Total QSO's: 14 Bumblebee QSO's: 8 Score: you mean we're keeping score? RIG: KX1 #1048 ANT: 31' wire w/ 17' counterpoise PWR: solar panel feeding 7Ah gel cell QTH: Fresno Dome, Madera County, CA grid DM07fk, 7,000 ft AMSL WX: Clear, sunny, light breeze, about 80F OPR TIME: 3h CONDX: worse than last year
Last year was my first time as a Bee. I wanted to operate from a high QTH near our vacation cabin south of Yosemite, but we had company with us. So I walked all of 30 yards down the yard to where I could reach our big cedar tree and threw a wire up. I didn't do very well. We're in a valley (they don't call the area Cedar Valley for nothing), so we have about -1000' HAAT in pretty much every direction except south. Post-contest reports indicated that my signal was getting out as far as AZ, but the responses weren't making it in... I was determined to find a better place this year :-) When my patient XYL heard about my plans to operate from Fresno Dome (about 7000' in "southern Yosemite"), she allowed as how it would be nice to make it a picnic. So we packed for a somewhat higher comfort level than I would have myself (i.e., we took camp chairs and a cooler of "adult beverages" and sandwiches!) and headed out at our usual Sunday pace. It's a 45 minute drive up rutted Forest Service roads, followed by an easy 15 minute hike. We arrived at the trailhead just before 11am (1800z), an hour after the contest started. It was about 20 degF cooler than at our cabin, which was a welcome change. A few tosses got my 31' wire "high enough" into a Jeffrey pine. I set up in the sun so the solar panel had something to work with, dug out my earphones and hooked up the KX1's paddle. Quickly heard and worked 3 or 4 other /BB stations on 20 ... and then all I heard was those four stations! Well, I heard them working other people, but I couldn't hear who they were working. I did hear one KL7, but so faintly that I never got the complete call, and he certainly didn't hear me. I heard Randy K7TQ well, but he didn't hear me, either. The second hour was almost a complete goose-egg. I tried setting up the PAC-12. It gave me a couple dB better receive, but wasn't radiating at all - the ground there is sandy and dry where it isn't rock, and that's pretty much the performance I expected. I really have to make up some tuned radials for that thing. I moved my chair to reorient the wire by 90 degrees and got a few more dB signal (which meant that I was getting about S3 signals now!) and finally worked NG7C. Time to switch to 40m. Got a run of 5 contacts, wow, this is getting exciting! But that was about all... Total of 14 Qs, 8 BBs, 5 states. Better than last year's 12 Qs in worse conditions, so I guess that's progress. It was a beautiful QTH with nice views of the Central Valley, but blocked to the north and somewhat to the east ... I'll try somewhere else next year. And it's time to go back to experimenting with other wire antennas, like a W3EDP or OCF dipole. I think they're a little more fussy to set up (I have to get better at throwing, too) but should give better results! 73 de chris K6DBG _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] 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
