[Elecraft] WB3AAL 1,000th QSO Report

[Ron Polityka]

Hello,

 It was a very historic day on Sunday December 14, 2008. Who would ever 
think
way back on March 4, 2000 that I would still be going out once a month on
the Appalachian Trail (AT) and setting up an antenna just to make a couple
of contact with a QRP radio. Yes, I have been doing this once or twice a
month for the past 106 months. I still get a chance from time to time to go
out and hike with a couple of  QRP'ers to an East Coast Mountain top in PA
on the AT to play with QRP HF Radio. My very first contact was with Carter
de N3AO who is a good friend that went out with me to the AT. Since that
first contact Carter has moved down to VA but I still managed to work him 13
individual times.

 Since going out to the AT I have worked the following:

Total QSO = 1,000
Countries Worked = 25
States Worked = 48  (Still need HI and MT)
Worked 12 other QRP'ers on the AT in 12 of the 14 states, I still need to
work someone on the AT in MA & ME.

I tried to go out to the AT on Dec. 13, 2008 to get my 1,000 QSO during the
Polar Bear Moon Light Madness Event (PBMME). That day was the last day of
deer season in PA and I traveled over 120 miles round trip and I went to 4
different locations to find the roads and parking lots filled with trucks
from the hunters. I decided at that point to postpone my adventure for a
day. I started out on Sunday from my QTH around 10 AM / 15:00 UTC. I arrived
at the trail head to an empty parking lot just North of Strausstown, PA on
Rte 183. I hiked in about a mile to one of my favorite spots. We had a lot
of rain during the past week and the area was covered in ice and running
water. I setup the W3EDP End Fed antenna over the pond and the Black Widow
Vertical (BWV). This was the first time for the End Fed antenna so I tried
it on my K1. It did not tune up too good on 40m and I could not get it to
load on 20m. The antenna worked great on 30m and 15m. I did not get a chance
to call CQ until 11:30 AM / 16:30 UTC, the End Fed took a while to setup but
the BWV took 5 minutes. I made 5 quick QSO's in the first hour. I heard
someone whistling for their dog, so I went to check out what was going on. I
greeted the gentleman that was a local resident of the mountain since 1945.
He just went for a hike and his dog chased out after something in the brush.
I talk to the guy for a little while to find out some history of the area.
It was very interesting, we talked for 35 minutes. He dog came running up
the trail and he went on his way and I back to the radio. I tried 20m but I
did not hear many signals, I did call CQ on 14.060.5 for a while but with no
replies after 15 minutes I went onto 15m. I did not think I would hear
anything but I still checked out the band. No signals heard but I did call
CQ for 5 minutes on 21.060. I went to 30m and used the end fed, I made a
couple of good QSO's. I went back to 40m and finished the day out on that
band. I almost ran out of day light due to a setting sun.

 The wx was ok but it was a cold and windy day. The temperature in the sun
reached 48'F and in the shade it was 37'F most of the time. The wind was
gusting 10 to 20 MPH which was making it a cold day even with the sun out. I
was sitting out in the open because of falling trees due to the wind gusts.

I did work a couple of stations that said they have been following my
adventures out on the AT. This is my log for the day.

Dec 14, 2008

Bud      K1LC         MA    40m    16:31
Larry    W9UX        WI     40m    16:45
Jerry     K9UT          IN     40m    16:53
Jim        VE3DX      Ont    40m     17:03
Dave     W1EUY     MA    40m     17:14
Bruce    WB8FMA  WV    40m    18:01
Fred      K5FA/M     MS   30m     18:39
Al         NN4ZZ       GA    30m     18:48
Alan     W4AMV      NC   40m     19:12
Tom      NU8Q         MI    40m     19:30
Tom      NJ8D          MI     40m     19:50
Brooke  KE4UMW  NC   40m     20:20
Jake      N9FGC       IN    40m     20:35

Back in the spring I pulled a muscle in my left foot. It seems to be 99% 
healed now. So I hope to start doing some longer hikes to operate in other 
places that I like to operate from with QRP. I am currently using my 
Elecraft K1 four band rig out on the AT. I am going to start building an 
ATS-3A five band rig over the holidays.

I would like to thank all those who worked me over the years and those who 
have been listening but just can't make the connection, hang in there for 
2009. One other person really made this happen was my wife, Sue. She kicked 
me out of the house many of times so I could got out to the AT and operate 
QRP HF CW.

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

K1 - SN 01011
K2 - SN 01392