This past Sunday I spent an hour or so at the Fort Lee Historic Park in Fort Lee, NJ. The park overlooks the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge, the views are incredible. My last visit here was in March of 2010.
Every time I visit the park have to take a short walk on the path and check out the NY skyline and Hudson River far below. A married couple was being photographed, too bad it was cloudy out but warm temps near 60 degrees.
My radio set up was a Yaesu 857, LDG Z-11 antenna tuner, 20 & 40 meter ham sticks and a Werker battery. The big advantage of this location is the height which helps with the ham sticks. Started out on 40 meters with a few stations heard, a quick switch over to 20 meters had a big improvement, the band came alive with signals from far and near.
My two nice contacts were Chris, G5FZ, in England, and Dimitri, IN3ACQ, in Italy, SSB. Dimitri kept calling me Mr. Jim! My power out was 70 watts, sorry qrp fans, I tried calling cq a number of times with 10 watts out but no luck.
One thing about operating outside the home is describing your surroundings, much different than working stations from your home qth. The nice weather is on the way so I plan on getting out more with the radio.
A hike on a trail sounds like a future plan!
Hi Jim, I have been there too, but that was 10 years ago. A little power more is sometimes the difference between too be heard or not. ;-) Though, between 10 watts and 70 watts is hardly 2 S-points. Portable operation is always nice to do, I will work portable on 6 meter this summer. 73 Paul
ReplyDeleteOperating outdoors like this is a real hoot!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you were having a blast. 72's
Hi Paul, I decided to go with more power to make a few contacts. A better antenna would have help. Best Regards, Jim
ReplyDeleteHello Jim,
ReplyDeleteGreat to read about you outdoors experience. I take my FT-817 with me on holiday, to have great fun in CW with a wire antenna of 10 mtrs or 20 mtrs. 10 watts or 70 watts, use just the power you need. If I can use 500 mW it's OK, but if it take 5 Watts, I use 5 Watts. hi. I use Yuasa batteries of 12 V 4 Ah.
73, Bert PA1B
Hi John, Yes outdoor operating is the way to go!
ReplyDeleteRegards-Jim