Quick Outing to the Winnipesaukee River

Today my wife, Judy and I took a quick bike ride along the Winnipesaukee River. I stopped in a beautiful spot and operated for 15 minutes. I worked Macedonia, Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Italy.

spot

What a glorious summer afternoon. The fields and farm land engulfed us as we rode along the trail in the warm sun. We stopped across from a small pond and walked into the woods and sat down on some rocks right at the river’s edge.

river

I heaved a 33 foot wire over some branches and set up the KX3 on the rocks. I operated on both 17 meters and 20 meters. There were plenty of strong stations on both bands. Here’s my log:

7 Aug-13 1950 14.010 Z320G CW 599 599 Macedonia
7 Aug-13 1955 14.009 9A2AJ CW 559 599 Croatia
7 Aug-13 2000 18.068 OK2AN CW 579 599 Czech Rep
7 Aug-13 2001 18.083 9A2YM CW 599 599 Croatia
7 Aug-13 2005 18.072 IK2SND CW 599 599 Italy

rig

After making several QSOs, I packed up and got ready to head back. I’ve operated from this spot perhaps a half a dozen times. I’ve enjoyed it each time. I head up the hill to the bicycle and ride back.

up

Jim Cluett, W1PID, is a regular contributor to AmateurRadio.com and writes from New Hampshire, USA. Contact him at [email protected].

4 Responses to “Quick Outing to the Winnipesaukee River”

  • Mike VE3WDM:

    Good morning Jim, great to see the weather is just right for a bike ride and some radio time as well. Very good contacts for only 15 minute of operation!
    Mike

  • Ernest Gregoire, AA1IK:

    What are you using for a radial Jim? Admittedly I didn’t go to the low end of 20 meters today but stayed on 060 all afternoon. I didn’t hear diddely! I have a LNR end fed on 20 and a good hunch of coax for the ‘second half of the antenna’! My location isn’t very good here at the condo either. I do better in a park with the antenna in the clear.

    73 De AA1IK

    Ernest Gregoire

  • Thanks for the note guys. Ernie, I’m using a 33 foot wire with the earchi.org 9:1 unun with the internal kx3 tuner. There’s a 2 foot piece of coax between the rig and the unun. This combination has been working really well with the KX3. Band switching is easy too. vy best OM… Jim W1PID

  • Ernest Gregoire, AA1IK:

    Tnx Jim, I’ll make one of these up soon. The ability to hop from one band to the next without changing antennas really appeals to me.

    73
    de AA1IK

    Ernest Gregoire

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