Dates:
June 13/14, 2023 - DN87 North Dakota
June 15 - DN86 North Dakota
June 16/17 - DN85 South Dakota
Gear:
IC7300, KW amp, 4 element LFA Yagi.
Modes:
FT8/MSK144/Q65
Internet:
DN87/DN86 for sure, DN85 maybe.
Slack VHF Chat - rover-rare grid area.
This was a camping trip with the pickup camper to the great American prairie to activate a few grids before it got too hot.
The trip was a success despite conditions not being the best - double-hop Es was quite limited. However, N3SL and W0JW completed FFMA with their contact to DN87 (Grassy Butte, ND). That made the whole trip well worth the trek east!
In total 500 folks were worked via a combination of FT8/Q65/MSK144 modes.
My rebuilt 6M KW amp refused to fire off so it was 100 watts only. I had inadvertently over-driven the amp during last summer's outing, and replaced the MRF1K50N device. However, I never got around to bench testing the amp. Murphy heard about my laziness and promptly showed up. It turns out the amp was fine! The 48 VDC power supply was the same one I used hard for the 23cm EME DXpedition to Curacao, and the tips of the blade fuses had burned off in the cheap Chinese fuse holder opening the 48 vdc line to the amp. All this was sorted out after the trip of course. A great lesson learned about getting too casual about these outings!
 |
| Murphy says, "Gotcha!" |
 |
| The view from North Cave Hills (DN85), South Dakota - a sky island. |
 |
| Teddy Roosevelt wandered DN87 for several years. |