WA3WSJ: Camp-Run-A-MOC Part II

[WA3WSJ]

Hello again all!

As I said in part one, N7UN had decided to spend the night on the AT.
His Polar Bear QTH would be at around 1500' on top of the ridge where
the AT runs right past him. After hiking down the mountain to the den -
MOC, the four of us bears where hungry! We sat down to a hot meal
provided by Ed, K3YTR, of beef stew. About half way through the meal we
hear what sounds like Guy, N7UN, on the 2m HT? He tells camp that he's
coming into the den! I jokingly tell all, " don't worry - we'll find him
in the morning - he's probably dead by now anyway." We all have a good
laugh and tell him to come on in to the den for a hot meal.

Turns out Guy, N7UN, had tremendous wind. That was ok with him. He had
horrible rain - that was ok with him. He also had lots of ICE and that
was not ok with him! He placed rocks on his tent spikes to keep them in
the ground. He had headphones on for the wind, but the ICE was starting
to buckle his four-season tent and it took down his dipole.
With no radio, he called it quits and headed back down to the den.
Guy and myself hiked up to retrieve his dipole on Sunday morning.
We had wind gusts of 60 mph on Catfish Fire Tower. It was all you could
do to keep yourself from being blown off the tower. What was nice - a
beautiful sight on top of the ridge on the AT in the snow with sun! We
saw not a single foot print in the snow ahead of us that morning. It
just doesn't get any prettier than that!

As for radio stuff. On the ridge I used my K1 and fed it into my VBWFPA.
I worked around 18 people - mostly contesters on 20m and had around 11
states worked. John, NU3E, was there logging for me on a paper towel.
Yes a paper towel - I forgot my logbook so a pen and a paper towel made
do -hi! We just had to keep the towel dry. While operating on 20m, I
heard N7UN loud. So I figured why not give Guy a call. I called numerous
times, but no answer? Turns out I was trying to contact a ghost! It was
Guy's 7mhz second harmonic! So between this and Guy's experience on the
ridge that night, Guy is now nicknamed
"the ghost."
Back at camp I later had a ball Sunday night on 80m cw. I even had a
pileup going on 3.560mhz! It was great. I was there all by myself with a
pileup on my radio. I pulled the plug around 11pm and hit the sack for
some sleep.

Monday morning (1/16) brings yet another challenge. It try to collapse
my DK9SQ Pole, but it won't budge! It is frozen at every joint. Oh yes,
the temperatures at the den are single digits!  I take it down fully
extended and now blow hot air with my mouth over each pole joint. After
around a minute on each joint, the pole is finally collapsed. Before
anyone asks, I can't fit the pole in the cabin.
The coax is also very hard and won't bend much, but I get it rolled up
into what looks vaguely like a circle- hi! After some more clean up it's
a two hour drive home and here I am writing this email. Isn't life just
great!

Until my next adventure please remember - " Life is Short, So Enjoy!"

72,
Ed, WA3WSJ
Polar Bear # 2



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