[Elecraft] K6DGW - Flight of the Bumblebees

[Bob Cunnings]

Hi Fred, you were my first QSO, tnx. Here's the story from NM:

28 qso's, 21 bees, 7 home-based stations, all 20 m.

Rig: KX1, 10W solar panel charging a 2AH gel cell. The antenna was a
"coupled resonator" 40/20 meter inverted vee with apex at about 20
feet above a sharp N/S ridge line at 9600 feet near South Sandia Peak.
A great position, but required a four hour hike to get up there. 20
ran hot and cold, for a while the guys in the West (esp. UT) were
fairly strong, but not so for other call areas, the furthest east I
worked was N3AO in VA. Three hours into the contest a line of
thunderstorms arrived from the west and I had to pack up and head back
down, it's very exposed there, and QRN from nearby lightning was
getting awful.  20 was fading at that point, strong stations like N7OU
and WA7LNW were much weaker than in the first hour. Never got around
to trying 40 m.

The KX1 is just the thing for these outings. I used one of those $5
powered plug in speakers from Walgreens instead of earbuds and found
it very agreeable.

Bob NW8L