Late Summer Hike to Shute Hill
September 2016

I hiked on Shute Hill this afternoon. It's definitely late summer. The sounds
of crickets say so. The loud buzzing of bees on the goldenrod tell me fall
is around the corner. I made a wonderful 2-way QRP QSO with Georgia.



The trail goes south and east from the old cemetery off the Rufus Colby
Road. It goes all the way over the hill to the range road on the other side.

I walk for about 20 minutes. There are asters and goldenrod everywhere.



I set up along the trail under a beautiful oak tree. I'm using the MTR by
Steve Weber, KD1JV. It's a tiny 3-band rig powered by 8 AA cells. It
gives me about 3 watts. I have hung a 20 meter dipole as a vertical from
a branch and I sit on the ground with the MTR in my lap.



I hear K4JPN Steve in Georgia finishing up a QSO and I call him. He
answers right away and gives me a 579. He is 599. He is running a
K2 to a 3 element beam. He drops his power down to 2 watts. I still
have solid copy and we chat for about 15 minutes. I've worked
Steve about a half dozen times before. He spent lots of time in
New Hampshire as a youngster and he's as glad as I am for the contact.

Here's my view from my operating position. At the bottom right of the
photo, you will see a water bottle. It is hanging from the end of the dipole
keeping the antenna taut.



It's not a fancy place with a spectacular view. But it's beautiful nonetheless.
I pack up and hike back to the cemetery where I left my car.