[Elecraft] WB3AAL & NK8Q Appalachian Trail 7 June 2008 Trip

[Ron Polityka]

Hello,

 I meet mark de NK8Q around 7 AM or 11:00 UTC at the Hamburg PA Reservoir.
We were going to try for The Pinnacle but there were already many people on
the mountain, parking lot was over half filled.

 The temperature at this time was around 72'F or 22'C with the humidity
around the mid 60 mark. As we started our he we were in a heavy cover of
fog. As we hiked up to Pulpit Rock the sun broke through around the 3/4 way
up the mountain. When we arrived at Pulpit Rock we looked out and seen
something we never viewed from that location, especially since we are
usually up there in the evening and at night. The valley below was covered
in a thick heavy fog.

 It took us about 1 hour and 20 minutes to hike up in this weather. When we
got there we did our usually gaze out from the Pulpit Rock Lookout. We went
to work setting up our stations. We both picked the shaded side of different
domes at the Lehigh Valley Astronomical Society.
http://www.lvaas.net/index.html?content=pulpit

 I was on the air around 9 AM or 13:00 UTC. Starting calling CQ on 14.060
Mhz. I had two stations come back to me at different times but the QSB was
horrible. As soon as they sent my call and their call their signal was gone.
I finally did make 1 QSO with Dennis de N5HEK in TX on 20m. Check 15m and I
did not hear anything so I went to 30m. After calling CQ for a while I made
another QSO with Bill de W5LJT in TX. I had a good QSO with bill which was
the longest of the day. Then I worked Lee de K9CM in IN also on 30m.

 Took a small break to see how Mark was doing on 40m. He was having the same
luck I was having with QSO. So I went to 40m and he went to 20 and 30m. I
called CQ on 7.030 then 7.042 and finally 7.050. I was calling CQ for about
30 minutes with no replies. At this time it was 11:30 AM or 15:30 UTC. I
decided that I was going to call it a day with the temp now around 94'F or
34'C. I went over to the Pulpit Rock Lookout to see how the fog looked. The
fog was gone but there was a heavy haze now that filled the air. Mark came
over and we talked about our QSO count. Mark only had 2 QSO's, 1 on 40m and
1 on 30m. We decided to break camp and head to the watering hole. It took us
1 hour and 20 minutes to hike back to the parking lot. Then we went to the
Port Clinton Hotel for a couple of beers and some Great food.

 Really wish the bands were in better shape. The QSB was real fast on
Saturday. I now have 949 QSO from the Appalachian Trail.

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

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K2 - SN 01392