DL88 - the adventure

[Barry K7BWH]

Ed N7PHY and I drove to Texas without incident, although the white-knuckle driving through Salt Lake City and Albuquerque were exciting. The strong winds through Utah were a small adventure in itself. But no problem. We arrived in Midland TX in three days, and I had allowed four days.

Robert W5AJ is a gracious host and we took a rest day in Midland to replenish before entering the park.

A mini-adventure by itself is driving to the primitive Talley-2 campsite. Thirty miles of unpaved "roads" took four hours. It was a narrow rocky road and all of it washboards except for the technical ORV driving parts and powdery soft dry sandy riverbeds. It really does require 4x4 and high clearance vehicles.

The radio results make up for everything...

On my first day, Hal N7NW and I attempted an EME contact with zero success. 

On the second day, after some short one-and-done decodes throughout the day, I successfully worked Hal N7NW. It was a miraculous FT8 opening lasting exactly long enough to communicate one CQ, the minimum exchange, and to send one '73' over the air. And not one sequence longer. We are both in shock. I haven't worked anyone else in Washington and Oregon this trip.

On my third day, another miracle occurred and I contacted Tac JA7QVI in Japan. We attempted my first-ever EME contact. We ran for an hour and twenty minutes where I heard him several times but he didn't hear me. But then finally, when my moon was barely 4 degrees above the horizon, we finished the contact. It's a wonderful feeling to give him the #1 most wanted grid square in the country which otherwise seems unobtainable.

We're working hard to stay safe and stay alive. Daytime temps are 105-110 inside my van, and 110-120 inside Ed's tent. To my surprise, I have discovered I'm eager to drink more than 2 gallons of water a day. Fortunately this is a dry desert which cools off to 70 at night. The mornings are really quite wonderful until the 10 am Easy-Bake oven fires up.

Current score: 246 contacts, 120 grids, 34 states, 4 countries.

73 Barry K7BWH

PS - I'll send pictures when I get a chance.

[Rick West]

Wow, have a safe trip home?

Rick West

On May 21, 2025, at 8:16 PM, Barry K7BWH <ba...@k7bwh.com> wrote:



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[Bob Otis]

Congratulations, Barry.

 

Eager to hear more about the trip and pictures are great.  Looking forward to more.

 

73, Bob

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[Doyle Byford]

Congratulations.  Sounds wonderful.  I'm praying for a safe trip home.

Doyle

KA6MAT

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[ba...@w7bi.com]

I am back home again, safe and sound. It’s currently 56 degrees and raining in Seattle – this is the song of my people.

Here are some final DL88 statistics:

• 1 grid activated
• Worked Hal N7NW in Seattle for his last FFMA grid
• Worked Tac JA7QVI in Japan for my first EME contact
• 272 contacts
• 247 unique callsigns
• 131 grids worked
• 36 or more worked on Leader Board
• 35 states worked
• 4 countries
• 1 DL88-to-DL88 contact

Travel statistics:

• 16 days travel time including on-site
• 8 days on the air
• 1 giant thunderstorm narrowly escaped
• 4,414 miles home-to-DL88-to-home
• ~250 gallons fuel
• Average ~1 gallon/qso
• $4.20 /gallon Average diesel price in Washington State
• $3.50 /gallon Average diesel price outside Washington

I’m glad we went! It was a great trip to a spectacular place where we met lots of great people.

73 Barry K7BWH

 

From: issaqu...@googlegroups.com <issaqu...@googlegroups.com> On Behalf Of Barry K7BWH
Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2025 8:17 PM
To: Edmonds ARC <edwa...@googlegroups.com>; Issaquah ARC <issaqu...@googlegroups.com>
Cc: N7PHY <n7phy...@comcast.net>
Subject: [IARC] DL88 - the adventure

 

Ed N7PHY and I drove to Texas without incident, although the white-knuckle driving through Salt Lake City and Albuquerque were exciting. The strong winds through Utah were a small adventure in itself. But no problem. We arrived in Midland TX in three days, and I had allowed four days.

73 Barry K7BWH

[rickja...@comcast.net]

Rest up now Barry. Can’t wait to hear your stories in person.

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[Bogdan Manolache]

Welcome back! 

Mihai

Sent from my Galaxy

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