Camino de Santiago portable operation from Spain

[Scott Manthe]

Hi Elecrafters,

I'm not sure this is the right place for this, and if not, maybe some of
you can point me in the right direction for a more suitable place to
post, but I did talk to Wayne about this at Dayton this year. My wife
and I are going to do another leg of the Camino de Santiago next year
and I'm thinking of taking a portable HF rig, like the KX2 or KX3, with
me to operate while we walk. For those of you not familiar, the Camino
de Santiago is a pilgrimage route in northern Spain that people have
been walking since at least 812AD, and probably before that. These days,
people from all walks of life like to take on the challenge of walking
anywhere from 100 to 800 km. We walked 100 or so miles last year and I
thought it'd be cool to take a rig along and operate during stops along
the way next time we went.

My first question question is have any of you done a portable operation
similar to this and do you have any pointers? Secondly, do you think
there'd be any interest in this operation? Spain's not rare (we'd mostly
be in EA1), so I'm wondering if there would be many amateurs interested
in simply working the Camino for a commemorative QSL. We're walking, so
it's by necessity going to be QRP, so no big sigs and it might be a
challenge on both ends to work me. Any tips will be appreciated,
including operating/antenna tips, advice on operating in Spain or even
advice on the right forum to pose the question.

Thanks in advance and 73!

Scott N9AA

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[Ignacy]

That would be lots of fun. But hamming is for your own satisfaction.

Walking with weight is an issue so KX2 is better. I would take wires and perhaps a small collapsible pole. E.g., a 17ft pole that collapses to 1.5 ft and weighs 4 oz.

Years ago I hiked Pico de Europa in EA1 not far away from the trail and made a few CW contacts with KX1 by spreading antenna wires on rocks. KX1 is light but only 2 W.

Ignacy, NO9E

   

[Elecraft mailing list]

I worked from southern Spain back to GD with a KX1 running 4W from a pocket
battery pack using a 9m fishing pole and an "offset Y" 20m dipole made from
tv twin right into the banana splitter. For trekking long distances I would
go for a much smaller and lighter weight pole and an easier aerial to put
up. It's how you carry poles that make it manageable or just a pain. On 20m
you can run flat twin with little loss and it's easy to fold up into your
pocket.

David
G3UNA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ignacy" <[hidden email]>
To: <[hidden email]>
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2017 3:38 PM
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Camino de Santiago portable operation from Spain

> That would be lots of fun. But hamming is for your own satisfaction.
>
> Walking with weight is an issue so KX2 is better. I would take wires and
> perhaps a small collapsible pole. E.g., a 17ft pole that collapses to 1.5
> ft
> and weighs 4 oz.
>
> Years ago I hiked Pico de Europa in EA1 not far away from the trail and
> made
> a few CW contacts with KX1 by spreading antenna wires on rocks. KX1 is
> light
> but only 2 W.
>
> Ignacy, NO9E

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