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Wow… what a day. Judy and I hiked to Knox Mountain. I worked Paul W0RW who was walking on Pike’s Peak. I also worked KM0U/P/QRP, Canary Islands and Mexico. The color was amazing.

Every day is a surprise. We expect November weather to set in, but it’s sunny and warm. It was a bit over 50F today, so we headed to the Knox Mountain cabins. We took an old logging road. This is not the charming trail we usually take along the brook. Loggers have changed that landscape and so we’ll avoid that route. Actually this was beautiful.

We hiked in about a mile and a half and came to the pond and the cabins. The loggers have not been anywhere near here.

I tossed my 30 foot wire over a cherry tree between the cabins and set up the KX3. I was a half hour late for Paul’s starting time on Pike’s Peak, but I tuned up on 14.342.5 anyway. What a thrill to hear him… I had no microphone so I set up cross-mode with a split… VFO B in CW mode up 600 Hz. Paul came right back to me and it was a real thrill. Just imagine working Paul who had a backpack PRC319 military radio walking on the north side of Pike’s Peak at 13,000 feet. It’s plain magic! Anyway Paul copied everything I sent and gave me a 599. His SSB signal was 55. He said the cold was “bone chilling.”

After I signed and tuned down the band. KM0U Terry was calling CQ. Little did I know that he was operating QRP portable with a KX3. We had a long chat. It was pretty cool to work QRP /P between New Hampshire and Minnesota. He was 589 and gave me a 569.

Next I worked XE2HOE in Mexico. Mode gave me a 449 and he was 599. It was a quick exchange and then I tuned down a bit and answered EC8AUZ Pedro in the Canary Islands. We gave each other 599s and signed. I packed up to leave. What a day… a perfect hike, great radio and fall scenery at its best.

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