Early Fall on the Pemi
October 2012

It was a perfect day. 70F and stunning. The leaves are just
beginning to fall. Judy and I rode our bikes in Old Hill on
the Pemigewasset River. I worked Italy, the Netherlands,
New York and Georgia.



We rode south from Needle Shop Brook for a couple of miles and stopped at a sunny spot along the
roadside. I set up a 20 meter dipole between two trees on either side of the road. The RG-174 dropped
right down where I set up the little QCX Mini.



I started out at 14.060 and as soon as I turned on the rig, I heard KN7D in
NY calling CQ POTA. He gave me a 449 and we completed the exchange.

I dropped down a few kHz and there was PG4I in the Netherlands calling
CQ. Jo was quite strong and he gave me a 539... that was strong enough
that we easily completed the exchange.

W4ED in Georgia was looking for SKCC numbers. We had a quick QSO and
exchanged numbers, names and QTH.

Next was IZ4VSZ in Italy. Mark was running 300 watts to a 3 element yagi
and was a strong 599. He gave me a 549 and sent, "Congrats for UR 4 watts
portable." I dropped down to 14.021 and heard another Italian calling CQ.
Alex IK4ALM sent a quick 599 and I packed up.

The little QCX mini performed perfectly with the little 18650 5v battery and
solar panel. I used the Baofeng USB dongle to step up the voltage to 10V.



Peak color is still at least a week away. But these last glorious days of fall
are priceless. I'll get out as often as I can.