[Elecraft] WB3AAL on the Appalachian Trail 10 Aug 2008

[Ron Polityka]

Hello,

 Today I made my way to one of my favorite operating spots on the 
Appalachian Trail.

Unfortunately the area had a bunch of tents setup with people that stayed 
over night. So I started off on the AT in another direction. I found a nice 
location in the trees with some grassy openings. Unfortunately the trees 
were not tall enough to hang the Super Loop 40 up. Maybe some other day.

 I got my station setup, K1 and BWV, and I was calling CQ on 7.030 at 11:00 
UTC. Band seemed quiet with some signals. I called CQ on 030 and 040 until 
11:30 UTC which I switched over to 20m. I called CQ for a while with no 
luck. Also tried CQ'ing on 30m but that band was dead.

 I went back to 40m but now I am hearing some loud static crashes. I listen 
for the crashes on 40m and then listen for the thunder. The storm was to my 
North and way off in the distance. After calling CQ for a little while 
longer I finally worked John de K1ESE in ME. During our short QSO the static 
crashes became much louder and the thunder was much closer. The sky was 
turning dark and the barometer was dropping fast. I told John I had to cut 
it short and pack up and high tail it to my car.

By the time I got back to my car the rain just started, that was close. As I 
am typing this e-mail I am looking at the radar. The storms were developing 
to the South West of my location and following the mountain to the NE. I was 
going to be on the edge of the storms.

I made 1 QSO for my August outing on the AT but that will not work for me. I 
will probably be out some other weekend this month.

Thanks for all those who were looking for me. Maybe next time.

72 and Thanks,
Ron Polityka
WB3AAL
www.wb3aal.com
www.n3epa.org/

K1 - SN 01011
K2 - SN 01392