, and breadcrumbs. Thus out dutch oven eggplant parmesan was born. Eggplant parmesan is delicious and you don’t need a dutch oven to cook it. In fact, it works great in the oven at home. Eggplant can still be found in most markets, so try it out while they are available.
Eggplant Parmesan
(makes 3-4 servings)
1 Large Eggplant
1 24 ounce jar Pasta Sauce
2 Cups (8 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
Fresh Basil Leaves
Bread Crumbs
Flour
Egg
Olive Oil
Salt Pepper
Peel and slice the eggplant. Lightly salt and let sit for 30 minutes. This will remove some of the moisture and reduce the bitterness of the eggplant. I like to put a weight, like a heavy pan on the eggplant to speed the process. Wipe excess liquid with a paper towel.
Bread the eggplant by first dipping it in flour, then into a mixture of egg and milk, and finally coat with bread crumbs. Saute in a pan of oil for about 2-3 minutes a side, until brown.
In your dutch oven of oven safe dish, spread a little sauce on the bottom. Then make stacks of eggplant, alternating the eggplant medallins with cheese, sauce, and a basil leaf. each stack can be 3-4 pieces high. Cover with remaining sauce and cheese.
Cook in a dutch over or conventional oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until bubbly and when a knife can easily pierce the eggplant. Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy.
Finishing Up
Fall camping has begun and we are heading out this weekend! You will find me on the air at the Kettle Moraine State Forest, US-4352. The Kettle Moraine is interesting as it is a long narrow strip in southeastern Wisconsin that marks the ice age glaciation in that part of the state. Roughly starting east of Fond du Lac, it stretches southwesterly along the Milwaukee area and ends near Whitewater. We will be in the Southern unit near Whitewater. We plan to visit Old World Wisconsin on Saturday, but there should still be ample time on the air that weekend. Our campsite borders the Ice Age National Scenic Trail US-4238, so expect a twofer from me.
I hope to get you in the log soon
Michael
KB9VBR
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