[Elecraft] On The Appalachian Trail again

[Ron Polityka]

Hello,

 Today was a very enjoyable day out on the Appalachian Trail. I parked my 
car around 17:25 UTC and hiked into one of my favorite operating locations 
in PA. The trail was covered in 4" of snow with another 2" of ice under the 
snow. So it was a little slippery on the AT today.

 I arrived at my location and setup my portable vertical. I had a sked with 
Carter de N3AO in VA. I was not sure if we were going to make the contact. 
Carter was my first QSO back in March of 2000 on the AT. So I thought that 
the first 1k QSO's went so well I needed to have Carter as 1,001 for the 
next 1K.

 I got on 40m and called Carter, to my surprise I heard the call WB3AAL de 
N3AO. This was a Great Way to start out the 2009 season out on the trail.

I had a good day meeting new people and talking to some old friends. The 
following is my log from the day.

40m Carter de N3AO in VA
40m John de W2YBN in NC
20m Roger de KA9UDA in CA  Wow the band was open.
30m Allan de K7GT in OR
40m Jim de VE3DJX in Ontario
40m Dale de W4OP in NC
40m Stu de WD4LZC in KY
40m Aaron de N9SKN in IL
40m Allen de WA8IWK in MI
40m Bob de K8JPM in OH

The bands were not it bad shape, there was some QSB but over all they were 
is good shape. Around 20:00 UTC I was trying to work a couple of German 
stations that were on the frequency near me. The one station heard me but 
just could not pull me out of the noise.

The wx started out in the mid 40's with the sun shining and the wind 
blowing. When the cloudy rolled in the temperature went down to the low 
40's. It was still a very nice day to be out on the trail.

Thanks to the guys that worked me and to those that tried to work me, this 
is always another day.

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

K1 - SN 01011
K2 - SN 01392