Grant County CWT

For my first bicycle portable CWT operation of the season, I chose a ride in Grant County, in the far southwestern corner of Wisconsin. To the west, the county is bounded by the Mississippi River valley. Just across the river is Iowa. The tops of the bluffs can be 150 meters above the river. On one of them is Nelson Dewey State Park, just west of Cassville, which should have been a good place for an antenna.

I arrived Monday afternoon, and Tuesday I set up the antenna just to check things out. Normally, I use the 40 meter end fed half wave only on 40 and 20, though I've used it on 80 with some longer radials and the internal KX2 tuner. But when I heard that N9MM was going to 30 meters, I found that it worked quite well on that band. That in spite of the fact that the external tuner is really only designed to match the high impedance of a half wave multiple, and I didn't bother with the longer radials.

Mississippi River Overlook

Nelson Dewey State Park Site

The only spot in the park suitable for a CWT is a picnic area with a great view of the river. Unfortunately, there are lots of trees, which not only make it tricky to get the 40 meter half wave up, but seem to soak up a lot of RF.

Nelson Dewey State Park

Even with the 11 meter fishing pole, it was tough to thread the wire between the branches. While the wire wasn't touching anything, the results were disappointing. 

Nelson Dewey State Park Antenna

Nelson Dewey RBN Reports

In spite of that report from the VK4CT beacon on 20, a mere 37 QSO's was all I managed to make. I got more mosquito bites than that. Sure, it was a low speed CWT, but still....

Nelson Dewey Operating Position

Nelson Dewey

After posting that meager score and packing everything up, I rode the hilly 50 km to the town of Lancaster. The town sits on top of a ridge but, like many ridge-top towns in the area, it's quite hilly, with several gullies running through it. On my way to Nelson Dewey, I had checked out several possible operating locations. What looked like a great spot by the fairgrounds, unfortunately, was too close to a power line. The city park spot was part way down in a gully, but fairly open. When I arrived Wednesday, I checked out a small park by the library, but the wire would have had to go over a driveway, which would have guaranteed that a garbage truck would have come by in the middle of the CWT. So, I had to settle for the park in the gully. At least there weren't as many trees around as at Nelson Dewey.

Lancaster Park Shelter

Lancaster Antenna

Lancaster Antenna

The antenna went up easily enough, and the RBN reports on 20 didn't look bad, but the only report I got on 40 was from AC0C, who must have a really low noise level.

Lancaster RBN Reports

This time, only 33 QSO's ended up in the log.  A lot of loud stations couldn't hear me at all. Conditions weren't that bad, but antennas in gullies just don't work very well.

Lancaster Operation Position

All in all, still a fun time, thanks to some very good ears out there. In spite of a few QLF moments on my part, the KX2 was a pleasure to use. The receiver sounds almost as good as the K3 I have at home. I'm still logging on paper, as there still doesn't seem to be an iPhone app that can do it, and a real computer is way too heavy for bicycle touring.

I'll be doing some more of these operations, hopefully from better locations.

Having learned my lesson about battling the bugs at 03Z, I did that one from back at home.