Hike to Rattlesnake Mountain
September 2015
Judy and I hiked up Rattlesnake Mountain in Holderness today. It was
really gorgeous! The bands
weren't great, but I had a wonderful 2-way QRP contact with
Tennessee.
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West Rattlesnake Mountain is about 600 feet above Squam Lake off Rt
113. It's about a half-hour
hike and offers one of the best views for the effort anywhere.
I set up the MTR and the Par Endfedz while Judy unpacked the
sandwiches. After lunch I tuned around
20 meters. The band was so poor, I was thinking about calling
it quits, when I heard Sam, WZ4L in
Tennessee calling CQ. He was strong... 599 and he gave me a 589. I
was amazed. Sam was running
5 watts to a loop. When I told him I was hiking with a perfect view
of the lake, he sent: "Wow... that
sounds like fun, Jim. Wish I were there." We chatted for a few
minutes and signed.
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I was set up on rock ledge. The trees were low and scarce, so I ran
the wire up from the pack to a low tree
and then ran the last ten feet down and off to the side. It's
amazing I got out at all. Thank goodness for
these beautiful September days. May they last forever.
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