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It was such a glorious day. We walked through a tunnel of gold and into a wide open field to bask in the warm sunshine. I worked California, Arizona, Hungary and Russia.

Many of the maple trees with their bright colors are bare now. The oaks are showing their subdued reddish browns and the beeches their brilliant yellows. And it’s much cooler… 45F. Fortunately, in the sun it was nearly 70F. I tossed a line over an large oak on the edge of the field and pulled up a 33 foot wire.

I used the KX3 and fed the vertical wire through a 9:1 unun. I started out on 15 meters. The first station I worked was NI6BB, the Battleship Iowa, now on display in Los Angeles. My signal was pretty awful… a 229, but the operator was eventually able to copy the full exchange. Then I worked W7GVE in Arizona. Ed gave me a 549 and we chatted for nearly 20 minutes.

I switched to 17 meters for a quick QSO with Hungary. Joska, HA0EX gave me a 339 but we completed the exchange without trouble. I went to 20 meters. UE25R, a special event station in Russia, gave me a 599. He was strong to me, so I think my signal there was credible.

The warm days are passed. Back home, I carried the hammock and the summer table to the basement. Winter is near.

Judy and I took a walk near Hunkins Pond this afternoon. The fall colors were at their best! 20 meters was pretty good too. I worked Cuba, the UK and Rhode Island.

We hiked west and north on the old range road. When we got to David Swain’s north field, we turned in. The view was stunning. Even though the true temperature was 55F, in the sun it was almost 75F. I set up the Par 3-band end fed wire as an inverted vee over a maple branch and sat down in the sun. It was glorious.

I was running the KD1JV Mountain Topper at 3 watts. As I tuned down the band, I heard T47GDXC calling CQ. This is a special event station from Cuba. We exchanged quick 599’s and I was glad to have one contact under my belt. I had an ear to stations on the band and both eyes on the fantastic view.

Tom G3HGE from England was working one station after another. He and I are old friends and I was anxious to work him again. I called several times but other stations beat me to it. Finally, I got my chance and called him in the clear. “PID?” he sent and I returned with my call sign several times. At last he copied my call and we had a wonderful exchange. He was a solid 569, but I was only 339 to him. “UR signal is dropping to S1,” he sent as I told him I was operating portable in the beautiful outdoors. We signed after a couple of minutes, but I was thrilled to complete a QSO with him for the first time in a month or so. My little Mountain Topper sat in my lap with a notebook on my knee. You’ll see Tom’s call sign in the notebook.

I switched to 40 meters to see how that band was and heard Joe N1EFX in Rhode Island right away. He was calling CQ with a solid 589. He gave me a 449, but copied well, and we chatted for several minutes before signing.

I was satisfied with the contacts and wanted to hike down through the fields a bit before heading home. We headed east and south on the range road and came to Dearborn’s Farm. What a wonderful spot. Shimmering green grass, trees aflame in gold and corn over 8 feet high. We headed into a quiet glen and I took a quick snapshot.

These glorious days are so fleeting. Tomorrow and the next day it’s supposed to rain. We may lose much of the color.

Judy and I hiked to Bald Ledge in New Hampton today. We had a view to die for, and I worked some nice DX too… Spain, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic.

We started hiking at Sky Pond. It’s a crystal clear remote pond in the wilderness. It’s a favorite of local fishermen, but not known by many. From the pond we hiked a half mile up an old range road and then north on a woods trail for about a mile.

Bald Ledge is about 600 feet above the west shore of Lake Winona.

I tossed a 28 foot wire over a pine tree and sat down on the ledge facing northeast with the KX3. 20 meters had a few light signals. 15 meters was completely dead, so I started out on 17 meters where there were some strong signals.

EA5GX Sergio in Spain was calling CQ and we made a quick contact. There was some QSB, but he gave me a 579. It was nearly 15 minutes before I made a second contact. There were a couple of pileups, but I stayed away from them. Finally I heard LZ1GU in Bulgaria calling CQ. Harry was strong and he gave me a 569. “Are you happy?” Judy asked. “No….” I answered. “I need another QSO.”

Two nice QSOs and a perfect spot to spend an hour or so? Who wouldn’t be happy?

I like to get at least three contacts, so I scanned 20 meters again. There was Jiri… OK2RRR, the same station I had worked yesterday from Old Hill Village. He was booming in and I called him. Again he gave me 589. NOW I was happy! He told me he had received my email with the photos I sent him from yesterday, and he was pleased I was out hiking on a beautiful hill top. “Enjoy the hike,” he sent as he said 73 and wished me well.

Judy and I shared some fruit and I packed up for the walk back. When we reached Sky Pond, we both took our shoes off and waded in the water. Fantastic!

Judy and I stopped by the Ashland Railroad Station today after visiting a blueberry field. I worked eight stations in the NA QSO Party and a station in Bulgaria. It was a gorgeous afternoon.

The station is one of the stops along the Plymouth and Lincoln Railroad that runs between Northfield and Lincoln, New Hampshire. The old depot is a museum now. The train makes regular stops there during the foliage season in the fall when the passengers disembark to tour the museum.

I tossed a 28 foot wire into a maple tree on the other side of the tracks and sat down on the platform with the KX3. I work part-time on the railroad as a conductor and know the train schedules.

The caboose in the background belongs to Brian, KA1JOZ who also works on the railroad. I started out on 20 meters. There were plenty of signals and the propagation was pretty good for a change. The North America QSO Party was in full swing and it was easy to make contacts. I seemed to have a pipeline to Minnesota. Here’s my log:

1 Aug-15 2011 14.019 NA0N CW 599 599 MN
1 Aug-15 2014 14.030 N0AT CW 599 599 MN
1 Aug-15 2016 14.033 N2UT CW 599 599 NM
1 Aug-15 2017 14.027 WO4O CW 599 599 Fl
1 Aug-15 2019 14.024 W9IU CW 599 599 IN
1 Aug-15 2020 14.019 K0MPS CW 599 599 MN
1 Aug-15 2021 14.018 K0AD CW 599 599 MN
1 Aug-15 2024 18.076 LZ73TRC CW 599 599 Bulgaria
1 Aug-15 2027 14.027 WA4PHC CW 599 599 NC

At one point I switched to 17 meters to see how the activity was. I heard LZ73TRC calling CQ. He was strong, and we had no trouble making a nice QSO. I operated for about 20 minutes and packed up.

Last evening Dave K1SWL, Tim W3ATB and I were at Bailey’s Island in Maine. We were there for Lobstercon… an annual QRP gathering at Cooks Corner. After dinner we went to the shore at Lands End. I set up a quick wire and worked Italy, Greece, and the Czech Republic before the mosquitoes carried us away.

As the sun went down we ate dinner at Cook’s Lobster House. The view was the very best.

Then we drove a few miles east to where the sea meets the land… Tim parked the truck with the back toward the beach. The view is breathtaking.

We ran a wire from the tail gate down to the beach. At most the wire was only 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I put the KX3 on the rocks and stood on the sand. I tuned across 20 meters, but didn’t hear many stations… so I switched to 30 meters.

I1ULJ/8 in Italy was calling CQ. I answered Sal and he gave me a 559. I knew I wasn’t strong because I had to send my call a few times… but we completed a good exchange. I had smiles on my face and mosquito bites behind my ear. I didn’t care. Then I heard SV2/RW3AL in Greece finishing up a QSO and I called. This time I received a 339, but that was fine. Again we had a good exchange. The next QSO was the best.

Now I switched back to 20 meters to see if anything had changed. There was OK2RJC in the Czech Republic just booming in. Jiri was calling CQ and I knew he’d hear me. When I answered I received a 589 and I received a “congrats on UR QRP signal.” I folded up the log book and put everything back in the pack. The darker it got, the more mosquitoes showed up to feed. We were exuberant….. with the salt air, the smell of the sea, the view, and the cross-Atlantic QSOs.

Thanks to W3ATB and K1SWL for photos.

I rode my bike along the Pemigewasset River today and made eight QSOs in the CWT sprint with a new lightweight dipole antenna.

It’s been raining for three days, so it’s a relief to have some sunshine! AND… the mosquitoes are out. They’re pretty prolific at home, but they weren’t too bad along the river today. There were some puddles along the trail and the river is high, but it was beautiful on the bike.

I stopped about a mile down the trail at a corner along the riverside. I thought there would be a breeze to keep the mosquitoes away, and I was right.

Yesterday I built a new antenna because I saw a note from Steve WG0AT that he had been testing it out. I bought 50 feet of twisted pair with #22 wire and teflon insulation. I untwisted 22 feet and built a 44 foot dipole. I had about 30 feet of feed line left. I didn’t use a center insulator, but instead put an inch of heat shrink at the feed point with an underwriters knot.

I set the dipole up between two giant pine trees. The antenna was up about 25 feet. I started out on 15 meters because I could hear lots of activity from the CWT sprint there. The antenna tuned right up with the KX3 and the internal tuner. Later, I switched to 20 meters.
Here’s my log:

3 Jun-15 1913 21.031 K9QVB CW 599 599 Ill
3 Jun-15 1914 21.028 K5OT CW 599 599 TX
3 Jun-15 1915 21.027 N4ZZ CW 599 599 TN
3 Jun-15 1917 21.028 K7SV CW 599 599 VA
3 Jun-15 1919 21.030 W7SW CW 599 599 AZ
3 Jun-15 1925 14.029 K9QVB CW 599 599 Ill
3 Jun-15 1929 14.033 K4LTA CW 599 599 TN
3 Jun-15 1930 14.027 NW2K CW 599 599 NY

I only operated for about 20 minutes, but the antenna seemed to do pretty well. I packed up and headed back. On the way, I stopped to watch two Canada geese and 5 chicks swimming in the cove. I was too late to catch them on camera.

A couple of friends and I did a trip to Kearsarge Mountain today. We had a fantastic time and made a couple of dozen nice contacts. Dave K1SWL, Tim W3ATB and I met at Kearsarge. The view was fantastic.

Dave brought his KX3 and put up a simple vertical wire 28 feet long. He sat at a picnic table directly under the wire and had a short counterpoise. The internal tuner managed the setup just fine. Dave made a dozen DX contacts mostly on 15 meters. I don’t have his log.

Tim brought his HB-1B and wanted to test out a 30 meter dipole he made. He plans to use it during an upcoming trip to Antigua. The antenna had a great SWR. After the test he switched to 20 meters and used his Par End Fed as a horizontal up about 25 feet. He made three stateside QSOs and was thrilled with the results.

I set up with a west facing view. I placed an inverted L up about 25 feet and across about 40 feet. I tuned the wire with the internal tuner on the KX3. I was hoping to make some SSB contacts in the military cross-band exercise and I had a mic out for awhile. But I abandoned that effort and went back to CW. Here’s my log:

9 May-15 1555 24.891 US5WE CW 599 599
9 May-15 1558 21.012 EA2NN CW 599 599
9 May-15 1600 21.026 SN7Q CW 599 599
9 May-15 1652 14.021 K3ZO CW 599 599
9 May-15 1655 18.087 AO150A CW 599 599
9 May-15 1657 21.021 HA3NU CW 599 599
9 May-15 1700 21.016 M0BEW CW 599 599
9 May-15 1701 24.891 US5WE CW 599 599
9 May-15 1705 18.082 R120K CW 599 599
9 May-15 1706 18.087 AO150A CW 599 599

I wasn’t paying attention and realized back home that I had several dupes.

We operated about an hour and a half and had a nice picnic lunch before heading down the mountain. Working DX was a lot easier today than battling the black flies. They were pretty thick and we were all glad to have a nice breeze and some bug spray handy. The little park area midway up the mountain makes a perfect place for operating on a beautiful day.