[Elecraft] Hiking on AT on Saturday

[Mark Schreiner]

While FDIM is going on in Dayton and I'm stuck out here in PA, I'll be 
meeting Ron, WB3AAL, near Hawk Mountain and going for a bit longer of a 
hike than I had done with him last month, also quite a bit steeper!  
Apparently it will be about 2-1/2 miles of hiking in each direction.  I 
forgot to ask which way we will be going.  It will either be heading 
toward the Pinnacle, which is a couple of miles from my favorite 
drive-up spot at Pulpit Rock, or it will be hiking toward Dan's Pulpit.  
I guess I'll find out tomorrow unless Ron posts the info here. 

I'll be lugging along my K2 and just a 28' end-fed wire for the antenna 
now that I know it fits in my backpack as I tried that out last month.  
I had just gotten my new Jackite 31' fiberglass telescoping pole, but I 
don't think I'm ready to use it yet and I hope there are a few trees 
where we end up.  Also, since this is my longest hike on the AT and it 
is quite a bit of uphill I didn't want to carry more than necessary 
(this hike might convince me to get a K1 or KX1, we'll see). 

Band conditions haven't been too bad lately, so I hope to be on 20 and 
30m, and of course I'll be checking out 40m (all on CW near the standard 
QRP frequencies, both 7040 & 7030 on 40m) to see if I can't find anyone 
at the FDIM event at Dayton as well (maybe WA8REI or N0EVH, 
especially).  So, I guess we might be on the air around noon (1600Z) or 
so, depending on how slow I end up hiking up the hill behind Ron.  
Weather forecast is for mid-60's temperatures (that is what we had in 
March already), partly sunny skies & breezy with scattered thunderstorms 
later in the day (which we didn't have in March, and we're still 2-1/2" 
below average for the year), but they have been very scattered around 
here so we are hoping for the best.  I'll  be sharing the bands with 
Ron, so whatever band he is on I'll be on a different band.  Please look 
for us and give us a call if you hear us!

I'll report back tomorrow evening with a followup on our adventure!

73,

Mark, NK8Q