First bicycle portable trip of the year

For one reason or another, I’m a bit late starting my bicycle portable trips this year. For one thing, the weather hasn’t been great. I went to get my bike out a couple of days ago and found that it had a (not so slow) puncture. Amazon came to the rescue with a new inner tube!
So it was today that I set out with a rucksack on my back containing the FT817 and a 50MHz whip (thanks again Ian, MW0IAN). I had a great ride along the banks of the Thames, around 13 miles in total. I stopped a couple of times to get the rig out and have a listen. Typically, the band was flat – just the GB3RAL and GB3BAA beacons audible – which I guess wasn’t bad going with a whip, down at river level.
And even if there was no propagation, I love being by the river….

very good 73