[ICOM] KD9KC/pm tonight. I had a blast!

[Mike Olbrisch]

Well - my first experience as KD9KC/pm (Pedestrian Mobile) is in the record
books, or at least the logbooks.  And I had a great time.

01 Feb 2012 at about 0245-UTC my wife Monika (Moni - N5NHC) dropped me in
the parking lot of the IBEW Local 583 near Canutillo Texas.  It was a
well-lit parking lot, and since I am a former member of IBEW local 960
(honorably withdrawn) I didn't figure they would mind.  It took me a few
minutes to assemble the antenna and mount it to the pack frame.  I then
turned on the blinking red LED light on the back, and lifted the pack-frame
on my shoulders.  I tightened the waist strap, then the sternum strap, and
last I mounted the control head of the IC-703+ to the sternum strap and
attached the mic.  A quick check, and I was ready.  I said goodbye to my
wonderful XYL and started south.

I quickly crossed the street, and got on the west levy road of the mighty
Rio Grande River.  It was dark out there, but I had a good LED headlamp on
my ball-cap.  Soon I was clear of the levy gates and on the gravel road at
about 0255-UTC.  I took a few seconds to start up the APRS program on my
DROID phone (KD9KC-5), and started off.  Within minutes the 10-Bar-X net in
El Paso Texas started off with W5AAM (Tony) as net control station (NCS).
Not knowing how successful my little 10-watt SSB radio and whip antenna was
going to be, I deliberately started my walk about a mile from Tony's home.
Tony was 5-9, and my IC-703+ was right on frequency.  I hit the LOCK button
to be sure it stayed there too.

Tony did the net pre-amble and called for check-ins.  I jumped in and gave
my call, Tony reported me as 5-7.  Great.  What was impressive is that the
and was so quiet along the river that I could hear every station that
checked in.  Even more impressive, I heard some that Tony (noise level?)
couldn't hear, and some heard me that couldn't hear Tony.  WOW!

For the next 30 minutes I walked along the banks of the mighty Rio Grande
while participating in the net.  And I had a great time.  I was able to
relay some for the NCS, and the net progressed nicely.  I did notice as I
walked under the bridge at Artcraft Road that signals went down, but came
back up on the other side.  At about 0335-UTC there were no more check-ins
and no further comments.  So Tony closed the official net.  I had walked
about a mile by then.

The closing of the net was when the fun really began.  The frequency opened
up into a rag-chew.  I was called by several station in the round-table, and
complimented on the quality of the signal.  The furthest station I worked
Was W5HFN-Hans.  I estimate we were 26 miles apart, and Hans was directly
behind the third highest peak in the Franklin Mountains, South Franklin
Mountain.  But something was working right, because Hand was 5-9+, and I was
5-7.

For the next two miles I worked W5AAM-Tony, W5HFN-Hans, KF5JUG-Jim,
KA5CDJ-Brad, KD6CUB-Sean, WB5LJO-Martin and KD5MFS-Ed.  If I missed any, I
am truly sorry.  There were ten check-ins to the formal net, but some left.
Hard to log in the dark on a gravel levy road too.  At the 3-mile mark I
reached Country Club Road.  I used my cell phone to call my lovely XYL for a
pick-up.  It took 1:20 to cover 3 miles.

Moni took a few photos, but they did not turn out real well.  I will post
some photos soon - they should really be taken in daylight.


Vy73 - Mike - KD9KC.
El Paso, Texas - DM61rt.
W5-SOTA Association Manager.
W5-SOTA info: www.qsl.net/kd9kc/