DX from Swain’s Field
I went for a quick hike this morning before lunch to some remote farm fields not far from home. I worked France, Serbia, Kansas, Canary Islands and Russia. It was a beautiful, beautiful morning.
I started out on Hunkins Pond Road and hiked north up an old farm lane. Then I turned east on the old range road. This old road cuts straight through the woods for probably 8 miles. But just a short way up this road I came to David Swain’s hay fields on top of the hill. It’s a beautiful place. This view is looking east toward the Belknap Mountain range.
I set up the KX3 at the edge of the field and tossed my wire over a huge maple. I started out on 20 meters. The first station I heard was Bert F6HKA in France. He was working the Romanian DX contest. We exchanged 599s and a serial number. Next I worked a Serbian station YT1A also working the contest.
My third QSO was up the band a little with W0L. Jerry was working the Kansas QSO party and I sent 599 and NH. Then I listened around a bit to see how the other bands were doing. I finally settled on 17 meters where I heard a couple of strong DX stations.
EA8TL in the Canary Islands was calling CQ right at the bottom of the band. Jorge was very strong and we made a quick exchange. Up the band I heard Alex RK3ER also calling CQ. “Hello Jim,” he sent as he gave me a 559. He was 599 to me.
Now the sun was almost overhead and it was getting pretty hot in the field. I packed up and headed home for lunch after a final glance to the south.
Nice article. Glad you had a good time!
lot’s o fun. it seems the place to be is new hampshire
Jim, Great article about running qrp in the field. Hope to get back into running qrp from some of the Ghost towns here and in Iowa. 73, Richard,K0RDS