Bean there, Keyed that.
I have a bit of a problem when it comes to operating portable. Time flies as I’m having so much fun that before I know it a couple of hours have passed and I’m starving hungry.
If I keep going, at this rate I’ll be back to my birth weight before Christmas.
What to do? Pack some snacks or a packed lunch? Maybe, but that is all extra weight, adding to the radio anvil.
Why not stop at a drive thru on the way? None for miles, plus I don’t eat much in the way of junk food and don’t eat at any take out places as 99.9% of them have no gluten free options on the menu.
So what to do?
It was then that I came up with an idea. Operate portable while incorporating a healthy lunch at the same time while shedding pack weight!
I decided that on my next portable radio operation, that I was going to eat my CW key.
I am a massive fan of Terence Hill and Bud Spencer, particularly the film Watch Out We’re Mad! (aka …altrimenti ci arrabbiamo!) and was playing the brilliant fan service video game Slaps and Beans a few days ago when the idea of beans struck me as being a possible idea for a CW key.
A Can-Do Approach to CW
I’ve made mention in the past that I always carry a pocket notebook with me for spewing out the things that whirr in my mind as a typical day goes by, and this was one of those moments where I made use of my pocket notebook and saved the idea for later.
I made a quick prototype diagram so I could solder a cable together. It would have been straightforward enough to do and I would have built it except I didn’t have all the parts I needed.
To buy them would have cost more than a prefabricated cable I found on Amazon Ireland, so I opted for the latter.
The cable I purchased came in two parts. Two wires terminated with crocodile clips on one side and an SMA connection on the other end. The other cable comprised an SMA connection on one end and a 3.5mm stereo connector on the other end. This was a great solution as the cable could be quickly screwed together to make a secure combo but also became useful for other potential projects I had in mind and for general testing. Win win!
Spilling the Beans in the Park.
Before heading out to my favourite (and now Kilo’ed) park, IE-0136, I built a prototype key for my lunch earlier in the week. The prototype used ASDA baked beans. I’m not even sure where I got them from as there is no ASDA supermarkets in Ireland, but they were in date, I was hungry and I needed a CW prototype.
The prototype worked! I would later find out though that changing brands showed a significant improvement in keying. Maybe I was unconsciously biased against ASDA baked beans!
With a working prototype, I made a slice of toast, threw the baked beans into a saucepan over the gas stove and ate my CW key for lunch before heading back to work for the afternoon.
Activation day rolled around and I was all set to give my prototype a test drive under real-world conditions. Unfortunately the weather was dreadful on the morning of Friday, November 6th. Drizzle and dreariness ensued and the day I had booked off work especially (well, especially to test my CW key and to do some coursework) was in jeopardy.
I drove to IE-0136 regardless and set up in the on/off drizzle but it was no good. It played havoc with SWR and my expensive radio equipment was at risk to the weather all for the sake of testing a can of baked beans for a CW key.
I called CQ just enough times for the RBN to detect me but called it a day after that and went home to focus on my coursework.
Legumes on the Loose
Later in the afternoon, incredibly the heavens parted and for the briefest of moments the sky was clear and dry. The loom of rain was ever present though.
It was now or not at all. I quickly packed my bag, this time swapping out my IC705 for my KX2 and headed out of the door.
Arriving at IE-0136 I set up very quickly and was on the air in no time at all. This is one of the joys of the Diamond RHM-12 which I have used for POTA and SOTA this year. It is a very expensive antenna but does everything from 80m (with optional extra RHM-12C extension) through to 70cm and is incredibly quick to deploy and tune either manually or to polish with an ATU.
The only difference in my set up is the baked beans I was using were Heinz Baked Beans instead of ASDA which I used for the prototype.
Now, maybe I imagined it, but I firmly believe these baked beans key better and more reliably than the ASDA baked beans. It may be different consistencies in salt ratios? I didn’t check the nutritional information on either can to detect salt content, but I can say the ASDA beans appeared a lot thinner in juice consistency compared to the Heinz.
Perhaps the Heinz beans are saltier and the thicker sauce makes for a more reliable circuit closure? It sounds preposterous I know, but it’s fun and that is what amateur radio is all about in my opinion!
Beans Means QSOs
Propagation must’ve been good because the RBN was sending me back ridiculous SNR numbers in the high twenties and mid-thirties!
I started on 20 metres and my first QSO was almost immediate, and in the USA with Mark K1RO in Newport, New Hampshire! A couple more followed with Pasquale IK1SOW in Italy and Christoph DL1CR/P for a Park to Park in Germany!
I called on 20 metres for a few minutes more but the band seemed to me to be very quiet. On top of that I was experiencing horrendous QRM, almost making me quit the activation as I could hardly hear anything.
Time to switch to my least favourite band because it never seems to work properly for me, the mighty 40 metre band that I tend to avoid like the plague.
Well, I stand corrected! 40 metres was a blast when you add the power of baked beans! I made 12 QSOs in 28 minutes across England, France and Germany with my QRP telescopic baked beans-powered portable setup!
The calls kept coming, even as I called QRT. I caved and quickly got Robert G5RMP into my logbook before powering off the KX2. It isn’t something I would usually do as I try to work everyone I can until the QSOs dry up or everyone else gets tired of me. I was on a tight schedule though and had to pack up and hit the road quickly, plus it was also starting to get dark and the clouds looked ever more ominous.
Don’t worry! I borrowed Mini Frank Zappa’s lunch box so I could make sure to take my beans home with me so I could eat them for my tea.
QSOs never tasted so good that night.
Transmitting Places
I had a tremendous amount of fun experimenting with food and amateur radio. I also learned a lot about the conductive properties of some foods and am delighted that my silly project paid off.
While working on my CW project, I decided to undertake an additional project to accompany my Baked Beans CW key. It was more of an accident really as it started by my recording some footage with my phone and it snowballing from there.
The short film is a parody I made, even down to the Paramount Gulf + Western logo, of the opening credits to the 1983 film Trading Places.
You might notice some names you recognise in the opening credits!
The idea behind the video was to compile lots of the clips of places I have operated portable over the last 18 months or so, including IE-0136, the town of Skerries, Waterville in County Kerry and Dublin.
The short film is also a little showcase I wanted to make of the wonderful activities that go on in the local area, including air displays, motorcycle road racing, birdwatching, walking, mountain hiking and more.
Reflecting on the footage made me feel truly appreciative that I have these opportunities available to me. Many of which I would likely not have bothered with had it not been for amateur radio and shortwave listening.
I hope you enjoy the footage of places in Ireland including Dublin, Skerries, Djouce (Wicklow) and Waterville (Kerry) as well as the surrounding areas in North County Dublin. I just wish I had taken more footage. I will correct this in 2027!
Thank you also to those that entertained my poor straight key fist on this activation, and to those that have embraced the fun and the humour with such a silly idea for a CW key.
This isn’t the end though! I have some more ideas in the works as well as my ICOM IC705 Nintendo 3DS CW keyer and my Casio Calculator logger and keyer to finish too. There are also some refinements coming to my Gescom MiniDisc side project that may involve CW in the near future, so I have lots to be getting on with!
I hope this has inspired you to get involved and build your own silly CW key or perhaps experiment with other fun ideas and kooky projects. This is what it is all about! Now get out there, get cookin’ and rustle up a main course of QRP QSOs!
Anyone for some BBOTA?
72.