[Elecraft] K6DGW - Flight of the Bumblebees

[Chris Kantarjiev]

Total QSO's: 14
Bumblebee QSO's: 8
Score: you mean we're keeping score?
RIG: KX1 #1048
ANT: 31' wire w/ 17' counterpoise
PWR: solar panel feeding 7Ah gel cell
QTH: Fresno Dome, Madera County, CA grid DM07fk, 7,000 ft AMSL
WX: Clear, sunny, light breeze, about 80F
OPR TIME: 3h 
CONDX: worse than last year

Last year was my first time as a Bee. I wanted to operate from a high
QTH near our vacation cabin south of Yosemite, but we had company with
us. So I walked all of 30 yards down the yard to where I could reach
our big cedar tree and threw a wire up. 

I didn't do very well. We're in a valley (they don't call the area
Cedar Valley for nothing), so we have about -1000' HAAT in pretty
much every direction except south. Post-contest reports indicated that
my signal was getting out as far as AZ, but the responses weren't
making it in... 

I was determined to find a better place this year :-)

When my patient XYL heard about my plans to operate from Fresno
Dome (about 7000' in "southern Yosemite"), she allowed as how it
would be nice to make it a picnic. So we packed for a somewhat
higher comfort level than I would have myself (i.e., we took camp
chairs and a cooler of "adult beverages" and sandwiches!) and headed
out at our usual Sunday pace. It's a 45 minute drive up rutted
Forest Service roads, followed by an easy 15 minute hike. We arrived
at the trailhead just before 11am (1800z), an hour after the contest
started. It was about 20 degF cooler than at our cabin, which was
a welcome change.

A few tosses got my 31' wire "high enough" into a Jeffrey pine. I set
up in the sun so the solar panel had something to work with, dug
out my earphones and hooked up the KX1's paddle. Quickly heard and
worked 3 or 4 other /BB stations on 20 ... and then all I heard was
those four stations! Well, I heard them working other people, but
I couldn't hear who they were working.

I did hear one KL7, but so faintly that I never got the complete call,
and he certainly didn't hear me. I heard Randy K7TQ well, but he didn't
hear me, either.

The second hour was almost a complete goose-egg. I tried setting up the
PAC-12. It gave me a couple dB better receive, but wasn't radiating at
all - the ground there is sandy and dry where it isn't rock, and
that's pretty much the performance I expected. I really have to make up some
tuned radials for that thing.

I moved my chair to reorient the wire by 90 degrees and got a few
more dB signal (which meant that I was getting about S3 signals now!)
and finally worked NG7C.

Time to switch to 40m. Got a run of 5 contacts, wow, this is getting
exciting! But that was about all...

Total of 14 Qs, 8 BBs, 5 states. Better than last year's 12 Qs in worse
conditions, so I guess that's progress. It was a beautiful QTH with
nice views of the Central Valley, but blocked to the north and somewhat
to the east ... I'll try somewhere else next year.

And it's time to go back to experimenting with other wire antennas,
like a W3EDP or OCF dipole. I think they're a little more fussy to
set up (I have to get better at throwing, too) but should give
better results!

73 de chris K6DBG