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This afternoon I took a quick bike ride to the Winnipesaukee River that runs between Tilton and Franklin, New Hampshire. I worked Italy, Lithuania and Hungary. It was a wonderful outing with perfect weather. I headed straight for the river, but several boys were fishing in my favorite spot. So I set up in a field alongside the river.

I set up on 20 meters under a large white birch tree. This photo shows the view from my operating position. I was using the HB-1B at 4W with a half wave wire over a tree branch.

The first contact was with Daniele IK2SND. He gave me a 559 and he was a 599. Then I tuned up the band a bit and answered LY2J who was calling CQ. Pranas had a very hard time copying my call. I repeated my call but Pranas still missed a letter. My antenna was off about 5 degrees from vertical, so I decided to move the backpack and make the antenna perfectly vertical. As soon as I did that, Pranas copied my call and gave me a 519. He was 599. Once again it proves the importance of angle of radiation.  I moved  up to 14.062 and called CQ. I wasn’t expecting a call from Hungary! HA6OD answered right away and gave me a 599. Jozsef was also 599. When I told him I was QRP, he sent “FB UR QRP.” After operating for fifteen minutes, I packed up and walked about 30 yards to get a quick photo of the river.

These warm summer days are numbered. The crickets are talking about it. Some of the maples have already started to drop their leaves. This week we’ve had a few nights in the 50s. I want to get out as often as possible.