When we lived in SoCal, we used to spend just
about every summer weekend at the Isthmus or
Emerald Bay (we had a Catalina 36 sailboat and
did the backstay antenna thing).
Wish Elecraft was around back then <g>
Ken
At 10:21 AM 7/28/2018, Wayne Burdick wrote:
Last week my family and I went to Avalon,
Catalina Island, off the coast of southern
California. What an awesome place! It feels like
a coastal tourist paradise in another country,
except that itâs just 26 miles from Long
Beach. Definitely a bucket-list item. To recover
from two days of gawking at beach scenery and
tapping generous libations, I set off on a 6
mile solo hike to take in the view from 1500
feet. And to sneak in a little stealth radio op.
From downtown Avalon I walked to the Wrigley
Memorial, then zig-zagged up the Garden to Sky
trail for 1.2 miles, where I was rewarded with a
vista to the north that includes another of the
Channel Islands. At this point I picked up the
jeep road for another half mile, heading east,
ascending even further to a gazebo overlooking
the Hermit Gulch campground far below. (The
trail down from here is very steep; if I ever do
it again, Iâll go the opposite direction.)
This gazebo was the perfect spot to break the
KX2 out of its tiny ES40 bag and deploy the
whip, which took all of 30 seconds. Aside from
the obvious (gorgeous WX, killer view, and the
joy of running 10 watts hand-held to an AX1 whip
on 15/17/20), I was blessed with both acoustic
and RF noise floors so low that I was reminded
of a minor tinnitus condition. No wind, no other
humans, the occasional cry of a hawk, and the
radio equivalent of a peaceful, easy feeling. I
could hear stations that were merely thinking
about transmitting. It would be tempting to
weave a tall tale about DX worked from this
idyllic overlook. Truth is I just listened for
awhile, marveling at how sparkling clean
everything sounded without the usual three coats
of RF grunge we often suffer at home. The noise
drops with any trip away from civilization, of
course, but this was exceptional. Itâs yet
another reason to get out of the shack. And why
we keep designing rigs like the KX2. 73, Wayne
N6KR
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