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iBob Cunnings NW8L |
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iThis year I operated near South Sandia Peak (in the Sandia |
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iWilderness Area, overlooking Albuquerque). The location was atop the |
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ilong north/south ridge a few hundred yards south of the summit, at |
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iapprox. 9600 ft. elevation. This is a nice location, with the terrain |
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idropping off sharply to the east and west, but requires a good 4 hour |
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ihike to reach. The antenna was a "coupled resonator" 40/20 meter |
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iinverted vee with balanced feedline. The apex at approx. 20 feet, |
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isupported by a 32 ft. telescoping fiberglass pole lashed to a small tree |
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iat the top of the ridge. The "shack" was in a nice sheltered depression |
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iin the limestone just below the ridgeline to the west, with a tarp |
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iproviding shade. I used my 20/30/40 KX1 with autotuner. It was powered |
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ifrom a 2 AH gel cell, charged by a 10 watt solar cell. |
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iI managed a total of 28 qso's - 21 BB and 7 home stations, all on |
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i20 meters, bees were heard buzzing despite rough conditions. After 3 |
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ihours a line of thunderstorms arrived from the west and I was forced to |
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ipack up and start back down since lightning makes operation impossible |
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iin such an exposed place, even if sheltered from the rain. Signals from |
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ithe western states were reasonably strong at first, but I heard few |
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istations east of the Mississippi. My only east coast QSO was with |
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iN3AO/BB in VA, but also worked K8DDB in MI and K4KO/BB in TN. Thanks |
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iall, it was a great time! |
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iThis year I brought along a camera, and had time to shoot a few pix |
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iafter setting up... |
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The KX1 setup |
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iThis is the rig, connected to the gel cell/solar charge controller combo. |
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iI like using the little self-powered speaker that plugs right in to |
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ithe headphone jack. |
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The solar panel |
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iThe solar panel was placed up above. The day started out with |
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ilots of sunshine. I'm told the limestone is courtesy of the |
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iPennsylvanian Era inland sea. |
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The antenna |
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iThe antenna is made from 64 feet of 450 ohm balanced line. One |
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iconductor is opened at the center and connected to the 300 ohm feedline, |
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iand serves as directly driven 40 meter dipole. The other conductor is |
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inotched out 15 feet in from each end to form a 20 meter dipole centered |
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iat the feedpoint, but not connected (the "coupled resonator"). The |
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ifeedline is 40 feet long and connected directly to KX1, which finds a |
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igood match on 30 meters as well as 20 and 40. |
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The radio shack |
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iThe shack was pretty cozy. Yes, it's well worth it to pack in the |
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ilawn chair - it's not that heavy anyway, compared to the water I had to |
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ibring up (there's more in the backpack). |
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The view to the South |
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iLooking South, in the direction of the Middle Rio iGrande Valley, |
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itowards Soccorro. Albuquerque is to the right, several thousand feet down |
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iin the valley. |
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The view to the North |
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iLooking northward, the summit of South Sandia Peak looms nearby. |
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iThe tarp served me well when the thunderstorms arrived. The aspen |
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iwoods to the left, at the bottom of the limestone bluff, are the haunt |
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iof mule deer. |
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A waterfall along the trail |
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iOne of the few waterfalls in the Sandias is found along the trail |
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ito South Peak. |
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iSee you next year! |
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