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i
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iBob Cunnings NW8L
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iThis year - to the desert for FOBB. The location was up on a mesa
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ioverlooking the Arroyo Bernalillito area of the Ojito Wilderness
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inorthwest of Albuquerque, NM. A narrow promontory juts out northward
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ifrom the main body of the mesa, with its head standing about 300 feet
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iabove the surrounding terrain at an elevation of 6100 feet. This is a
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igreat spot for a QRP station and provides a clear shot for signals to
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ithe west, north, and east.
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(IMG) West view of mesa image/jpeg
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iGetting up there isn't too difficult if you take your time. The
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ilower portion consists of steep debris slopes, and the uppermost portion
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ia sheer sandstone vertical wall. Fortunately a cleft in the sandstone
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iis located near the operating spot, marked by a gnarly old pinon tree
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igrowing out of the rock. A faint, intermittent trail provides a rather
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itortuous path from the base up to the cleft, and from there a little
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irockslide on the unstable slope of decomposed mudstone leading to the
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icaprock.
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i
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(IMG) The antenna image/jpeg
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iOnce on top I set up the antenna. It is made from 64 feet of 450
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iohm balanced line. One conductor is opened at the center and connected
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ito the 300 ohm feedline, and serves as directly driven 40 meter dipole.
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iThe other conductor is notched out 15 feet in from each end to form a 20
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imeter dipole centered at the feedpoint, but not connected (the "coupled
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iresonator"). The feedline is 40 feet long and connected directly to
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iKX1, which finds a good match on 30 meters as well as 20 and 40. The
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ifeed point was supported by a 32 ft. telescoping fiberglass windsock
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ipole, tied to a juniper tree. Orientation was North/South.
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(IMG) The KX1 setup image/jpeg
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iThe rig is my trusty Elecraft KX1, with a small self-powered speaker.
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iPower is about 3W on 20 m, 4W on 40 m.
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i
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(IMG) The solar power setup image/jpeg
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iPower was supplied by a 10W solar panel charging a 2AH gel cel.
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(IMG) The radio shack image/jpeg
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iNear the edge the caprock is broken up, and I set up the shack in
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ithis cleft under the juniper tree holding up the antenna mast, with a
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i"Noah's Tarp" for shade.
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(IMG) The view to the West image/jpeg
i
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iThe view to the West, with Cabezon, a volcanic plug, on the horizon.
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(IMG) The view to the North image/jpeg
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iTo the North, the mesa overlooks the area in the Ojito
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iWilderness where the dinosaur "Seismosaurus" was excavated. Less than a
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ihalf a mile in are some nice petroglyphs.
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i
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(IMG) The view to the East image/jpeg
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iTo the East is seen White Mesa, where gypsum is imined to make wallboard.
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iThe clouds were building as the day went on, as remnants of Hurricane Dolly
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iwere drifting in from the southeast.
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i
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(IMG) The view to the Southeast image/jpeg
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iLooking Southeast the main body of the mesa can be seen, and Sandia Mountain
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inear Albuquerque is off in the distance.
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(IMG) The radio shack before the start of FOBB image/jpeg
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iReady to go. Conditions were a little better this year, it
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iseemed. I made 46 QSOs, 42 on 20 meters and 4 on 40 meters. 29 were with
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ifellow BBs, and 17 with home stations. It was great to hear more home
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istations this year, thanks! 20 was the hot band, with some great signals
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i- N7OU, N5GW and K5OT come to mind as being strong at my location. Not
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iall were easy however, and I had to really strain to hear those which
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iwere fading in and out. I switched to 40 only at the tail end, even then
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isignals were quite weak here. 21 states were worked: MI, TX, IL, MN,
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iAL, CA, AR, MO, OR, OH, CO, WY, NM, FL, ID, KY, WA, WI, MS, VA, and GA.
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iIt was nice to work into the South, but I couldn't raise any stations in
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iNew England, although I did hear a few, very faintly.
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i
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iOnce FOBB was done, I packed up and headed down since I wanted to do
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ia little sightseeing in the area and take some pictures before driving home.
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(IMG) North side of the mesa image/jpeg
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iAt the bottom there is a tiny relic population of Ponderosa Pines,
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ileft over from better (wetter) times. They seem really out of place here.
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(IMG) Some old ruins image/jpeg
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iI hiked in about a half mile to the North, near the Seismosaurus site,
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iwhere there are some old ruins.
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i
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(IMG) Some petroglyphs image/jpeg
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iNearby are some petroglyphs, on horizontal rock at the edge of
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ithe Seismosaurus mesa, overlooking the Arroyo Bernalillito area. Human
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iarm, turtle, snake, sun, crescent moon, north star - it's the full catalog!
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(IMG) Petroglyph - hunter and prey image/jpeg
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iHere is an action scene, the Hunter and Prey...
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(IMG) Petroglyph - lizard? image/jpeg
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i... and here, a lizard?
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(IMG) The abandoned ranch house image/jpeg
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iOn the way out, a short side trip reveals an abandoned ranch
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ihouse, at the boundary between BLM land and the Zia Pueblo Reservation.
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(IMG) The road out image/jpeg
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iThe old ranch house is sited along an arroyo which crosses the main road here.
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iIt's a bit muddy from recent rains.
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i
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(IMG) A free range cow image/jpeg
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iSeismosaurus may be gone, but now the open range is roamed by New
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iMexico's new dominant megafauna, the beef cow. The fence separates BLM
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irange land from the Zia reservation in the background.
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i
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iSee you next year!
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