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Judy and I drove over to the beach today… and what a day it was! We had a beautiful walk on the beach. I worked Bulgaria, France, Italy, TN and GA with a wire that was only three feet off the ground!

We brought our bikes and after a picnic lunch we rode a few miles up the road and back along the shore. Judy picked rose hips (rich in vitamin C) from the wild Rosa Rugosa along the way. It was in the low 80s F with just a little breeze. After that we sat on some benches in front of Rye Harbor. Judy lay down in the sun, and I strung a wire from the bench to a low bush that was 40 feet behind us. At most the wire was only 3 feet above the ground. I’d brought the kite, but there wasn’t enough wind to fly it. So I used what was available.

I had brought the KX3 and tuned around 20 meters and heard a couple of strong stations… the first one was W1AW/4 in TN. What the heck, I thought… I’ll give it a try. I got an answer on the first call and completed the exchange. Whooppee! TN on a 30 foot wire 3 feet off the ground. Next I worked Tony W4FOA in Georgia. He also gave me a 599. Now I was feeling pretty confident and went down the band for some DX. IK1ZNL, Paolo in Italy was 579. He answered my call and gave me a 559. Yikes… DX with a low wire. Then I worked LZ37MP in Bulgaria. I was working DX with the nicest view in the world…. Rye Harbor.

I thought I’d see what 30 meters was like. The Europeans were working each other all over the band, and they were strong! So I called a few… but no luck. I was hearing them, but their local signals were much stronger than I was. Anyway, I worked Chris F8DGY in France on 30 and completed the exchange, but clearly he wasn’t hearing me very well. But what the heck… I simply couldn’t ask for more. A perfect day, a beautiful beach and some DX by the sea.

This afternoon Hanz W1JSB and I hiked up to Knox Mountain. What a beautiful place. We worked Russia, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany and Croatia.

Along the trail, the first bridge has deteriorated significantly since we made the trip last. The timbers have sagged so badly that the planks at the leading edge are sticking several feet above the ground. We crossed cautiously. We came to the pond after hiking forty minutes or so. It’s always a welcome sight.

Hanz and I set up between the two cabins on the hill above the pond. I tossed a half wave wire for 20 meters over a high branch of the cherry tree and we shared the antenna. I brought the KX3. Hanz brought his new rig. It’s an enhanced HB-1B in a waterproof Pelican case. It’s really gorgeous.

Hanz has added a large display, an amplified speaker, internal battery, charger, power monitor, and a touch keyer to the HB-1B. It’s beautiful and really works just as well.

Hanz took the first turn with the antenna. He worked Russia, Poland, Georgia, and South Carolina. We were working the Romanian DX Contest.

Here’s my log:

30 Aug-14 1941 14.025 HG8C CW 599 599 Hungary
30 Aug-14 1946 14.014 R3ZV CW 599 599 Russia
30 Aug-14 1953 14.031 W4IX CW 599 599 SC
30 Aug-14 1957 14.011 I3FIY CW 599 599 Italy
30 Aug-14 2003 14.027 YR9F CW 599 599 Romania
30 Aug-14 2029 14.026 DJ2QV CW 599 599 Germany
30 Aug-14 2032 14.018 N4AF CW 599 599 NC
30 Aug-14 2033 14.014 W4BQF CW 599 599 GA
30 Aug-14 2035 14.019 9A5Y CW 599 599 Croatia

We passed the antenna back and forth for an hour or so.

We packed up after a perfect afternoon and headed down the trail alongside the brook. Hanz took one last picture of the afternoon sun shimmering in a pool in the rocks.

Judy went blueberry picking this afternoon in Ashland, New Hampshire. I went along. She picked blueberries; I worked Russia, Germany, Greece, Denmark and Arizona!

I tossed a 30 foot wire over a maple branch and sat down on the grass with the KX3. What a perfect way to spend an hour. Here’s my log:

11 Aug-14 1954 14.020 RA/UY6IM CW 599 599 Russia
11 Aug-14 1957 14.032 DM200TSV CW 579 599 Germany
11 Aug-14 2002 18.071 SV2CQB CW 569 599 Greece
11 Aug-14 2008 18.075 OZ2TF CW 559 599 Denmark
11 Aug-14 2012 14.009 NN6T CW 569 599 AZ

All the DX contacts were quick exchanges, but the last QSO with Glen NN6T in Kingman, Arizona was the most fun. Glen and I actually had a QSO, and I promised to send him a photo of my operating position. He sent, “UR QRP is doing very good.” That was a relief because the bands seemed a bit shaky today.

Judy picked nine quarts of the most luscious blueberries I ever tasted. I had a great time making a few QSOs. Nice combination.

I made a quick trip to Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch with the family today. I only operated for 10 minutes, but worked two German stations. The view was extraordinary.

We took the tramway to the top with my daughter who is visiting from Hawaii. Judy made a picnic lunch for us and we sat on the east side of the mountain. I put up a 14 foot crappie pole that supported 15 feet of wire. I ran the KX3 at five watts.

DL2DX, Joe was calling CQ on 17M and I answered him. He was 599 and gave me a 569. I told him I was QRP and he sent, “FB with 5W.” We signed, and I was thrilled.

Next I switched to 15 meters and I heard another strong German station. DL5ANT, Ben was just finishing up a QSO and I called him. My signal wasn’t quite as strong to him, but he gave me a 559 and he was 579.

A large black cloud appeared, and we were sure it was about to rain. We packed up and got ready to leave, but the cloud passed to our north. We had a leisurely walk back to the cable car. I’m definitely coming back this summer. It’s a gorgeous spot to operate.

Dave Benson K1SWL and I did Field Day at Winslow State Park part way up Mt. Kearsarge. We only operated for 3 hours, but we had a fantastic time and worked stations in Washington, Oregon, California and New Mexico among many others.

Our view was the best!

We met at 11:00 am at the gas station in Wilmot Flats. Then we headed up the Kearsarge Valley Road toward the mountain. We weren’t sure what to expect… but we really lucked out. We had a spot all to ourselves at the end of a small field. We had suitable antenna trees on all sides, and hardly any bugs. A slight breeze kept us cool most of the time.

I put up an inverted L with 65 feet of wire. It went up about 30 feet and then over. I used the earchi.org 9:1 unun. The KX3 tuned perfectly on 15 meters.

Dave used a K2 with a resonant 20 meter dipole up about 35 feet. He fed it with coax and didn’t need a tuner.

We operated with solar charged batteries using Dave’s call (K1SWL) as 2B battery. Remarkably, we didn’t interfere with each other at all. A few keying remnants was all I could hear. Dave got a very slight bit of hash now and then.

Here’s Dave testing his setup before the 2:00 pm gun.

We feasted on freshly picked strawberries and cookies in between contacts. (thanks Judy!) It seemed to us that activity was down this year, but maybe it was just band conditions.

I started out using 9 AA cells with the KX3 at three watts. I didn’t have any trouble making QSOs with this setup. I just wanted to see how it would work in a competitive environment. After 30 Qs, I switched up to five watts and a LiPo battery.

The park closes at 6:00 pm and we started packing up shortly after 5:00. (We’d had enough… How do these kids go all day and half the night?) Thanks for all the Qs… see you next year.

Judy and I made a quick Father’s Day bicycle excursion to Old Hill Village. It was a glorious day. Blue sky, windy, as clear as a day could be. I worked Italy, Slovak Rep., W1AW/0 in MN, Scotland, and Belarus… all on 17 meters.

We parked on the south end and rode our bikes north through the woods. A thrush sang a remarkable song as we passed a beautiful cove on the river. We stopped in a field about a mile in, and I tossed a wire into an old butternut tree. It’s a place I’ve stopped many times before.

I set up the KX3 at 5W to a 33 foot wire over the branch. I heard Fabio IZ8JFL in Italy right away. We exchanged quick 599s and I tuned around.

I sat in the grass right at the edge of the old road. There was enough wind to keep the mosquitoes away!

Here’s my log:

15 Jun-14 1940 18.080 IZ8JFL CW 599 599 Italy
15 Jun-14 1950 18.068 OM5XX CW 579 599 Slovak Rep
15 Jun-14 1953 14.030 W1AW/0 CW 599 599 MN
15 Jun-14 1956 18.080 GA3WUX CW 569 599 Glasgow
15 Jun-14 2003 18.086 EW1HI CW 599 599 Belarus

The view from my operating position was great. I gazed across a field on this side of the river toward Knox Mountain in Sanbornton where I often operate.

We stayed about a half an hour soaking in the sunshine and then headed home. Judy made a strawberry shortcake for Father’s Day!

This afternoon Tim W3ATB and I went canoeing on the Pemi. It was a perfectly stunning day. I worked Brazil, Italy and France from a small island in the river.

We started out at Profile Falls, a little south of Bristol in my aluminum Grumman canoe. We had a little less than eight miles to go to reach our take-out at Shaw Cove in Sanbornton.

The sounds of red wing black birds clucking from the marshy shore filled the air as we rounded the bend near Hill Village. A pair of ducks took off as we approached and flew south several inches above the water. The old bridge abutment came into view soon after.

The bridge led from Sanbornton to Hill before it was torn down in the 1940s to make way for a flood control area. We started looking for a suitable place to operate. We needed trees, and a breezy place where the mosquitoes couldn’t feed on us. We found it on an island around the next turn in the river.

We pulled the canoe up to the shore and tied it to a log. After jumping out, I tossed a line over an arching maple branch and pulled up a half wave wire for 20 meters.

I sat down on a log, which no doubt landed on the island during spring flooding, and set up the KX3. We had left an hour late and were a bit rushed. At first the band seemed dead, but I found a few strong stations. The first one I called was PV8ADI in Brazil. There was a pileup, and I was surprised when he answered me. We exchanged 599s and I tuned around some more. Here’s my log:

1 Jun-14 2208 14.026 PV8ADI CW 599 599 Brazil
1 Jun-14 2215 14.017 F6FZG CW 579 599 France
1 Jun-14 2222 14.012 IZ4BEZ CW 599 599 Italy
1 Jun-14 2223 14.001 I8GMG CW 559 579 Italy

We clambered back into the canoe and headed downstream for the final leg. The saturated colors of the early evening were dazzling. We started looking for Shaw Cove. It’s just around the next bend, I would say… but it wasn’t.

We found it finally… honestly we were relieved and a bit sad at the same time. We were both long overdue at home… but it was an adventure that will stay with us for a lifetime.