?
any thoughts besides a toddler bed.
You could partake in The Official NY7N Bedspring Challenge.
Summary: You, as a licensed amateur radio operator in the United States, attempt to make two-way contact with a station located in Australia (VK) or New Zealand (ZL) using no more than 5W, on 10m, at local night, using a bedspring for an antenna.
Dates: Between the time this thread is posted to /r/amateurradio and 0000z January 1, 2020.
Times: QSOs for credit must take place between sunset and sunrise at the US operator’s QTH.
Bands: 10m only. No exceptions.
Mode: Any. SSB, CW, RTTY, PSK, JT65, whatever. If you can have a two-way QSO with it, it’s valid.
Power: 5W maximum. No exceptions. This is a QRP challenge.
Eligible operators: Any amateur radio operator in the lower 48 United States (sorry Alaska and Hawaii, we’re using DX entities for this one - Hawaii is too much like cheating anyway). Canada, sorry. I’m not even going to try to ship beer across the border.
The rest of the rules that don’t fit neatly in bullet points with headers:
The DX station is allowed to use any power level (to the maximum legal limit at their QTH) and any antenna. All transmitters and receivers on the DX side must be located within that DX entity, and all transmitters and receivers on the US side must be located within the continental United States. No internet linking (i.e., Echolink, IRLP, etc.) of any kind may be used to make the contact. No satellite QSOs will be permitted. This is an air-to-air, ionospheric bounce kinda deal.
For US operators, you must use a bedspring for an antenna. The bedspring may be located anywhere you like, but it has to remain in the shape of a bedspring. You can’t unwind it and make a yagi or a quad or anything else out of it - it has to be recognizable as a bedspring. You may remove the cover/insulation/foam as you see fit. You want to phase two bedsprings together? Go for it. You want to use a 2nd bedspring as a reflector? Fine. You want to mount a bedspring at the top of your tower for a year while you work on this? Want to dangle it from a tree? Haul it up on a hot air balloon? Take it to the top of Pikes Peak? More power to you. You’re obviously willing to put a lot more work into this than a $5 beer is worth, so have at it. Photographic proof of your setup (see below) must be provided for prize verification.
The use of antenna tuners is allowed. I know most of you aren’t running tube rigs here. I’m not sadistic and I don’t want to break your radio. The tuner can be located wherever you like - in the radio, at the base of the bedspring, somewhere in between, wherever.
You may feed the bedspring from the tuner using whatever feedline you see fit. Coax, twinlead, a coathanger, a single conductor of stranded copper, your tongue, I don’t care. The bedspring must be at the end of the feedline - you can’t use it as a loading coil for a vertical or any other clever tricks like that.
The use of scheduling is permitted - if you know someone in VK/ZL who’s willing to try this at a given time every night, more power to you.
https://www.reddit.com/r/amateurradio/comments/60z2av/the_official_ny7n_bedspring_challenge/