Late Fall Hike to Shute Hill
October 2015

It was such a glorious day. We walked through a tunnel of gold and into
a wide open field to bask in the warm sunshine. I worked California,
Arizona, Hungary and Russia.



Many of the maple trees with their bright colors are bare now. The oaks
are showing their subdued reddish browns and the beeches their brilliant
yellows. And it's much cooler... 45F. Fortunately, in the sun it was nearly
70F. I tossed a line over a large oak on the edge of the field and pulled
up a 33 foot wire.



I used the KX3 and fed the vertical wire through a 9:1 unun. I started out on 15
meters. The first station I worked was NI6BB, the Battleship Iowa, now on display
in Los Angeles. My signal was pretty awful... a 229, but the operator was eventually
able to copy the full exchange. Then I worked W7GVE in Arizona. Ed gave me
a 549 and we chatted for nearly 20 minutes.



I switched to 17 meters for a quick QSO with Hungary. Joska, HA0EX  gave me a 339 but we completed the
exchange without trouble. I went to 20 meters. UE25R, a special event station in Russia, gave me a 599. He
was strong to me, so I think my signal there was credible.



The warm days are past. Back home, I carried the hammock and the summer table to the basement. Winter
is near.