Judy and I rode our bikes along the Pemigewasset River today. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. I worked Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, and Hungary.

We rode south from Old Hill and stopped at the old bridge to Sanbornton. It was nearly 80F with an unbelievable stillness in the air. Brown, curled-up leaves covered parts of the old road and crunched beneath our bike wheels. The apple trees along the way have begun dropping fruit. Judy stopped to pick up some apples. The road was lined with asters.

I stopped at a huge pine tree a couple of miles down the road. I tossed my wire nearly 40 feet over a branch and sat on some moss. I used the KX3 and a 33 foot wire.

The bands were good. I worked eight stations. Here’s my log:

23 Sep-17 1935 14.014 LZ100SK CW 599 599 Bulgaria
23 Sep-17 1943 18.086 IK5ZWU CW 439 579 Italy
23 Sep-17 1947 14.019 HB0/DL5YL CW 559 589 Switzerland
23 Sep-17 1950 14.028 HA60KNA CW 579 599 Hungary
23 Sep-17 1955 14.030 W5FMH CW 599 599 TX
23 Sep-17 1957 14.032 VE4RAC CW 599 599 MB
23 Sep-17 2002 10.117 W8IX CW 549 599 IND

Today was a perfect day for getting outside and making a few radio contacts. At this time of year, I can count the days like this on one hand. I wish they would never end.

Judy and I hiked up Rattlesnake Mountain overlooking Squam Lake this afternoon. It was gorgeous! And… I worked St. Pierre and Miquelon, Belgium and Florida.

The hike is pretty simple… about 40 minutes. Huge rock ledges cap the peak at about 500 feet above the lake. It was sunny and about 72F. A perfect day for an outing.

I set up on a northern ledge and tossed my line into a stubby pine tree that was about 25 feet above the rock. I had a sloper.

I started out on 30 meters and heard FP/G3ZAY on St. Pierre and Miquelon. These two French islands sit off the coast of Newfoundland… a favorite for small dxpeditions. I was thrilled to work them from Rattlesnake Mtn. because I’d been trying unsuccessfully for a couple of days from home. We exchanged quick 599s and I switched to 20 meters.

As I tuned across the band I heard Bernie KB4JR calling CQ from Florida. He gave me a 559 and we chatted for a few minutes before signing. A little farther down the band John ON4UN was calling CQ from Belgium. He was strong as always and we had a quick exchange. I told him I was QRP on a mountain top and he wished me well.

Judy and I had a snack before packing up. Judy got a quick photo as I enjoyed the view a final time before heading down.

Summer is over and we’re back to work full time. My much anticipated “Antenna Summer” ended rather uneventful. The weather was mostly to blame: it was either too hot to work outside (I burnt myself while working on the metal roof), too wet (two typhoons and a tropical storm passed) or too windy (“Wind! The thing feared most by ham radio operators and stamp collectors”). The only thing I could do was to prepare and prepare more. There are three antennas projects in the pipe-line now, but I still haven’t found the opportunity to put them up. Sigh!

The only antenna project which I could finish indoors was my big loop for medium- and longwave. I started this more than a year ago, but the first iteration was a size too big to be sturdy enough to withstand the strong winds here in Taiwan. A second -smaller- one was build, but not finished before last winter, so I shelved it. When I took it out I found that the wooden spreaders had split due to moisture and the old surplus wire had snapped in several places. Even several coats of lacquer can’t prevent wood from decaying here in the sub tropics, so it was back to the drawing board.

I pulled out my wallet and bought new, thicker wire and PVC pipe for new spreaders. I made a special vice to hold the PVC pipe, templates for the holes and rolled up all of the 180 meters of wire on an old garden hose reel. Being well prepared pays off because I already have half of the loop windings in place. I won’t be able to finish this antenna this summer, but it will be finished this fall.

Currently there are no typhoons heading our way and the temperature has gone from scorching hot to very hot, so the prospects look good. But that leaves me with a conundrum: should I call my next installment on antenna improvement “Antenna Fall” or not?

There is a certain fragrance. The colors are shifting. The air is still except for the sound of crickets. It’s early fall on the Pemi. I stop at a bend in the dirt road and check out the giant pine tree for antenna possibilities.

I toss a line over an arching branch and pull up my 33 foot wire. I set up the KX3 on 20 meters. Now the sound of Morse mingles with the sound of crickets. Stations from Washington operating in the Salmon Run event are calling CQ.

I work six stations in a row and then switch to 30 meters. I call Jerry WA4FQN in TN. He gives me a 559 signal report and we chat for a while. Here’s my log:

17 Sep-17 1908 14.045 W7LKG CW 599 599 WA
17 Sep-17 1910 14.045 K7GS CW 599 599 WA
17 Sep-17 1911 14.052 N7KE CW 599 599 WA
17 Sep-17 1912 14.047 W7VXS CW 599 599 WA
17 Sep-17 1913 14.047 WC7Q CW 599 599 WA
17 Sep-17 1927 14.041 K7RI CW 599 599 WA
17 Sep-17 1928 10.121 WA4FQN CW 559 599 TN Jerry

You cannot imagine how precious these days are. They are the fleeting days of warm weather in New Hampshire. The hills and valleys soon turn to gold and orange and red. We are in a twilight zone before the cold of winter. The world is ours…. for a while.

Yes, the headlines read, “FCC OPENS 630/2200 METERS TO AMATEUR USE AS OF OCTOBER 16, 2017; PRE-REGISTRATION REQUIRED.”

The FCC has authorized amateur radio use of the 630 and 2200-meter bands, effective October 16, 2017, providing registration procedures have been followed and no objections are received within 30 days.

The PLC (Power Line Communications) database is live and hams may begin registering immediately. They may begin operating on 472 kHz (630 meters) and 137 kHz (2200 meters) as early as October 16 if they register today and receive no objection in the next 30 days. Hams may not operate on the bands without going through this process.

Please fill out the UPC Form, today, to register your station, even if you don’t have any plans on transmitting on these new bands.

It is imperative that all amateurs register, even if they don’t plan to use these bands in the near future, as the FCC rules prohibit UTC (the Utilities Technology Council) from deploying PLC in these bands closer than one (1) kilometer from registered stations. Registration now will protect your ability to use our new MF/LF bands in the future.

News report link.

This past Thursday(well it was released last Thursday anyway), I had the privaledge of talking with Bill Stearns, NE4RD, about the Jamboree On The Air/Jamboree On The Internet (JOTA/JOTI) that is coming up next month.

If you don’t know what JOTA/JOTI is, it is an annual event put on by the Boy Scouts of America in the month of October. It allows scouts from around the world to get on the radio and talk to other scouts from all over the globe, propagation permitting of course.

To learn more, check out my episode this week at http://we.everythinghamradio.com/podcast/86