Mid-February
Hike 2010
Hanz, W1JSB, and I took a quick hike this morning.
15 meters was open and I got to test an MFJ Cub
I built a few weeks ago. We worked Florida, Germany
and Spain.
We started out at
the Sanbornton dump and turned East on
a snowmobile
trail. There wasn't much snow and we were able
to walk along the trail easily. About a half mile
in we came to a
large field with a great Southern exposure. There
was plenty of
bare ground and lots of tall trees. The ambient
temperature was 31.
But it must have been close to 50 in the sun! (Spring is not
far.)
I built the MFJ Cub
for 15 meters six weeks ago in anticipation
of things to
come. I knew the rig worked, because I had QSOs
with Hanz. (3
miles away) But I couldn't test it out for real until
today. 15
meters was active yesterday morning and it was good again
today.
I put a 20 foot wire
over a branch and fired up the Cub using the
T-1 tuner. I worked
W5JBV in Florida with a 579 report.
Then we switched over
to 20 meters using Hanz's FT-817 running
2.5 watts.
Hanz working Spain
On 20 meters I
worked Gerd, DL8PG and received a 559 report.
Then Hanz took
the key and worked a station in Spain with a
good report.
The last few weeks
have been too cold to do much outdoor
radio, so today's outing was a great relief. All it takes is a
little sunshine, a bit of warmth, some bare ground and a
QSO
to bring a little joy into late winter.