WB3AAL PB Sprint/Hunt Jan. 14 Report

[WB3AAL]

Hello,

 I arrived at the WB3AAL and NK8Q Polar Bear operating site around 17:30
UTC, Mark arrived a few minutes before I did. After I drove back the road I
seen Mark and we chatted for a little while about the antenna setup
conditions. Mark was going horizontal and I was vertical with K2's so we
were good to go.

 The temp. was in the mid 40's and it was an overcast day. The fog rolled in
and it quickly went out of the area. Looked real weird, at times I was had
to see where Mark was sitting when the fog rolled in.

I hate operating out of a car, I always forget something. This time I forgot
my mounting PVC for the vertical. I had a four foot ground rod that I
pounded into the ground about 2 feet. Then I wrapped electrical tape around
the top and about 8" down, I made it the same size as the ID of the fishing
pole. The pole slipped over and worked very nice. I took the ground rod and
attached a wire and clipped it to the radial on the antenna. I also picked
up the wrong cable for my laptop to key the K2, I took the serial port
instead of the parallel port cable. So I used the memories on the K2 for
messages and CQ'ing.

 I started out on 15 meters calling CQ around 18:10 UTC but I did not work
anyone. I heard a lot of signals on CW and SSB but I could not raise anyone.
So I went to 20 meter SSB. I worked 6 stations and they all gave me good
reports from a 57 to 59 + 20 dB over. Then when the sprint started I worked
3 stations on 7.109 MHz, 3 stations on 10.109 MHz, one on 7.108 and then my
last one on 14.064. So I made a total of 14 QSO's from the Appalachian Trail
with a total of 8 QSO's during the Sprint. I did work one Polar Bear 2
times, I found Mark de NK8Q on the bands.  :-) I did listen around for a
while on 40, 30 and 20 meters for other PB's but I had no luck. I did pick
up two more States and a new country. I work someone in MS and in AK. Yep, I
worked Alaska from the AT. He was my last QSO for the day I could have done
a back flip when I worked him on 20 meters. He came back to my CQ and I just
could not believe it. Happy Dance!!!! As I was sending my information to the
AK station I looked at my antenna. With 30 MPH winds the tip of the antenna
was about 5 to 8 feet off the ground. He copied everything. The car was even
shaking from the wind. You should have heard the wind howling through the
Microwave tower that was there. I had to get out a few time to fix the
antenna, the wires kept coming off the connections. I also worked a P43
station in Aruba and he is from PA.

 By the time 5 PM rolled around the temp was down to 32' and it was snowing
and sleeting. Mark and I decided to call it a day and get something to eat
and drink.

 Next year the sprint will be on a week night, no contest then.  ;-)

72 and Thanks,
Ron Polityka
WB3AAL
Polar Bear #1
www.wb3aal.com
www.n3epa.org


_______________________________________________
Elecraft mailing list
Post to: [hidden email]
You must be a subscriber to post to the list.
Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.):
 http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft   

Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm
Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com