Mid-February Hike 2010


Hanz, W1JSB, and I took a quick hike this morning.

15 meters was open and I got to test an MFJ Cub
I built a few weeks ago. We worked Florida, Germany
and Spain.




We started out at the Sanbornton dump and turned East on
a snowmobile
trail. There wasn't much snow and we were able
to walk along the trail
easily. About a half mile in we came to a
large field with a great
Southern exposure. There was plenty of
bare ground and lots of tall
trees. The ambient temperature was 31.
But it must have been close to 50 in
the sun! (Spring is not far.)

I built the MFJ Cub for 15 meters six weeks ago in anticipation
of
things to come. I knew the rig worked, because I had QSOs
with Hanz.
(3 miles away) But I couldn't test it out for real until
today.
15 meters was active yesterday morning and it was good again
today.


I put a 20 foot wire over a branch and fired up the Cub using the
T-1 tuner. I worked W5JBV in Florida with a 579 report.

Then we switched over to 20 meters using Hanz's FT-817 running
2.5 watts.



Hanz working Spain

On 20 meters I worked Gerd, DL8PG and received a 559 report.
Then
Hanz took the key and worked a station in Spain with a
good report.


The last few weeks have been too cold to do much outdoor
radio, so today's outing was a great relief. All it takes is a
little sunshine, a bit of warmth, some bare ground
and a QSO
to bring a little joy into late winter.