England from Shute Hill
August 2013

This afternoon my wife Judy and I walked in some fields at
the top of Shute Hill. I worked two stations in England and
two U.S. stations.

We walked to the end of Rufus Colby Road, past Tommy
Sheehan's old house and up the range road through the
woods.



After a ways we turned east toward Auger's 20 acre field.
There we turned right into a smaller field that had once
been pasture. It was full of goldenrod, milkweed and
blackeyed susans.



After walking across a few acres of land, we came to a break
in a stone wall and walked into a second field.



It was at the edge of this field that I tossed a line into an oak tree.
I pulled up a 10 meter wire and sat down on some moss.



There was a CW Ops sprint in progress and I quickly worked
two stations in the mini contest: W6SX in California and K4VU
in Alabama. Then I tuned down the band and heard my old
friend Tom G3HGE finishing a QSO with another station. He
was strong and answered my call right away. "It's been a long
time," he sent and gave me a 579. Tom was a 599 as usual and
we chatted for a few minutes. I've worked Tom many times while
hiking, and I usually send him a picture or two. I promised him I
would do so again and we said goodbye. I tuned down the band
a bit and there was another English station, G4RFR. We exchanged
quick 599s and signed. Romeo  was operating a club station in
Dorset.

What a thrill to take a quick afternoon walk in the countryside
and make a radio contact half way around the world. As G3HGE
said when he signed, "It's magical."