Bob Cunnings NW8L BB #10 | |
This year I returned to my favorite location, 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 for an | |
antenna, with the terrain dropping off sharply to the east and | |
west. It's a good 4 hour hike up the South Crest and CCC trails to get | |
there but it's well worth the effort. | |
The antenna this year was a simple dipole cut for 20m made from Radio | |
Shack speaker wire, terminated with a right angle BNC connnector. It | |
can be extended for 30m and 40m operation but I never budged from 20m | |
this year. 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 rather tired lithium disposable AA cells. Power out was | |
only a little over 2 watts on 20m. | |
I started 30 minutes late but managed a total of 22 qso's - 14 BB and | |
8 home stations, all on 20 meters. I wasn't chased off by afternoon | |
thunderstorms this year so I kept going until the very end. Conditions | |
didn't seem great and most signals were very weak, fading in and | |
out. The band seemed short at first but toward the end it went longer | |
and I was able to work N1EU/BB in NY and N4KGL/BB in FL. States worked | |
included CA, ID, TX, UT, NM, WA, IA, GA, WI, IL, NY, FL. Thanks to | |
all for another great FOBB! | |
The backpack | |
As always, I sure was glad to drop the pack when I got to the top. It | |
was going to be a long day so I had a lot of water in there along with | |
everything else. | |
The KX1 setup | |
This is the rig, my trusty KX1. | |
The antenna | |
The antenna, set up as an inverted vee, resonant on 20m. I brought | |
only the lower 4 sections of a 32 ft. fiberglass windsock pole which | |
was tied off to a scrub oak. In the picture the feedline runs off to | |
the right. The antenna is tied to to a piece of deadwood jammed into | |
the top of the pole. | |
The antenna kit | |
The antenna can be extended for 30m and 40m by tying on additional | |
lengths of wire with nylon rope and connecting them electrically with | |
the automotive type blade connectors you see at the ends of the 20m | |
elements in the picture. The extra lengths are in the bag but I | |
didn't bother with them since I planned to operate single band. | |
The radio shack | |
Here's the shack, under a Noah's Tarp in a notch in the limestone. | |
The view to the North | |
Looking North toward the summit of South Sandia Peak. | |
The view to the South | |
Looking south, with the Manzano mountains in the distance. | |
The view to the Northwest | |
Looking northwest, across the Rio Grande valley, with Cabezon, a | |
volcanic plug, on the horizon. The ghost town of Cabezon is located | |
near Cabezon, which is sacred to the Navajo. | |
The view to the East | |
Looking east, as I was coming down off the ridge after FOBB was | |
over. A thunderstorm fired up over the San Pedro mountains but it | |
fizzled out before long. | |
For the Sandia Mountains "medallion tree" hunters out there, here are | |
yet more examples I found along the South Crest trail on the way | |
down. Rather than take the CCC Trail shortcut I followed the long and | |
winding South Crest trail all the way down. You must follow the "old" | |
trail section through the Ponderosa groves to see some of these | |
medallion trees. All told, going down this way adds an hour to the | |
hike butat least it's not as brutally steep as the more direct CCC | |
Trail. Here is the Paul Revere's Ride tree... | |
The Paul Revere's Ride tree | |
A closeup of the medallion | |
Germination date is 1774, but Paul Revere's famous ride took place in | |
1775. Close enough. | |
1st Fountain Pen Tree | |
This is the 1st Fountain Pen Tree... | |
A closeup of the medallion | |
Germination date is 1780, which I suppose was the year in which the | |
fountain pen was invented. This tree is at a point where the trail | |
makes a sharp turn and it was marked on two sides when the trail was | |
blazed long ago. | |
Joan of Arc Birth Tree | |
This is the Joan of Arc Birth Tree... | |
A closeup of the medallion | |
Germination date is 1413, about when Joan of Arc was born. This is a | |
very old tree! | |
I recently ran into another seeker of Medallion Trees on the Pino | |
Trail in the Sandias. It's nice to see others who are interested in | |
locating them and sharing info. There are upwards of a hundred of | |
these trees in the Sandia Wilderness but they are rarely noticed and | |
remain somewhat of a mystery. | |