Blueberries and CW in Ashland
August 2015

Judy went blueberry picking in Ashland this afternoon. I went along and
played radio in a field next door. She picked 8 quarts of berries, and I worked
10 stations in the CWT sprint.



The hillside was beautiful. I walked down the treeline on the left and tossed a wire over a low
branch of a maple tree... maybe up 25 feet. I used the 40, 30, 20 LNR end fed antenna with
the KD1JV Mountain Topper at about 3 watts. I powered it with 8 solar charged AA cells.

I pulled up the center of the wire and used the water bottle to hold the far end about 2 feet
above the ground. The near end was attached to the backpack and connected to the radio.
I had a nice inverted vee.

I started out on 20 meters and worked 3 stations... WI, NC and NY. Then  I switched to 40.
40 was active and I worked another 7 stations. The exchange is fast in the CWT sprint.
Members give their names and numbers. Non-members (like me) give their name and state.
Here's my log. I looked up the calls on QRZ.COM because the QTH isn't part of a member's
exchange.

26 Aug-15 1936  14.040 NS9I   CW 599 599 WI 
26 Aug-15 1940  14.033 AD8J   CW 599 599 NC 
26 Aug-15 1942  14.026 K4RUM  CW 599 599 NY 
26 Aug-15 1945  7029   N4AF   CW 599 599 NC 
26 Aug-15 1946  7028   VE3MGY CW 599 599 ONT 
26 Aug-15 1949  7033   N8BJQ  CW 599 599 OH 
26 Aug-15 1950  7035   VE3KP  CW 599 599 ONT 
26 Aug-15 1952  7036   W3KB   CW 599 599 PA   
26 Aug-15 1955  7038   K3MD   CW 599 599 PA   
26 Aug-15 1959  7032   K7SV   CW 599 599 VA 



The little MTR sitting on my lap did a good job. I operated about 20 minutes and had
a great time. I was hoping to test the LNR antenna on 30 meters, but I didn't hear any
activity there.

Judy had just finished picking berries when the CWT sprint ended, so I packed up and
we headed home.