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 weather was warm and humid and thunderstorms were expected. | |
The antenna was a combination 40m dipole/20m "coupled resonator" | |
made from 450 ohm window line, supported by two telescoping fiberglass | |
poles. It was fed with a 300 ohm balanced feedline. 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, putting out at best | |
3 watts on 20m. | |
I managed a total of 24 qso's - 18 BB and 6 home stations, all on | |
20 meters. After 2 hours of operation a clap of thunder overhead | |
informed me that thunderstorms had formed over the mountain, and so I | |
had to pack everything back up and retreat from the ridge. Fortunately | |
the rain held off until I had started back down. The return hike wasn't | |
bad, with only light showers on and off. Thanks to all for another great | |
FOBB, I know some of you had to work hard to copy my weak signal. | |
The backpack | |
I was glad to drop the pack when I got to the top, | |
there's a lot of water inside. | |
The KX1 setup | |
The KX1 was connected to the AA battery pack, running iperhaps 3 watts | |
out. I use a little self-powered speaker that plugs right in to the | |
headphone jack. | |
The antenna | |
I divided the 32 ft. telescoping fiberglass pole into two 16 foot sections. | |
The radio shack | |
The shack is set up under a Noah's Tarp in a notch in the limestone. | |
The view to the North | |
Looking North along the ridge South Sandia Peak is seen not far away. | |
The view to the South | |
Looking south, the Manzano mountains are seen in the distance. | |
The view to the Northwest | |
To the Northwest is Cabezon, a volcanic plug, looming on the horizon. | |
The ghost town of Cabezon is in that vicinity along the Rio Puerco. | |
I've discovered more of those mysterious "medallions" on trees | |
along the CCC and South Crest trails. Here's the Massachusetts Colony tree... | |
The Massachusetts Colony tree | |
A closeup of the medallion | |
Looking at the medallion we see that the germination date is 1629! | |
Huygens Manometer Tree | |
This is the Huygens Manometer Tree... | |
A closeup of the medallion | |
Looking at the medallion we see a germination date of 1661. The | |
rumor is that these dates were obtained by taking a core from the tree | |
and counting rings, so perhaps "TB" means "tree bore"? | |
The stream across the trail | |
It's been a very dry year and the spring along the South Crest | |
trail is barely running. Here's where the stream it feeds crosses the trail... | |
Another view of the stream | |
...then it runs over to the top of the waterfall... | |
The waterfall | |
...and as you can see the waterfall is down to a trickle this summer. | |
Let's hope for rain, and I'll see you next year, perhaps with an Elecraft KX3! | |