High Country CWT Tour

Well, high country for Wisconsin, anyway.  The Military Ridge bike trail follows the ridge west from Madison to Dodgeville.  Along the way, it passes Blue Mound, the highest point in southern Wisconsin.  Governor Dodge state park is one of my favorite campsites, an 80 km ride from my front door, so I rode out there Tuesday afternoon.  I figured a weekday just before a big holiday weekend would be a pretty quiet time in the state parks.  While there weren't many people around, I failed to consider the rate at which the grass has been growing after recent rains.

Operating Locations

Wednesday morning, I rode to a picnic area near the campsite to set up for the 13Z CWT.  It's up on the ridge, but not all that high.  It was pleasantly cool in the morning and, for some odd reason, the usual mosquitoes failed to show up.

13Z QTH

There was the usual picnic shelter.

13Z Operating Position

As usual, the fishing pole went up 16 paces away.

13Z Antenna

RBN reports looked pretty good on 40, but I didn't get time to check 20.

13Z RBN

Conditions were good, and things got off to a fast start, as I seemed to be getting out quite well.  At 1340Z, however, the first of the day's lawn mowers showed up, making it often very hard to hear the KX1.  Still, the final score was by far my best so far on the road.

13Z Results

After posting the score and packing up, I rode east toward Blue Mound, with a lunch stop in Barneveld.  Now, I know Blue Mound doesn't look like much, but it's a lot of work to pedal a loaded touring bike up there!  It's some 176 meters (577 ft) higher than the 13Z QTH, and there was a bit more climbing than that.

Blue Mound

19Z QTH

In any case, I got there in plenty of time to set up for the 19Z CWT.  RBN reports looked really good.  That was a bit surprising, except K9IMM, who is almost line of sight, because the top of Blue Mound is a big flat area, so all my ground reflections should have been long gone before reaching the edge.

19Z RBN

Unfortunately, as 19Z approached, like a swarm of angry hornets, the lawn mowers converged on the picnic area.  The whole hour was a struggle, though conditions were pretty good, as nearly as I could tell.  I did work several Europeans:  F5IN and F6HKA, as usual, and OK2RZ.  There may have been others drowned out by the roar.  I'd have given up, except for all the work of getting up there.  When it was all over, the log showed a disappointing 41 QSOs and 37 mults.

I've learned my lesson about doing the 03Z CWT outdoors, though at least there wouldn't be lawn mowers then.  After once again posting the score and packing up, I rode on home.  In the shack here at 03Z, there should be neither bugs nor lawn mowers!