February at Potter Place
February 2018

Dave K1SWL, Tim W3ATB and I met for lunch and then went to operate
at the old rail station in Potter Place. I worked 8 stations including Belgium,
Portugal, Spain and France.



I set up the KX3 under the eaves of the station on an old luggage box. I
tossed my antenna line over the semaphore signals attached to the station.
(See the last photo.) The place was covered with snow, and it was 43F.

I started off working Joe W1FYL at a campsite in Kissimmee, Florida. We had
a nice chat then I tuned down the band. The DX was surprising. Here's my log:

15 Feb-18 1818  14.043 W1FYL   CW 599 599 FL       
15 Feb-18 1859  14.008 ON4UN   CW 579 599 Belgium     
15 Feb-18 1902  14.010 CS0RCL  CW 599 599 Portugal      
15 Feb-18 1903  14.012 EA8URT  CW 599 599 Spain    
15 Feb-18 1905  14.022 EA5KV   CW 599 599 Spain      
15 Feb-18 1914  10.112 F5NTV   CW 599 599 France
15 Feb-18 1915  10.116 N2CX    CW 579 559 NJ 

     

Meanwhile Tim had tangled his line in a maple tree above the picnic table
across from the station. His water bottle dangled from a branch just out of our
reach. It was a three stooges movie in progress as we struggled to retrieve the bottle.
We borrowed a garbage can from the station and turned it upside down. Dave had a
shovel in the back of his truck and Tim (standing on the upside-down garbage can)
managed to snag the errant bottle with the shovel. But not before previous efforts failed
with me sitting on his shoulders. (Fortunately not captured on camera.)


Tim and Dave worked a half a dozen stations including Joe N2CX who was at Fort Mott
in New Jersey doing a park activation.