[PPRAANet] Red Rocks Canyon Park on the Air

[W0rw at aol.com]

It was another bright and sunny day...Snow is predicted for tomorrow so  i 
went out for a short hike in the new Red Rocks Canyon Park in Western Colorado 
Springs, 19 Nov. 2004.
This a new park just purchased by the City, It is about 7 miles East of Pikes 
Peak. This was the first HF Pedestrian Mobile operation in this beautiful 
park. If you plan to visit Colorado Springs, add this hike to your schedule. It 
is located at HWY 24 and Ridge Road. It is South of 'The Garden of The Gods' 
and some of the same type of red rock formations.
i was using my PRC319 at 50W with a 7 foot whip and a 13 foot drag wire,
i have a capacity hat on the whip at the 6 foot point so it doesn't sway
too much when hiking.

i worked a 9 stations on 14342.5/18157.5 KHz in about 2 hours.
Here is the log: K6EOH AK John, KA1FFO/4 TN, K3RWN PA, K9JRI PA Mike, W9OTE 
OH John, WA9KKN/m IN Barry (Using a 39 inch mobile antenna), KQ6XA CA Bonnie,  
W6FLU CA Ken, K4BYR GA Bill...
During my contact with WA9KKN he said is was super strong (S8) and then i 
just dropped out and he couldn't hear me any more.
After another mile of fruitlessly calling CQ, i noticed that my top hat and 3 
sections of the whip were gone!
A 'Cap Hat Eating Tree' had snagged the whip and pulled it apart.
There is a little bit of tree over hang on this trail.
i had to hike back and retrieve it. It was right on the trail where i lost 
contact with WA9KKN.

You can see my pictures of the pedestrian mobile antenna 'Top Hat' in the 
HFPack2 YahooGroup.
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/hfpack2/
Go to the W0RW Folder.


Paul  w0rw/pm
Colorado