Bike Trip to Eagle Pond
March 2012

I rode my bicycle four miles along the old Northern Railroad
route to Eagle Pond this afternoon. I had a great QSO with
WB4MNK in Florida and then with FG8AR in Guadeloupe
on 20 meters.

All of a sudden we're getting summer weather. Today it was 75F...
a perfect day for a bike ride. I started in Andover and rode north and west
toward Danbury along the old railroad to White River Junction, Vermont.
The route is now a rails to trails project. My first stop was at the restored
station at Potter Place.



The roadbed hasn't quite hardened up yet. That makes the riding a bit
more work. It took almost twice as long as usual to reach Eagle Pond.
When I got there, I could see that it is still covered with ice!



I set up on a knoll overlooking the pond. I tossed a half wave wire into a tree branch
and used the Par matchbox to tune it. I used the Chinese HB-1B sold by Ten Tec.



The bands haven't quite recovered from some major solar activity, and I didn't
hear European stations as I usually do. So I went up to the QRP frequency, and
there was Art, WB4MNK calling CQ from Port Orange, Florida. He was quite
strong and he gave me a 579. We chatted for almost 10 minutes and I told him I
was on an adventure. He wished me happy trails and I tuned quickly down
the band before heading back to Andover. FG8AR was booming in with his CQ
from Guadeloupe. Olivier gave me a 579 and we made a short exchange. With that
I packed up the gear for the return ride.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 80s. My wife, Judy has already planted the peas!
Almost a month early. In between the spring chores, I'm looking forward to getting
out regularly again after the long winter.