[Elecraft] Back from Joshua Tree...

[Trevor Jacobs]

Hi Gang,

Got back from Joshua Tree National Park Sunday afternoon. We arrived at
the park on Thursday late morning and by the time we had set up camp and
gone into Twenty Nine Palms for a few forgotten food items, I had just
enough time to set up for the Fox Hunt. I put up my CF Zepp favoring
East West radiation, but it was a waist of time, as I never did hear Ron
W8RU and Karl K5DI with an S9+ signal couldn't hear me, as I tried to
work him the entire time other than looking for Ron. Very disappointing
indeed, as the same antenna setup proved to work quite well with Karl
K5DI and Craig VE4WI on the 28th from the very same spot. BTW temps in
the tent were in the low twenties...That's how it goes sometimes...

The next day, I tore down the Zepp and put up a 50' long wire with 4 30'
ground radials to try out the internal K1 tuner. It played nicely on all
4 bands (40,30,20, and 15) and I was able to easily get a 1:1 match. The
antenna connected directly to the back of the rig via a BNC to Banana
Plug adapter. I used a Black Widow 20' fishing pole mounted up on a big
rock to support the antenna due to the lack of natural supports.

I didn't have a lot of time Friday to get on, but did work Bill K6MGO in
LAX on 40 meters in the late afternoon. The next day I put in about 3
hours of operating, and had a blast. Worked stations on 15 and 20.
Stations worked on Saturday were:

Buck K4IA VA 15 meters
Fred AK7D OR 20 meters
Earl AC7QT WA 20 meters
John K7JHM UT 20 meters
Bill WA7NCC WA 15 meters
Tom WB5KHC TX 15 meters
And almost Nao JA6PA on 15 meters except he faded after the first
exchange and got a C in my call instead of a G ;-)

All in all it was a fun time. I did have to get up and warm up a little
in between Q's as the temp was in the mid to low 40's with quite a
strong wind as well. I took some pictures of the setup that I'll be
putting on the web soon. The little K1 performed great, and if you've
never had the chance to operate from the desert, it's a pure joy! The
noise level is non existent, which is a pleasure compared to Burbank, CA
and I'll take a little cold WX any day over the noise! Take care...

73's Trev KG6CYN
http://home.earthlink.net/~kg6cyn
http://www.qsl.net/kg6cyn