DX from the Winnipesaukee
February 2012

This afternoon Hanz W1JSB and I took a quick walk along the Winnipesaukee River. We operated
for less than 15 minutes and worked 10 countries with a tiny four watt rig during the ARRL DX
contest.



It was a little over 40F outside and the sun was warm. Perfect day for an outing. We met up at
Hanz's house and drove to Tilton.  The Winnipesaukee River flows out of Lake Winnipesaukee in
Laconia and heads west to Franklin where it merges with the Pemigewasset and forms the Merrimack
River.  We hiked the Rails-to-Trails route east along the river and headed down a path and into the woods
toward the riverside about a mile upstream.

In a small clearing above the river we tossed a line over a pine branch and pulled up a half wave wire
for 20 meters. I had brought the little HB-1B and a Par matchbox to tune the wire. The band, of course,
was wall-to-wall DX. I set the rig at 14.030 and started working stations right away. Incredibly one
call brought a quick response in all but one case where I had to repeat my call. I worked 6 countries
in 5 minutes... Germany, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Finland, Poland and Belgium. Every one of those
stations was running a KW.



Then I handed the key to Hanz. His luck was just as good. He worked Slovenia, England, the Netherlands,
and Poland.



A stiff wind was blowing from the west, and after a while our hands started to feel the cold. Hanz hadn't
even brought a coat! He didn't really need it in the open sun, but here we were shaded by the trees. We
packed up and headed back to the old rail right-of-way. On the way we pondered our excitement
at being out in the boonies, gazing across a wild spot of river, while at the same time talking to
the other side of the world.