QRP in the Driftless
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Hiking the McGilvray Road “7 Bridges” trail
I was recently able to arrange a whole day to devote to “things I feel like doing” as distinct from “things I need to do”, and I chose to visit Van Loon State Wildlife Area, a bit north and west of Holmen (a northern suburb of La Crosse). Why this, particularly? I was looking for…
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Winter is coming
and I don’t mean that in some dark, apocalyptic Game of Thrones way. It seems like every passing day brings some new sign of the change of seasons. It’s over two weeks since I saw the first bright red fallen leaf while I was hiking. Last weekend, at Camel Bluff, I noticed that the sumac…
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Van Loon State Wildlife Area, US-9870
When I finished hiking the 7 Bridges trail it was almost 1 pm, and definitely lunchtime! Fortunately I had brought a cooler and was able to recharge on sandwiches and cold liquids, and (fighting off post-lunch laziness) I was ready to start the other part of my plan for the day: activating US-9870, Van Loon…
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Another antenna project (oh, no!)
A few weeks ago I found the remains of one of the original telescoping whips that came with my Buddipole set. They were made of brass, and took a lot of damage from blowing down in the wind. The stainless steel 17-foot whip I replaced them with has proved much more durable. Examining it with…
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Compasses
I have seen so many changes in navigation technology over the last half-century or so; it’s really quite amazing … back in high school I learned map & compass land navigation; a few years later I was studying celestial navigation with sextant and chronometer at the Planetarium for a sailing trip that never happened. 25…
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Touch paddle project
Updated! This project got started in October last year and is finally (mostly) finished! After the first failure came a redesign, and some very intermittent work on it. A few days ago I started to work toward wrapping it all up: I salvaged the touch sensors and paddle pieces, gently cutting a saw kerf in…
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An end-of-July omnibus
Just stuff that’s been on my mind, but nothing big enough for a whole post. Projects, old and new The design was based on the article “What about the simple receiver?” in the June 1934 issue of QST, and “Rationalizing the autodyne”, January 1933. As something more in line with my current interests I am…
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Dell Creek SWA; US-4281
Dell Creek State Wildlife Area, US-4281, occupies several unconnected tracts of land, mostly in Sauk County, west of the Wisconsin Dells and Mirror Lake State Park. There are 13 parking areas scattered among them to provide access. Early Sunday morning I started at the northernmost ones along Dore Road, which all lacked shade, had lots…
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Found-materials antenna challenge
It might have been 2 weeks ago that I stopped in a wayside and saw a tangle of something orange-ish laying on the blacktop as I was leaving; naturally I stopped to pick it up just for the sake of keeping the area clean. It proved to be two lengths of something like 24 gauge…
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A new park: Willow Creek SFA, US-10646
Today when I left the house I had a list of parks in my head; some new, a few that I just haven’t visited lately. Necedah, Buckhorn, Rocky Arbor, Dell Creek, Mirror Lake, Natural Bridge, Devil’s Lake, … As I drove away from the KwikTrip with a fresh breakfast sandwich and a big cup of…
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Back on the air at Wildcat Mountain
It was cool and damp, and the sun was not yet up, when I headed off along the back roads toward my favorite activation spot, hot coffee in hand. Last year on June 25th I activated Wildcat Mountain State Park, US-1480, and started an unbroken string of activating only that park; not by planning or…
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Finishing the (tr)uSDX amplified speaker
June 24th: To quickly recap, the story begins here, and is continued here. All it took, in the end, was actually sitting down at the bench and (gasp!) actually working on it for maybe 40 minutes; I had the last remaining part, an input jack, right there. Finding one was the last thing I did…
A backwater of the Mississippi River in the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge on a gloomy, chilly day in early November, viewed from the Lower Diversion Dike Trail.
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