Fall ARCI in New Hampshire
by Jim Cluett W1PID
I'm not sure how it happened... but the Fall ARCI
contest fell right at the peak of the foliage season
in Central New Hampshire. It was an astounding
weekend. Shimmering golds, brilliant oranges,
and sunlight filtering through the entire magic show.
I hiked both days of the contest and operated portable
for a total of about 2 and half hours. The first day
I headed up to the cabin at Knox Mountain. You can
see pictures of the spot in the articles section at
http://www.w1pid.com.
On Sunday I hiked about a mile up an old range road
off Hunkins Pond in Sanbornton.
There were stone walls on either side of the laneway.
Off to the right is a 15 acre hay field where I operated.
The view from my operating position was fantastic. In
the background is the Belknap range. All the woods
between the fields and the mountains were aflame
with fall color.
I used a simple 28 foot wire thrown over a tree branch
so that it dropped vertically to my backback and tuner.
Below is a picture of my antenna tree!
The operation was simple. I used the FT-817 with
a li-po laptop battery. I tuned the wire with the
Elecraft T-1. I made about 15 QSOs from both
remote locations. I operated on both 20 and 40
meters. Some of the more notable QRP stations
worked from the field were W0RSP in SD, W7CNL
in ID, N0UR in MN, W2KJ in NC. I also worked W1BSA
running a JOTA station in Massachusetts. And
there were a number of German stations from the DL
contest as well as a bunch of Illinois stations
in their QSO party.
Don't know how things were in other parts of the country,
but it couldn't have been a better QRP event in New
Hampshire. Thanks to all for the fun!
73, Jim W1PID