Hanz W1JSB and I made a quick trip to the Franklin Falls Dam
and worked two Spanish stations and one from Ecuador. Hanz
rode his bike on the five mile trip from his house to the dam, and
I met him there. Then we hiked east into the woods parallel to the
river.
What a beautiful afternoon for a quick jaunt. We set up on a large
rock
ledge under some trees. I heaved the water bottle over the branch of
an
overhead pine tree and pulled up a half-wave wire for 20 meters. I
tuned
it with the Par matchbox and hooked up the Chinese HB-1B running
4 watts.
Within a few moments of sitting down I heard my old friend Jurek,
EA6UN. He gave me a 549 and he was 599 from the Balearic Islands off
Spain. Hanz took some video of the QSO with Jurek:
A little further up the band I worked another Spanish station,
EA1CBX. Jose gave me a 559 and he was 579. Then Hanz took the
key.
He heard NK8O calling CQ just above 14.060 and Chas answered. He
was in Kansas. Both stations were weak at first but signals picked
up and
they finished the exchange. Then I answered a CQ from HC2SL in
Ecuador.
We exchanged quick 599s and Hanz and I continued our hike down to
the River.
