October on Knox Mountain
October, 2009
The sun came out shortly after noon and I got the itch.
It's been cold and rainy for the last two days, but it
warmed up this afternoon, and I headed for Knox
Mountain shortly after lunch.
The first bridge crosses the stream about
a quarter of a mile from the road. I head
down to the water to soak up the sound and
color.
It's hard to know how far away peak color is.
Already there are lots of reds, oranges and
gold, but there's still a lot of green too. We
haven't had a hard frost yet. It's at least
a week away.
A carpet of color leads into sunlight.
The woods are quiet now except for the rush
of the brook and an occasional blue jay. The ferns
are turning brown and starting to droop. The
mushrooms have disintegrated. The moss is
still a brilliant green.
I hang one end of my dipole in a flaming maple
At the cabin the trees are turning rapidly. I
put up a 44 foot dipole fed with 300 ohm
ribbon. I have 30 feet of feedline and after
raising the antenna, I don't have much left.
I connect the feedline to a BLT tuner and
hook up the little Chinese HB-1A. Today I'll
use 40, 30 and 20 meters.
I start out on 20 and work W6YX in the California
QSO Party. Then I switch to 40 and have a wonderful
QSO with VA3HN. He uses his old Canadian Pacific
telegrapher's sine as his name, HN. He gives me a
569... he's a strong 599.
Then I switch to 30 meters and work W9BSP, a museum
club station in Kansas. Jim gives me a 569 and he's 599.
I go back to 20 meters and work another California station
followed by 9A4WY in Croatia. Kiko gives me a 559. Finally
I work Peter, DL5FCZ in Frankfort. He's 599 and gives me
a 549.
I pack up the gear and head back to the dam at the end of
the pond. That's where the trail goes into the woods. I
turn back and catch a last glimpse of the cabin and the
vibrant reflections in the pond.
I know for certain that much of the world really is
upside down. These trips to Knox Mountain help
to keep the essentials sorted out.
73 for now, Jim W1PID