DN65 a big 2 Meter morning

Just off Route 212 on my high perch at sunrise. A fantastic horizon in all quadrants.

A very nice 2 meter meteor scatter session this morning. I packed the truck the night before and left for this spot before sunrise. I was all set up and ready to go by 5:45 AM local. Logged were W8BYA (IN), WQ5S (TX), ND0B (ND), K5WE (OK), K7ND (WA), AA5AM (TX), NQ7R (AZ), WB0ULX (SD), KR7O (CA), KU7Z (UT), and N0KE (CO). As it was a travel day I had to stop with stations still to work.A fine morning's work  for 200 watts, 9 element Yagi, K3 and a generator.

The hills behind the truck are part of the Little Big Horn Battlefield, troops under Reno and Benteen fought there way up and managed to hold off the Cheyenne and Sioux warriors. Custer? Not so much - Last Stand Hill is about 2 miles to the right.

Windy and rainy most of the way up to Miles City (DN76ck). Nap time for me!

If I leave the part of the 5th wheel hitch off then I can bolt the base of the mast in..

DN65 Garryowen, Montana

Looking west over the top of the trailer.
 Nice day after nasty weather yesterday.
Fairly tight quarters here in the RV Park.

Six meter Es was non-existant yesterday so down with the 6M Yagi and up with the 2M version at sunset. 2M meteor scatter yielded KB7ME, KC6ZWT, AA7A, W7MEM, K7MAC, KS7S, WA7HQD, W9JN, and KE7NR. Six meter scatter added KD7DCR, N7EA, and N0LWF.

Off to see the Custer Battlefield for a bit, then back to see if 6M wants to open up.

Nice 6M opening after dinner, 50 stations worked.

Tomorrow on to DN76 at Mile City.

Delayed in Bozeman

We'll head to DN65 on Saturday, June 28th and be there by mid-afternoon. We'll spend two days there before heading on to DN76. A few things have kept us in Bozeman longer then expected..

The good news is that I received the new PL lock board from Elecraft for the internal 2 meter  transverter in the K3. It works as advertised.

VHF to HF for W1AW/7

We stuffed the trailer into storage this morning and headed for the hills to do our part as W1AW/7 "The Montana Edition". VHF action resumes June 25th from DN65.

W1AW/7 alpine style - a 130' Doublet, 500 watts, and a tuner; mostly CW/RTTY for the next several days.

DN48kh to DN46fj travel day

Up early to run 2M meteor scatter skeds with N7NW, W7MEM, K6EME, K7ND, and NQ7R. It was blustery enough to have to tie the antenna down at each new azimuth position. We just beat the rain packing up and the 11 miles of dirt road out to the hardtop held up fine. No Montana gumbo-mud for us!

Fred, KE7X put me onto the PJclient program that enhances the Ping Jockey web site - what a neat piece of software, it will sure help me stay organized, and on top of things.

235 miles south and we're now back in DM46 on the way into Bozeman to get ready for my part in the W1AW/7 operation. We're going up to a cabin just north of Yellowstone Park for that. I'll be mostly HF CW and RTTY.

Tonight during the contest I worked a bunch of stations on 6M out of 5-land.

Tomorrow on into Bozeman and we'll give VHF a rest for a week or so. All QSOs this week should be up on LoTW and I'll grab my mail and answer QSL card requests too.

DN48kh (Tiber Reservoir) in the rain

We have Internet, but with the heavy rain at times it was spotty as the extra absorption took out the signal; I ended up putting the Mi-Fi card up on the roof of the trailer under a radome (my wife's plastic bowl). Nothing like having to DX the cell tower to get to Ping Jockey.

I worked 13 stations in this morning's session - a credit to the discipline of folks on the list and being right there when their turn came. Thanks!

A great morning for meteor scatter from this very quiet location. 6 Meter Contacts: N8JX, KE7X, KE7NR, KD7DCR, K7ULS. 2 Meter contacts: W9JN, N0KE, KE7NR, KR7O, KC6ZWT, AA7A, KF7CQ, and K7ULS.

Es was slow last evening just three or four logged on 6M, K5YAA was best DX. Mid-day today is very good into CA and AZ single hop, I'm just running 100 watts to save some gasoline and logging a bunch. Raining again, and thunder-boomers all around.

DN48 is Big Sky country.

The list/log sounds orderly, but here's the real deal. Thankful for LoTW.

The one that got away! K6EME had terrible local noise, but I was sure getting him on 2 meters.

DN47 finish up and on to DN48kh

This morning was more 2 Meter meteor scatter action from DN47 with W9RM, N5JEH, K6EME, and K7MAC worked.

We packed up and are now about 50 miles farther north at the Tiber Dam south of Chester, MT in DN48.  We lucked out and have the highest camp site in the park with a clear shot 360 degrees. This a free campground that is an oasis in the midst of the high plains - one of our favorite spots for early season camping (way too hot in late July).

I have sked for 2M MS in the morning and of course the 6M CW machine is going!

Level, plum, and square.

2M Meteor Scatter DN47fp and 6M double-hop

A great 2M meteor session this morning started by working WQ5S at 1030 miles. W9JN, WB0ULX, KF7CQ, KS7S, KE7NR, N7NW were also logged. Nine element Yagi, 200 watts, and LMR600 feedline - it seems to be working.

Now that is a 2 meter ping! W9JN at 1067 miles.

Not a bad sunrise!

Off to town (Great Falls) for some bike riding along the Missouri River and a visit to the CM Russell Museum.

We got back in time for several multi-hop contacts into New England on 6 meters as well as VE2 and VE3. Nice!

DN46 to DN47fp

Finished up DN46 with a nice run of FSK441 meteor scatter contacts on 2 meters this morning. Stations worked: W9RM, KC6ZWT, WA7HQD, K7MAC, KE7NR, KS7S, AA7A, K6EME, and W0VB.

Yesterday's problem is fixed - I even copied CX2SC off a rising moon yesterday evening on JT65b. Wowser!

On to DN47fp - It was about a 150 mile drive today up thru the mountains above Helena, MT, past Great Fall, down six miles of gravel road, and past a loaded missle silo and we're here. Here is Matt, K7BG's barn yard - I even found an a/c power outlet in the shed so we're all fat and sassy with some weather coming in. We're perched up on the high plains so it should be a great location. Just no propagation right now.

On the high plains of Montana, but you can see the Rockies 50 miles to the west - It is going to get stormy.

DN46gh continues

Disappointing morning try to get the 2M gear going. I ran five MS skeds with no joy. I have other gear to try thanks to K7MAC's generosity, so we'll see.

EUREKA! It turns out I was transmitting 4.71 KHz low on 2M this morning. My "Fancy Dan" PLL Lock board isn't working, so my offset compensation is back to the stock factory value i.e. +4.71 KHz. The PLL lock board will have to go back to Elecraft at some point. I may drift around a bit, but at least I'll be in the right place!

KO9A , N5RZ and about 15 others worked on 6M so far. Lots of beacons in too.

Today's wildlife.

DN46gh Canyon Ferry Lake June 8, 2014

On the shores of Canyon Ferry Reservoir.

We're just a 100 miles from home, but a great place to hang out for a few days and work the kinks out of the 2 meter gear which is all new to me. I'll be anxious to see how that all plays tomorrow morning on FSK441 meteors scatter. 200 watts and a nine element Yagi fed with LMR600 on 2M.

The rent here is right! Five dollars a day. As you can see I have shot over five miles of lake out to the east and southeast from here.

On 6M this afternoon W9RM, K0GU, KE7V, and K5WE were worked on a combination of scatter and meteors so far. The K3/KPA500 combo seems to work fine. Later in the day there were some short Es openings - best DX was AC4TO.