Bob Cunnings NW8L | |
This year I returned to South Sandia Peak in the Sandia | |
Wilderness Area, overlooking Albuquerque, NM. The location was atop the | |
long north/south ridge a few hundred yards south of the summit, at | |
approx. 9600 ft. elevation. This is a nice location, with the terrain | |
dropping off sharply to the east and west, but requires a good 4 hour | |
hike to reach. The antenna was a dipole with balanced feedline, | |
supported by two 16 foot telescoping fiberglass poles. The "shack" was | |
in a nice sheltered depression in the limestone just below the ridgeline | |
to the west, with a tarp providing shade. I used my 20/30/40 KX1 with | |
autotuner. It was powered from a pack of 8 AA cells. | |
I managed a total of 34 qso's - 23 BB and 11 home stations, all | |
on 20 meters. Big signals heard included N7OU/BB, N6GA/BB and KF0UR/BB. | |
Signals from eastern US were very weak, I only managed WV, PA, GA and | |
IL. Heard N4BP(FL)and VE3OBU/BB repeatedly but couldn't work them. | |
Thanks to all for another great FOBB, especially the home stations who | |
answered my calls - it can't be easy! | |
The KX1 setup | |
The KX1 is connected to the AA battery pack, and runs perhaps | |
perhaps 3 watts out. I use a little self-powered speaker that plugs | |
right in to the headphone jack. | |
The antenna | |
The antenna a 64 foot long 40/30/20 dipole with jumpers between | |
sections for band selection. Sloping down to the right is the feedline, | |
made of 18 gauge speaker wire used as a balanced line and connected | |
directly to the KX1. The idea this year was to try a horizontal dipole | |
(not an inverted vee) running along the ridge line. It's only 12 feet | |
high but the ground falls away so quickly on either side that I hoped it | |
would result in some decent low angle radiation. The feedpoint is | |
supported by one pole, and the right half of the dipole gets additional | |
support using another pole. The other half of the dipole is tied off | |
directly to a conveniently located tree about 16 feet tall out of view | |
to the left. | |
The radio shack | |
Here's the radio shack, under a Noah's Tarp in a sheltered cleft | |
in the limestone. It got warm but steady breezes helped to make it | |
pretty comfortable. | |
The view to the Southwest | |
Looking to the southwest from the ridge we see Kirtland AFB and the | |
Rio Grande valley. | |
The view to the North | |
Looking North along the ridge South Sandia Peak is seen a few | |
hundred yards away. It was pretty green up there this year. | |
The view to the East | |
To the east are the San Pedro "mountains". Although cloudy and hazy, | |
the usual afternoon thunderstorms kindly held off until FOBB was over. | |
The Grover Cleveland Tree Medallion | |
Taking the CCC trail back down, I snapped photos of some medallions that | |
have been nailed to trees. This must have been a labor of love for someone, | |
but I have never discovered just who. The medallions bear an approximate | |
date of germination for the tree, and a historical reference of some sort. | |
Here we have Grover Cleveland 22nd President, 1885. | |
The Grover Cleveland Tree | |
You can see old blaze marks in the Grover Cleveland tree. The CCC trail was | |
supposedly used by Civilian Conservation Corp work parties in the 1930s. | |
The Leonardo Tree Medallion | |
On another tree is the Leonardo da Vinci Birth 1452 medallion. | |
This one is caulked with silicone. | |
The Leonardo Tree | |
The Leonardo da Vinci tree is a very gnarly old pinon pine, long dead. | |
I suppose DD~1943 means 'death date' approx. 1943? | |
The End Holy Roman Empire Tree Medallion | |
On another tree is the End Holy Roman Empire 1806 (date of dissolution of | |
the Empire by Francis II) medallion. TB6, TB~1951? What's 'TB'? | |
The End Holy Roman Empire Tree | |
The End Holy Roman Empire tree is a small ponderosa pine. If the germination | |
date is correct it's over 200 years old, but trees grow slowly here. | |
I'm told there are many more of these scattered around the trails | |
of the Sandia Wilderness, I'll bet I've walked past some more than a | |
few times without ever spotting them! | |
See you next year! | |