Spring at the Ashland Railroad Station
March 2018

Tim W3ATB and I operated at the Ashland Railroad Station this
afternoon. I worked Belgium, Germany and France with the KX3.



The old station is now a museum. It's closed for the winter and so is the rail line. It provided a dry
spot for us to operate this afternoon. I set up on the baggage cart under the eaves.



I tossed a line over a maple branch on the other side of the station and tuned the KX3 up on 20M.
The band was pretty dead. But Mike F5IN in France was just finishing up a QSO and I could copy
him easily. He gave me a 569 and we completed a good exchange.



I went up the band a bit and heard Fri DL4FDM in Germany. He gave me a
559. When I told him I was running 8W, he sent: "Wow! 8W and a wire.
That's great! UR peaking 579."

Before shutting down I tuned across the band a final time. John ON4UN was
very strong from Belgium and we exchanged reports. He gave me a 559 and
sent: "UR 8W FB here, Jim."

Meanwhile across the track, Tim was sitting on the steps of a caboose on
a siding. He was running the KX2 with a 30 foot vertical wire.



Stations were so sparse on 20 meters, he wasn't sure he could work anyone. But he heard me working
ON4UN in Belgium and called John as soon as I finished the QSO. Tim snagged him and had a
good exchange. The smile on his face showed his joy at making the contact.