QRP in the Driftless

Author: Admim

  • A misty, moisty morning at Wildcat Mountain

    Finally, some prime hiking weather! Last evening cool winds from WNW broke the heat of the past few days and brought welcome rain! What else could I do but get up before dawn and head out there for a hike? It was 67 degrees, calm, foggy and overcast when I left; lots of iced coffee…

  • Field Day, coming right up

    The 28th and 29th, this year, or about 3 weeks from today. Just saying that amounts to more planning than I did last year … Just guessing here; probably from a state park, with the equipment in my radio pack, for a few hours on Saturday / Sunday / both. I can imagine other options,…

  • A big coronal mass ejection (CME)

    last weekend completely wiped out the HF bands for days. The auroras might have been cool, but overcast skies precluded observation.

  • Hamvention!

    A quick note for anyone looking for current coverage of Dayton: I am reading Thomas Witherspoon (K4SWL)’s blog, qrper.com It’s been a few years since I’ve been to Dayton; the last time I was there it was still in the Hara Arena … I remember standing in the crowd by the gate as the State…

  • Sandwich Hamfest, and the answer to a question

    Going to Sandwich is a brief but major upheaval in life: go to bed early, get up at midnight and drive until dawn. Shop till ya drop. Drive home. (to read about this process in detail, see last years post) Does that make it sound awful? It’s really a lot of fun. People I only…

  • A quick visit to Buckhorn SWA, US-12077

    I was up early today, with a choice: hike, or play radio? Radio won today, and I headed for Buckhorn SWA. We had thunderstorms last night and it was still windy and overcast. I imagine that the trails would be muddy and slippery. I remembered to bring along a long tape measure, so while setting…

  • Spring in the Kickapoo Valley, at US-4296

    In the morning I wasn’t even thinking about radio, but with an early start on the household stuff, as noon approached the vista of the afternoon opened before me. I mulled over the POTA map for a few minutes and for some reason Kickapoo Valley SWA seemed like a good idea. Looking back, I see…

  • Buckhorn SWA again

    April Fools Day, (Election Day in Wisconsin), though chilly, overcast, and windy, nevertheless provided a few unallocated hours for an afternoon activation, and I chose Buckhorn State Wildlife Area as my site. As a relatively new entity it has only been activated 4 times, 5 if you count this one; the leaderboard hasn’t even fully…

  • Simpson 260

    This was the standard of the industry in the pre-digital era: Durable, accurate, electrically rugged, utterly dependable; what’s not to love? Analog volt-ohm-milliammeters are still useful for all sorts of tasks, some of which (like finding intermittents in wire and cables) are not easily done with a DMM. I really should have taken a picture…

  • A double activation at Buckhorn

    It seemed a little weird, is all; the last two times I went to activate Buckhorn State Park something interfered and no activating happened. Yesterday I decided to invoke the “third time lucky” clause and went back. The day started out lightly overcast and a bit below freezing, but the sun broke through early and…

  • Antenna repair

    Yesterday in the late afternoon I went up to Buckhorn State Park to try an activation. When I started to set up the antenna I saw this: When I pulled the top section all the way out followed by the second section it came apart in my hand. Field repairs will be necessary! I’m guessing…

  • A springlike afternoon at Wildcat Mountain

    Even though it was late in the day, it was just too nice a day to let the opportunity to play radio slip away! I thought a lot about where to go: new park? different park? but in the end, I went with nearby and familiar. Other than that, everything went well! The X6100 was…