Four years ago I made my first trip out to Bedford with Dave, N3NWA, and when he asked if I'd like to operate from Bedford County a second time, I couldn't say no. He had been asked to take part in a wedding (not his) and
I asked my elmer, Tom (KM3B), if he'd like to join the company, as he had in the past on a Union County outing and he jumped at the chance. After a lot of discussion, we decided to use Dave's 160m Carolina Windom and 20 meter fullwave loop, dipoles for 80 and 40 meters, and Tom's 40 meter extended double zepp antenna (5/8 wavelength elements) fed with balanced feedline to his Ten Tec Automatic Tuner.
Dave
and I were to get an early start, leaving Berks County at about 7am Friday
in the hopes of getting a jumpstart on the antenna raising. Tom would
leave the Pittsburgh area and meet us at the farm around noon. Traffic
on the turnpike stalled to a westbound crawl. We pulled into the
Blue Mountain rest area, yakking on 146.52 FM. There we found more
company, an N3 station and a '2 station - a New Yorker in a van 'porcupined'
with antennas that covered the medium wave band to UHF, both heading west.
After sitting awhile, traffic began it's slow crawl again. There
had been a fatality just after exit 15 westbound and the State Police were
forcing all motorists off the turnpike at that exit. As we eased
out of the service area, another station came up on .52 - a Virginia couple
on their way to the funeral of a parent. It was one of those few
times I've really appreciated 2m FM. The group of four vehicles,
caravanned together, sharing ideas,
directions, and maps, to wind our way through
the country from the turnpike's exit 15 west to exit 14. The weather
was great, and other than the large volume of traffic on back country roads,
it was a nice ride.
We did not get an early start on the antennas. In fact, we pulled in to the Pizza Hut at the Bedford turnpike exchange at about 11:45 a.m. - just in time for lunch. We sat, eating pizza and listening to the Bedford repeater with an ht, thinking that Tom, who was travelling from the Pittsburgh area might find his way to the exit while we were there.
I guess
it was about 1pm when we came up the driveway to the farm, and it began
raining - a light drizzle. We got the vehicles unpacked and immediately
started on the antennas. Dave had made quite a bit of progress with
antenna deployment in the past four seasons. We ran a rope up the
side of the biggest silo (yes, I climbed the silo ladder
again) and, using leaders to separate the ends of the antennas, attached
the ends of the 160m windom and the 80 and 40 meter dipoles to it and up
it went. We dressed the far ends of the antennas over the roof of
the equipment garage; the 40 meter straight across and the 80 meter on
an angle of about 45 degrees from our operating position. The 160m
windom spanned the entire distance from the top of the silo to the treetop
nearest the operating shed; looked like about 300 feet - that's a lot of
antenna!
Tom called in on the Bedford repeater, and Dave directed him into the farm.
We got his gear unpacked and his antenna setup while he cooked dinner -
grilled pork chops with steamed veggies and applesauce! The smell
was
driving us nuts as we worked (that continued
to be my 'excuse' during the whole weekend). Dave consented to have
dinner with us, then took off for his return to Berks County.
Tom and I spent the evening setting up the stations, dressing feedlines, and catching up on the local news from both ends of the state. We did check into the Pre-Party Net on 75 meters at about a quarter 'til eight - the band sounded good, and there were lots of stations letting the rest know that they were ready... most of the state's 67 counties were represented. If this was any indication, the party would be well attended! We setup the cots and crawled into the sleeping bags for one good long night's sleep.
Saturday
morning found the sun shining on a beautiful day. The rain had gone,
and the world wa
s
bright and shiny. We woke to the sounds of 'Heeeeere, kity, kity
kity, kity. Heeeeere, kity, kity, kity.' I ran outside to see
a young lady walking up the hill with a pail full of fresh milk (at body
temperature - at the cow's body temperature, that is) and
crowding around her not less than 16 or 18 kittens.
Everybody was working. I walked out to check the antennas and feedlines
while Tom put the coffee on. All looked good. Back in the 'shack'
with a coffee in hand, I fired up on 20m SSB with the loop antenna and
immediately got an answer from a Russian station - and this at eight in
the morning!
Tom had put heat to a crock-pot full of Bush's Baked Beans and around 11:30 he started the grill; lunch was more pork chops along with a plate of baked beans. We both wondered just how 'air-tight' the building might be?
I was
setup to start the contest on 40m CW - if things went well, I thought I
might stay on the CW sub-bands for the whole contest. At just twelve
noon, Tom hollered across the room, "Hey, there's your buddy, Dave, on
40m SSB!" I hollered back, "What frequency?" He told me, I
spun the dial, and swapped numbers one with WT3H on 40m SSB without even
thinking - and that was the end of my CW only effort. It was better
this way anyway; Dave and I have been swapping numbers one since the early-eighties
(a tradition?)! After that, I ran back to 40 CW and settled down to work.
Dinner
was microwaved; sliced turkey with gravy and baked potatoes (and baked
beans). We did stop operating to stretch and relax while we ate.
Tom cleaned up and I went back to the rig. Eighty meters was a bread-and-butter
band; lots to work on both CW and phone.
I ran some CW while Tom was on the phone band, and later he went down to
160 meter phone and I move onto the 80 meter phone band. Around eleven
I pushed him back up to 80 meters and did
some 160 meter phone and CW - it didn't seem
as though there was lots of activity there this year.
Around
midnight Tom said to me, "Hey, how about some hot sausage? I've got
buns, and will grill the links, ok?" I said, "Sure, why not...."
-after all those beans, hot sausage sandwiches couldn't hurt, could they?
He cooked 'em up - I went back up to 80 meter CW thinking that I'd ease
my way out to day's end on CW. We ate the sandwiches, and the contacts
kept coming; 80 meters was hoppin' - they wouldn't let me be! Around
12:30 a.m. I heard this noise; like a chainsaw, but it wasn't coming from
the headphones. I pulled them off and looked around. Tom was
in his sleeping bag and fast asleep..... well, a little local QRM wouldn't
hurt. I continued working the CW band until all of a sudden it was
quiet. There was nothing in the receiver but background noise.
I checked the clock - it read 1:00 a.m. I pulled off the headphones
and heard only the lowing of the cows from the barn. The room was
dark, except for the desklight at the rig. The next QSO number to
issue on the computer screen was 448, and the score summary said that I
had worked 66 counties. The list showed that Clarion had not been
worked. I shut down the rig and computer, turned off the light
and went to sleep.
Sunday was fairly uneventful. I started on 40 meters and did work some on 20 and 15 meters, but not a lot. Most of the out-of-state stations that I worked were looking for me, and very glad for the contacts; several asked me to QSY from phone to CW or vice-versa. It would be really nice to have a yagi out there in a future party. Tom fired up the grill one last time, and we finished the chops for lunch - yes, there were that many..... and they still tasted really good.
Sunday's high point came when, at 15:30 UTC, I found KN4SK on the Clarion-Venango couny line to complete my PA counties sweep. That's only the second time since 1982 that I've managed that; I'll definitely be putting that plaque on my shack wall!
We worked only 'til 3:00 p.m. local time, then began tear-down. It was good to get the antennas down and the gear packed by suppertime. We had supper at Denny's at the Bedford turnpike exchange, before parting ways for home, another three hours away. Tom wasn't quite satisfied with his QSO count - I feel a little guilty because he did all the cooking while I played radio. Some of you guys have him to thank for your Bedford County QSO, even when that contact was with me.
Both
Tom and I thank Dave, N3NWA, for asking us to make the trip and for his
very valuable help with the antennas, and a very big thank you to Marlin
and Brenda Heisey and their family for allowing us to change the landscape
of their farm for a weekend - and the homemade
cookies were great! Thank you.
73,
Harry, KM3D
(and Tom, KM3B)