[Elecraft] K1 on the AT in PA on Saturday

Sat Jan 24 21:36:00 2004

Hey Ron, Your were my first QSO with my KX1 after getting it back up and
running. During the the final assembly I blew the PA/Q6 and had to wait for
a new final PA to show up in the mail. It arrive Friday PM - got it going
this AM and just happened to hear you and Ron going at it while I finished
up the last bit soldering. Then gave you call. Glad you heard me and braved
the wind chill!

Tomorrow I'm heading up the trail to see how this KX1 does in the woods!  Hi
temp here today was 41* tomorrow it's supposed to be cooler? Some snow on
the trail mostly icy.

I'll be QRV 20m 10-12MDT with KX1 at 1W to a wire in the trees a top Mt
Herman - a trial run for FYBO!

CUL Steve/n0tu

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ron Polityka" <[email protected]>
To: ".Elecraft" <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2004 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K1 on the AT in PA on Saturday

> 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/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list: [email protected]
> You must be subscribed to post to the list.
> To subscribe or unsubscribe see:
http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Elecraft Web Page: http://www.elecraft.com
> Also see: http://www.elecraft.com/elecraft_list_guidelines.htm
>