Beautiful Afternoon in Old Hill Village
September 2015

Judy and I rode our bikes in Old Hill Village. What an afternoon! 85F with a
stillness in the air that only late summer brings. I worked Italy, Croatia,
Tennessee and Spain.



We started out at Needle Shop Brook around 4:00 pm and rode north through upland
fields. The smell of fallen apples along the road gave a fragrance of early fall. Asters
and golden rod lined the old road. Now and then the dee dee of a blue jay broke the
silence. After riding a mile or two we settled down under a huge silver maple tree
at the side of the road.



I had brought the Mountain Topper and the 3 band Par Endfedz. I set it up as an inverted vee by tossing a
line over a low hanging branch of the maple and pulling up the middle of the wire. The far end was tied
to my bicycle. The near end at my pack.



IW2JWD, Mauro in Italy was calling CQ on 20 meters. He was very strong and he
answered me as soon as I called. We exchanged quick signal reports and I moved up
the band a bit. I had another quick exchange with 9A90IARU in Croatia. Then at
the bottom of the band I heard W4OEQ, Tom in Tennessee. He gave me a 579 and
again I tuned around a bit.

EA2IF, Guru in Spain was really booming in. I called him when he finished with another
station and he answered right away. Guru gave me a 569 and sent, "UR QRP 3W doing FB
UR signals peaking 579." Guru and I have had nearly a dozen previous QSOs, and it was
nice to hear him again. It's encouraging to receive a good report with only 3 watts.

After that we packed up for the ride back. These precious September days are so rare, so
glorious, I wish they would last for several more months.