Pedestrian Mobile from Mt Galbraith, Golden, Colorado
On Friday March 31, 2006 I
hiked up to a nearby mountain and operated QRP pedestrian mobile. I
used my FT-817 and a 20-foot end-fed half wave antenna.
Below are two photos of the area. After that follows a brief report on the day's activity.
Mt Galbraith as seen from my front
yard above the neighbor's house
Looking
north toward my home QTH and my mountaintop pedestrian mobile location.
I began the day on 17 meters. My first contact was with Ken, WB9QDL,
about 20 miles away and mobile. Then several East Coast contacts
followed. At 2245 Zulu
I heard the familiar call JA1CG. It was Haru in Japan. We had talked
several times before, and this time he gave me a 57 report.
A couple QSOs later I was talking to Bob, KC2MWA in Connecticut. As I
passed on my 73 and said goodby, I was immediately called by Carlos,
LU2NI in Argentina.
I reported his signal as 57 and he returned a 54 to me. Four minutes
later I finished with Carlos and again heard another familiar
call: JH1OCC. It was Yuu in Japan.
Yikes! Back-to-back DX hearing my QRP signal. And so near the bottom of the solar cycle.
At 0000Z I turned off the radio, replaced the eight rechargeable AA
batteries and switched the antenna to 20 meters. The sun would soon set
so it was time to begin
heading down the mountain. I was a hundred feet below the summit and
calling CQ when Scott, N9WDH/mobile in California replied. Then Ralph,
N7KGA near Seattle.
They were both on the other side of the mountain from me. About halfway
down I worked YN2N, Octavio, in Nicaragua, followed a few minutes later
by V31SF,
Marcos, in Belize. A final chat with Alan, W4LGH in Florida and I was
at the bottom of the mountain. There are power lines between there and
the 3/4-mile walk to
home, so off went the radio, and down went the big antenna.
Photo by Dave Miller
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