Colorado Trail - Segment 6B


On this segment of the trail I took my k1 and the 83' long wire (W3EDP antenna).  The antenna worked great.  I hadn't used it for a year or more but I just threw the sandwich bag with the wires into my pack and crossed my fingers.  I carry the 83' wire, a 16' counterpoise and a 33' counterpoise.  All I do is toss the 83' wire up into a tree.  I can have it zigzagged up and down and all over the place and the k1 antenna tuner loads it very nicely.  It DOES seem to work better if I try to get the wire that is closest to the rig up in the air the highest.  So... I find a tree close to the rig and throw the wire up over a branch in that tree.  Then continue to run the wire around in tree branches nearby.  If I just throw the wire up in a tree 80 ft away from the rig, the end of the wire is up high but its closer to the ground near the rig and I don't think that works as well.  It seems like I can tune 3 of the K1's four bands (15/20/30/40) with either of the counterpoise wires but I can't get all 4 with either one.  So... I take both and I can easily load all 4 bands.  I was really happy with performance... I didn't work a lot of contacts but they were all nice solid QSO's.

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All times logged in Mountain Daylignt Time (approximate)

NØSXX Log

July 10

BAND	TIME    CALL    MYRST   HISRST  NAME    QTH
30	21:15	WB0CFF	559	589	Carl	Belle Plaine, MN
	Short qso.. qsb

July 11

BAND	TIME    CALL	MYRST   HISRST  NAME    QTH
20	19:30	N8NM	339	569	Steve	Nr Detroit, MI
	HB rig @2 watts & g5rv @ 30ft, 73 deg
20	19:45	N5IB	449	569	Jim	Baton Rouge, LA
	K2 running 10W to horizontal loop
30	20:35	AA9AA	579	589	Mike	Manitoube, WI
	38 special @5W, exchanged lots of info
40	21:00	W7GFN	579	579	Chuck	Lookout, CA
	ts440s @100W and carolina windowm