First Spring Bike Ride
May 2015

Judy and I went for a bike ride on the old Northern Rail right-of-way
in East Andover. It was the first really warm day of the year...  82F.
I worked  Belgium and Romania on 20 meters.



Just a couple of weeks ago, the ground was covered with snow. This weather
is glorious. We rode about 2 miles to the east and stopped at Sucker Brook
and a large beaver pond. Someone has placed a picnic table at the spot and
I put up a 20 meter dipole as a vertical.



I brought the KD1JV MTR and powered it with 8 AA cells. I was running
about 3 watts. My first QSO was with Luk, ON5UK in Belgium. He only
gave me a 439 and he was 579. But he was able to copy the whole exchange.
Here's a photo of the MTR. You can see my log entry for Luk on the small notepad.



Next I worked Tina in Romania... YO3FRI. Tina used to be a commercial Morse operator. I've worked
her several times before from home.

The view of the hills and the beaver pond was a welcomed change from the winter scenery we've
had for the last five months.



All around the buds are starting to show on the trees. The black flies were out today too, but they haven't
started biting yet! It's supposed to be warm all week. I'll be out as often as I can.