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iBob Cunnings NW8L BB #10 |
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iThis year I returned to my favorite location, South Sandia Peak in the |
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iSandia Wilderness Area, overlooking Albuquerque, NM. The location was |
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iatop the long north/south ridge a few hundred yards south of the |
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isummit, at approx. 9600 ft. elevation. This is a nice location for an |
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iantenna, with the terrain dropping off sharply to the east and |
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iwest. It's a good 4 hour hike up the South Crest and CCC trails to get |
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ithere but it's well worth the effort. |
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iThe antenna this year was a simple dipole cut for 20m made from Radio |
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iShack speaker wire, terminated with a right angle BNC connnector. It |
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ican be extended for 30m and 40m operation but I never budged from 20m |
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ithis year. The "shack" was in a nice sheltered depression in the |
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ilimestone just below the ridgeline to the west, with a tarp providing |
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ishade. I used my 20/30/40 KX1 with autotuner. It was powered from a |
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ipack of 8 rather tired lithium disposable AA cells. Power out was |
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ionly a little over 2 watts on 20m. |
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iI started 30 minutes late but managed a total of 22 qso's - 14 BB and |
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i8 home stations, all on 20 meters. I wasn't chased off by afternoon |
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ithunderstorms this year so I kept going until the very end. Conditions |
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ididn't seem great and most signals were very weak, fading in and |
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iout. The band seemed short at first but toward the end it went longer |
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iand I was able to work N1EU/BB in NY and N4KGL/BB in FL. States worked |
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iincluded CA, ID, TX, UT, NM, WA, IA, GA, WI, IL, NY, FL. Thanks to |
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iall for another great FOBB! |
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The backpack |
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iAs always, I sure was glad to drop the pack when I got to the top. It |
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iwas going to be a long day so I had a lot of water in there along with |
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ieverything else. |
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The KX1 setup |
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iThis is the rig, my trusty KX1. |
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i |
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The antenna |
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iThe antenna, set up as an inverted vee, resonant on 20m. I brought |
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ionly the lower 4 sections of a 32 ft. fiberglass windsock pole which |
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iwas tied off to a scrub oak. In the picture the feedline runs off to |
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ithe right. The antenna is tied to to a piece of deadwood jammed into |
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ithe top of the pole. |
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i |
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The antenna kit |
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iThe antenna can be extended for 30m and 40m by tying on additional |
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ilengths of wire with nylon rope and connecting them electrically with |
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ithe automotive type blade connectors you see at the ends of the 20m |
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ielements in the picture. The extra lengths are in the bag but I |
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ididn't bother with them since I planned to operate single band. |
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The radio shack |
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iHere's the shack, under a Noah's Tarp in a notch in the limestone. |
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i |
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The view to the North |
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iLooking North toward the summit of South Sandia Peak. |
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The view to the South |
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iLooking south, with the Manzano mountains in the distance. |
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The view to the Northwest |
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iLooking northwest, across the Rio Grande valley, with Cabezon, a |
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ivolcanic plug, on the horizon. The ghost town of Cabezon is located |
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inear Cabezon, which is sacred to the Navajo. |
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The view to the East |
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iLooking east, as I was coming down off the ridge after FOBB was |
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iover. A thunderstorm fired up over the San Pedro mountains but it |
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ifizzled out before long. |
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iFor the Sandia Mountains "medallion tree" hunters out there, here are |
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iyet more examples I found along the South Crest trail on the way |
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idown. Rather than take the CCC Trail shortcut I followed the long and |
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iwinding South Crest trail all the way down. You must follow the "old" |
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itrail section through the Ponderosa groves to see some of these |
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imedallion trees. All told, going down this way adds an hour to the |
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ihike butat least it's not as brutally steep as the more direct CCC |
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iTrail. Here is the Paul Revere's Ride tree... |
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The Paul Revere's Ride tree |
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A closeup of the medallion |
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iGermination date is 1774, but Paul Revere's famous ride took place in |
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i1775. Close enough. |
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1st Fountain Pen Tree |
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iThis is the 1st Fountain Pen Tree... |
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A closeup of the medallion |
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iGermination date is 1780, which I suppose was the year in which the |
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ifountain pen was invented. This tree is at a point where the trail |
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imakes a sharp turn and it was marked on two sides when the trail was |
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iblazed long ago. |
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Joan of Arc Birth Tree |
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iThis is the Joan of Arc Birth Tree... |
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A closeup of the medallion |
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iGermination date is 1413, about when Joan of Arc was born. This is a |
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ivery old tree! |
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iI recently ran into another seeker of Medallion Trees on the Pino |
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iTrail in the Sandias. It's nice to see others who are interested in |
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ilocating them and sharing info. There are upwards of a hundred of |
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ithese trees in the Sandia Wilderness but they are rarely noticed and |
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iremain somewhat of a mystery. |
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