For the July 6-7 CWT, I rode to the campground at Elroy, about 110 km northwest of Madison. The campground there, on the Elroy-Sparta bicycle trail, is on top of a hill, accessible only by bicycle or on foot. It's a very steep 30 meter climb, but it looked like a great antenna location. I had the whole place to myself.
Rather than relying on trees and a slingshot, as I had previously, I brought an 11.5 meter carbon-fiber fishing pole. It collapses to about 80 cm, but still hangs out the back of the bike, though that doesn't cause any problems on the road.
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| Arrival |
I arrived Tuesday evening, but planned to put the antenna up in the morning, as I didn't want wildlife getting tangled up in it. Then there was the weather forecast:
There was a pretty wild thunderstorm during the night, but all that had moved out by morning.
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| Campsite |
I put up the pole and 21 meter wire in the morning. It was much easier than using trees, and went up in about 15 minutes. That was good, because I had to put it up two more times.
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| Antenna Support |
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Fishing Pole Base
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A quick RBN check showed that 20 and 40 were open, and the antenna seemed to work quite well.
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| Operating Position |
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| Station and Transport |
The 13Z CWT yielded 44 contacts and 31 mults. Then the antenna came down, all was packed away, and I rolled down the hill in search of breakfast. Unfortunately, the only cafe in town was closed due to "Electrical Issues". I'm pretty sure it wasn't due to RFI from my 5 Watts.
I rode back up the hill for the 19Z session, put the antenna up again, and fought off the deer flies to make 46 QSO's and 35 mults.
After dinner at a place on the edge of town, I rode up the hill one more time to set up for the 03Z session. It took some serious chemical warfare to keep the mosquitoes at bay, but by 04Z there were 44 QSO's and 36 mults in the log, for my best QRP bicycle mobile finish so far. I worked UR5MM on 20, and F6HKA on both 20 and 40. Taking the antenna down in the dark was a pain, but that fishing pole is fragile and expensive so I didn't want any deer tangled up in it.
While it's been fun, I'm not sure I want to battle the bugs in any more of these summer operations, so the next one may be in September.
Because I'm operating exclusively in S&P mode when QRP, I'm much more aware of the operating practices of some SO2R operators. Some of them are clearly ignoring callers replying to their CQ's, because they're busy on the other radio. That's really frustrating, when I know they should have heard me and they continue calling CQ. I'm going to be reluctant to waste my time calling these inconsiderate operators in the future. Some SO2R operators do not do this, and still post winning scores in all sorts of contests.
