Hi Everyone,
I'd like to share a quick trip report from my recent trip to DN16.
Going out there I was hoping to accomplish a few things; explore new locations to operate, fine tune my SDR settings (I don't have 6m capabilities at home), and hopefully make a handful of contacts.
Grid: DN16ic
Coordinates: 46.10634, -117.26382
Altitude: 4729 ft. (Official Griduino Statistic)
I had intended to scope out a bunch of potential sites in the area but loved this first one so much I parked and setup. The site is on the edge of a ridge with an unbelievable view from East to South-West. The campsite was mostly level and rocky which is ideal for leveling the truck near the edge of the drop (2000 ft to the valley below). Weather was fine but I did have some freezing temperatures, rain, and extremely high winds.
The band conditions were a mixed bag of complete quietness to sporadic openings, mostly into the SW portion of the country. In total I logged 191 QSO's using FT8, MSK144, and Q65. The highlights were fulfilling a few FFMA chaser requests, though not as many as I would have liked. I also got in on some of the DX reaching the states. Q's included VK, ZL, CE, LU, TI5, and V31. Very exciting!
My station:
- Kenwood TS-590SG (TX)
- AirSpy R2, ARR LNA, BPA, SDR-Switch, SDR Console (RX)
- Elecraft KPA500
- Innovantennas 5 element LFA + RG400
- Spiderbeam Mast @ 25 ft.
- Honda Gen and LiFePO batteries for power
Thanks to your activity and contacts I was able to get the SDR setup checked out. Just have one nuisance issue left which I'll pursue now that I'm home.
Thank you everyone who made or attempted to make contact with me. I wish I could have done better, especially to the east but it just didn't open that direction. I will upload the log to LoTW when it's back online. If you don't show up in the log please reach out to me. For those interested, I've uploaded the contacts to Parks on the Air as well. (Park US-4385)
Also a huge thank you to folks who helped with the gas fund. It's very much appreciated!
I'll be heading back out in a few weeks, destination unknown. I hope we can do it again.
73, Ed N7PHY
The station. I'm setup outside in a screened tent. Getting more and more comfortable as I go.
You can see the mast bending in the wind!
Stateside contacts
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