I did much the same with my KX2 on Santa Cruz Island (part of Channel Islands, 20 miles off the coast of Ventura) two weeks ago. Definitely recommended.
73 de AI6KG On Sat, Jul 28, 2018 at 10:21 AM, 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 c...@murgatroid.com ______________________________________________________________ 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
