KX3 in the Appalachian Mountains

[Steve KC8QVO]

I took my KX3 with me this weekend in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

[IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/KC8QVO/Backpacking%20Stuff/IMG_0478.jpg[/IMG]

http://s118.beta.photobucket.com/user/KC8QVO/media/Backpacking%20Stuff/IMG_0478.jpg.html

The picture is catching the sun rise at the Clingmans Dome parking area just before we hiked to the observation tower to start our trek along the Clingmans Dome portion of the Appalachian Trail (a bit over 3 miles). Along with me was a Yaesu hand mic, Sony earbud headphones, a jumper dipole (40-6m), and a solar panel to keep the NiMh AA batteries up. The whole radio set up was right about 5lbs. This is a world of difference from my FT-857D (about 15lbs trail weight without the solar panel).

There was a contest going on this weekend and the CW portion of 40 meters was clogged with SSB so I wasn't able to make any contacts. The next morning I didn't have a whole lot of time to get the radio going. We ate breakfast and broke camp.

We started out on top of Clingmans Dome and hiked down Sugarland Mountain. We were going to hike back up to Clingmans over the next two days, but I hurt myself and we were only 3000 feet in to a 4000 foot decent (then still had to make it all back up) so we called it quits and hiked back out to the road and got a ride. We dropped 3000ft in about 12 miles (a lot of it was up and down, not all down) the first day and 2 miles down another 1000ft (some up and down too) on the second day.

Steve, KC8QVO

[Bill Gerth]

Hi Steve,

You were hiking in one of my favorite spots.  You might want to check  
out the Summits On The Air program (www.sota.org.uk).  There are a lot  
of SOTA summits in the Smokies.  Clingman's Dome where you were is a  
ten (10) point summit and you would have had tons of callers had you  
called CQ SOTA on 14.061 MHz or 10.115 MHz.  SOTA activity is really  
blossoming in the US and it is hugely enjoyable.  There is an  
excellent system of spotting those activating SOTA summits, including  
an automatic link to the Remote Beacon Network.  I activated three  
Arkansas summits back in September with my KX3 and was amazed at the  
pileups.

Thanks for your report!  Makes me want to jump in the car and head for  
our favorite base camp near Gatlinburg.

73,

BILL GERTH, W4RK
Jefferson City, MO
First Licensed 1954
CWOPS #459
4 States QRP Group
KX3 (S/N 112)

On Oct 28, 2012, at 7:44 PM, Steve KC8QVO wrote:

> I took my KX3 with me this weekend in the Great Smoky Mountain  
> National Park.
>
> [IMG]http://i118.photobucket.com/albums/o117/KC8QVO/Backpacking%20Stuff/IMG_0478.jpg 
> [/IMG]
>
> http://s118.beta.photobucket.com/user/KC8QVO/media/Backpacking%20Stuff/IMG_0478.jpg.html
> <http://s118.beta.photobucket.com/user/KC8QVO/media/Backpacking%20Stuff/IMG_0478.jpg.html 
> >
>
> The picture is catching the sun rise at the Clingmans Dome parking  
> area just
> before we hiked to the observation tower to start our trek along the
> Clingmans Dome portion of the Appalachian Trail (a bit over 3  
> miles). Along
> with me was a Yaesu hand mic, Sony earbud headphones, a jumper dipole
> (40-6m), and a solar panel to keep the NiMh AA batteries up. The  
> whole radio
> set up was right about 5lbs. This is a world of difference from my  
> FT-857D
> (about 15lbs trail weight without the solar panel).
>
> There was a contest going on this weekend and the CW portion of 40  
> meters
> was clogged with SSB so I wasn't able to make any contacts. The next  
> morning
> I didn't have a whole lot of time to get the radio going. We ate  
> breakfast
> and broke camp.
>
> We started out on top of Clingmans Dome and hiked down Sugarland  
> Mountain.
> We were going to hike back up to Clingmans over the next two days,  
> but I
> hurt myself and we were only 3000 feet in to a 4000 foot decent  
> (then still
> had to make it all back up) so we called it quits and hiked back out  
> to the
> road and got a ride. We dropped 3000ft in about 12 miles (a lot of  
> it was up
> and down, not all down) the first day and 2 miles down another  
> 1000ft (some
> up and down too) on the second day.
>
> Steve, KC8QVO
>
>
>
> --
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