[Elecraft] K1 on the AT in PA on Saturday
Ron Polityka
[email protected]
Sat Jan 24 19:53:00 2004
Hello,
Now that I am defrosted and I had my dinner, I can share a short story
about my AT trip in PA today. I was near Strausstown, PA about a 1/2 to 3/4
of a mile south of route 183 on the Appalachian Trail. I was near the
Fort-Dietrich Snyder land mark.
When I started to hike to my operating location I found 2" of snow, 1" of
ice and 3"s of fresh snow on top of everything. This made it for a hard time
to hike, so after going about 200' I turned around and went back to the car.
Yes, I went back to get my snow shoes I purchased last year. It really was
not snow shoe cover but it did make hiking very easy on the snow covered
ice. I hiked in about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile, I did not want to be too far
away of the safety of the car due the extreme temperature. The temp was
around 20' F with a light snow falling. I arrived at my location and set up
my VBWFPA created by Ed, WA3WSJ. You can find this antenna at www.wa3wsj.com
. It took me a few minutes to setup the antenna and I was on the air calling
CQ by 17:00 UTC on 20 meters. I was using my K1 at 4 watts on 20 & 30 m and
5 watts on 40 m. I was using a 2.3 Ah sealed lead acid battery which was at
12.7 VDC at the beginning of the operation and an hour and half later was
down to only 12.2 VDC. I had the battery and rig sitting out in the cold and
on a folding table I carried. The K1 worked great and the battery did not
let me down in the calm 20' F temperature. At this time the sun was shinning
and there was some snow falling from some distant clouds. Oh, I did have a
back up 2.3 Ah in my coat next to my body incase the one I was using decided
to get too low. This is the log and reports from the stations I worked.
K5MVR Ron in Fort Worth, TX 14.062 my RST 569
N0TU Steve in Monument, CO 14.062 my RST 569
K2PQ Frank in Waterford, NJ 10.106 my RST 599
WA3WSJ Ed in Reading, PA 10.106 my RST 559
Note: Ed was using a K2 turning into a 40 m vertical, not a good match.
W8RYB Bob in Belington, WV 7.043 my RST 579
K3NG Goody in Lehighton, PA 7.043 my RST 599
KD2JC Joe in Howell, NJ 7.043 my RST 579
When I worked WA3WSJ the wind started to pick up. By the time I worked
KD2JC the winds were gusting to 20 MPH. That means I was operating in a wind
chill of -6' to -9' F. I told Joe that I had to pack up and get out of
there. But first I had to take some pictures. I should have the pictures up
on the web by Sunday morning. I will let everyone know so you can check them
out.
Over all I had a Great time. I guess you must think I am a little Crazy.
:-) Well I really like the cold weather, it does not bother me too much.
For the first 3/4 of an hour I was sitting there with my coat open and no
gloves on. When the wind kicked up I closed the jacket and covered up the
hands. This trip was my 47 consecutive trip out since March 2000. I have
been out on the Appalachian Trail at least once a month for the past 47
months. I have 350 QSO's from the Appalachian Trail. I have worked several
countries from across the pond and most of the states except a few of the
western ones. I enjoy the hiking and QRP radio out on the Appalachian Trail.
72 and Thanks,
Ron Polityka
WB3AAL
www.n3epa.org/