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I took a quick hike on Shute Hill today. I worked Florida, Greenland, and Madeira Island.

Most of the leaves have fallen… and it’s gotten pretty chilly. It was 46F today. But it was still a nice day to get out for a short hike. I went to Shute Hill and headed for Will Ellis’s back field.

I threw a 30 foot wire over an oak tree at the edge of the field and sat down. The thermometer read 60F in the sun. I ran the KX3 at 5 watts and used the 9:1 unun and the internal tuner. By this afternoon 10 meters had become quiet. So I started out on 12 meters and heard N4FNG calling CQ from near Tampa. Al was a solid 579 and he gave me the same. He was also running 5 watts… we chatted for 20 minutes. Then I went back to check out 10 meters.

I had a sip of tea from the thermos I brought and tuned around. There was OX3XR in Greenland booming in and working one station after another. Peter came back to me after several calls and we exchanged quick 599s. There a was long pileup waiting for him.

Here’s Peter’s QSL card which, I believe, shows his operating position:

In contrast… here’s the view from my operating position :

I switched to 17 meters and heard Cedric CT3FT calling CQ from Madeira Island. He was strong and there were no takers. He answered my first call. I was 559 and he was 599. “UR QRP is working very well,” he sent when I told him I was running 5 watts. As I was operating, a steady stream of leaves fell on the rig and I swished them away.

The forecast for tomorrow morning calls for a 20 percent chance of snow.

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