QRP at Shaker Village
April 26, 2008
For the QRP to the Field event this year, Dick, N1LT
and I headed to the Shaker Village in Canterbury,
New Hampshire. It was a perfect day for a radio
outing... sunny, warm and the location was beautiful.
The Shakers flourished in the 1800's. They believed in hard
work and celibacy. They developed a community on hundreds of acres
of beautiful farm land. They're known for their exquisite furniture and
are responsible for a number of inventions. For more
information, Google on Shakers or Canterbury Shakers.
Every year the QRP to the Field event features a special theme.
This year is was "museums." Extra points are assigned for operating
from a museum. Dick and I headed out behind the village and into
the fields beyond the ponds that provided water power for their
manufacturing equipment.
The view from our operating spot was fantastic. We set up a
Par Electronics 20/40 end fed antenna. It's a half wave that we
used horizontally about 25 feet off the ground. We ran an
FT-817 at 5 watts. Between us we worked about 40 stations
including Italy and the Balaeric Islands off the coast of Spain.
Here's Dick working one of the stations in the Florida QSO
Party. We operated from 11:00 in the morning until about
2:45 in the afternoon.
-end-