Sounds awesome, a great solo expedition. But what did you work? Joe N9JR
> On Jul 28, 2018, at 12:21 PM, Wayne Burdick <n...@elecraft.com> wrote: > > Last week my family and I went to Avalon, Catalina Island, off the coast of > southern California. What an awesome place! It feels like a coastal tourist > paradise in another country, except that it’s just 26 miles from Long Beach. > Definitely a bucket-list item. > > To recover from two days of gawking at beach scenery and tapping generous > libations, I set off on a 6 mile solo hike to take in the view from 1500 > feet. And to sneak in a little stealth radio op. > > From downtown Avalon I walked to the Wrigley Memorial, then zig-zagged up the > Garden to Sky trail for 1.2 miles, where I was rewarded with a vista to the > north that includes another of the Channel Islands. At this point I picked up > the jeep road for another half mile, heading east, ascending even further to > a gazebo overlooking the Hermit Gulch campground far below. (The trail down > from here is very steep; if I ever do it again, I’ll go the opposite > direction.) > > This gazebo was the perfect spot to break the KX2 out of its tiny ES40 bag > and deploy the whip, which took all of 30 seconds. > > Aside from the obvious (gorgeous WX, killer view, and the joy of running 10 > watts hand-held to an AX1 whip on 15/17/20), I was blessed with both acoustic > and RF noise floors so low that I was reminded of a minor tinnitus condition. > No wind, no other humans, the occasional cry of a hawk, and the radio > equivalent of a peaceful, easy feeling. I could hear stations that were > merely thinking about transmitting. > > It would be tempting to weave a tall tale about DX worked from this idyllic > overlook. Truth is I just listened for awhile, marveling at how sparkling > clean everything sounded without the usual three coats of RF grunge we often > suffer at home. The noise drops with any trip away from civilization, of > course, but this was exceptional. > > It’s yet another reason to get out of the shack. And why we keep designing > rigs like the KX2. > > 73, > Wayne > N6KR > > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________ > Elecraft mailing list > Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft > Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm > Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net > > This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net > Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html > Message delivered to jer...@ameritech.net ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
