July 30 - Done - time to head for home. Several nice openings to the Midwest the last few days here in DN38 and even as far as N4VC in TN. It has been a great series of trips, 16 grids were activated and 1168 contacts made.
July 26 - Worked K5CM (OK) and W9FF (IL) for some nice long meteor scatter FSK441 contacts this morning. Packing up for the move to DN38 today.
Arrived DN38uh mid-afternoon. Great location on Lake Francis (Valier, MT) with a clear horizon and electric - for $15 a night. Already worked ND0B and KB7ME on FSK441.
July 25 - Some nice long FSK441 contacts this morning out to W9JN and N8JX. Brief Es opening at supper time to the Midwest, but K1SIX broke thru for New Hampshire. Not bad for this late in the season. On to DN38 tomorrow.
July 24 - We moved 330 miles today from DN44 to DN37 near Augusta, Montana. We got here late in the afternoon, but we're all set up and ready for a band opening. I have a superb horizon to the east for some FSK441 to the Midwest tomorrow morning, but the back-bone of the northern Rockies is to the west. The above photograph was taken looking northwest.
July 23 - just a few stations worked during a quick 15 minutes opening.
July 22 - More lovely double hop-scotch this afternoon. New England to Florida worked, and I bumped my QSO total from DN44 - WY to 250.
July 21 - Still DN44. Nice double hop opening late this afternoon to the east coast. I worked as many as I could before I had to leave. The drugs I'm taking for a head cold are messing with my CW fist! LOL.
July 19 - We're all fat and sassy here in Yellowstone Park, WY (DN44). Big opening to the east coast this morning, 65 stations logged including C6ANY. Last night I worked XE2S who was the only station heard for quite a bit. Lots of aurora like flutter on the double hop stations so I stayed on CW. The amp is great, tunes well, and really likes to run at 500 watts. We'll be here several more days. Off to do some hiking.
Another sustained opening late this afternoon until 10 PM tonight, so far 150 stations logged from DN44.
July 16 - The amp lives! The critical parts showed up for my re-conversion of old Dentron amp I first converted to 6 Meters several years ago. Out with the pair of 8875's and in with a single 3CPX800A7. I finally bit the bullet and rewired the cathode circuit so I can properly monitor grid current. I fired it up for the first time today and 25 watts drive = 700 watts out at 550 MA of Ip. The irony is that the gird current meter hasn't arrived yet, so I stopped at 25 watts of drive as I was still flying blind.
July 14 - We gearing up for another 6 meter grid trip. Glacier Park is the destination so DN44, DN35, DN36, DN37, and DN38 are on the agenda. My long suffering amp is in the midst of a conversion to a single 3CPX800A7 - I may or may not have the parts I need to finish the job before we shove off on July 18th, but most of the major surgery is done. We'll go to Yellowstone Park (DN44) first to see friends then north toward Glacier National park.
July 6th - Back in Bozeman for some R&R. The trip was a great success with 12 grid activated netting 300 FSK441 meteor scatter contacts and 350 Es QSOs. I cleared the paper QSL card requests that had arrived this afternoon. We'll see where we go next ...
July 5th - This morning I added 8 more stations on FSK441 from DN46 (White Sulphur Springs, MT), but being ringed by mountains kept the distances under 1,000 miles. We're back in Bozeman for a bit now to catch up on mail, get the truck serviced, and plan our next jaunt. LoTW is up-to-date.
July 4th - I slept in this morning - no FSK441 session. I'm now in DN46nn on our last day out from home. There is aurora about, we'll see what happens. West coast opening tonight, 15 stations logged, 13 additional worked on FSK441.
July 3 - Up early and on the road to DN47pt by 5 A.M. I worked 18 FSK441 stations from the scenic pull-out there. We'll head to an RV park in Fort Benton after breakfast. It is going to be hot here today. I'm back in Internet range so logs are up on LoTW.
Slow afternoon here, no Es but plenty hot. There was a brief opening to the mid-west and south after dinner, 25 stations worked.
July 2 - We've left DN48we and moved all of 12 miles to DN48va. We're on the banks of the wild & scenic section of the upper Missouri River. Our last stop produced 65 Es contacts and 18 FSK441 contacts. Tomorrow morning we'll break camp before 1200z, tow up to the main road, and set up on a roadside pullout in DN47 and work some morning meteor scatter before finding a spot to camp in Fort Benton, MT.
Tonight I had 'the opening', lots of double hop to the east coast while working CA off the back of the beam. I logged 115 contacts for a total of 245 from DN48. I even broke out the mic and ran the pile-up on SSB.
June 30 - We eased on down the road to DN48we this morning and found a great little RV park to set up in with a great radio horizon just outside of Big Sandy, MT. Worked 45 Q's on Es tonight, and added 6 FSK441 contacts.
June 29 - Spotty opening last night before the windstorm hit. Managed a few W5 and W4 stations including K4YMQ. Today is our last afternoon from DN58 so hoping for some Es. On to DN48 tomorrow, I may not have Internet. Worked hard at Es tonight and was ready when K1TOL (ME) broke through, also logged VE2XK (Quebec), and N4VA (VA). So it was a good session. Our intended DN48 destination is flooded out, so we're off to Big Sandy, MT and plan B.
June 28 - DN58dn Havre, MT. Spotty Es opening last night, best DX was VE2XK. Slow going on FSK441 so far, but we'll be here today and tomorrow morning. Ye olde amplifier is slowly giving up the ghost. 300 watts is all she'll do. FSK441 was fine this morning, worked as far east as K9CT.
June 27 - Very nice east coast opening last night, worked 50 stations on Es. FSK441 produced 23 contacts from this grid. Today we break camp and head over to DN58 for a few days.
June 26th - Still in DN68fl. I had a nice Es opening last night and worked K1SIX, N3DB, and K1TOL. Lots of 1,000+ mile FSK441 contacts this morning including W5KI in AR. We're taking the afternoon and running over to the Fort Peck Dam to see the record water being released down the spillway. We're easily amused!
June 25th - Now 18 miles east of Malta, MT in DN68fl, probably stay here for two days.
We have an excellent location near Lewistown, MT (DN57gb) last night, quiet in most all directions. 20 stations logged with FSK441, still no Es! We'll pack up and head up to Malta, MT (DN68) today. We want to run over and see the spillway at Fort Peck Dam, so it will be a day or two longer before we get to DN58.
June 24th - Worked 26 stations on FSK441 despite lots of local QRN from sodium lights, and the gas station/casino across the street. The campground of choice and a fishing access were both flooded out, so this was it. On to DN57 this morning.
It's noon and we're all set up in DN57gb, a small rest area just 1 miles west of Lewistown, MT.
June 23 - Off to DN56 we go. May or may not have Internet. As much as I need to work on upper body strength, lifting the amp up and out from under the sofa at each stop was getting old. So this morning I re-positioned the amp so it could remain 'down-under' and ran the cables out to the operating position. Nice, the jet-like fan noise is muted and I can easily reach the tune/load controls. I still have a watt meter that sits above the K3 so I can keep an eye on things. I guess I can take that truss back to Walgreens now! LOL. Next project is to ponder ways to assmeble the antenna more quickly, although it really only takes 15 minutes now.
The amp is an old Dentron MLA-2500B boat anchor I converted to 6 meters, she'll do 750 watts with 15 watts of drive if asked.
June 22nd - Update - Joyce had her eyeball minutely inspected by the doctor this morning and we're good to go. The next trip is at least DN56, DN57, DN58, and return thru DN48, DN47, DN46. We'll hang around in DN58 hoping for some Es for a few days. We'll leave Bozeman mid-day tomorrow and be in DN56 a few hours later.
June 22nd - We're home in Bozeman. QRT for now, but a good first trip of the summer - I was able to activate DN65, DN66, DN75, DN76, and DN77. The four element modified M2 Yagi and having 500 watts sure makes it fun.
June 21st - My wife Joyce is having a bit of trouble with an eye after cataract surgery, so on doctors advice we bailed out and drove the 375 miles back to Bozeman today for an appointment tomorrow. We'll re-group and see what we can do when we know more. A highlight was an early morning scatter session with Larry, N0LL to get him closer to The Fred Fish Memorial award before we rolled west.
June 20/21 - Off to Glendive, MT and DN77pc. The intended campground was full, full, full of folks working the oil/gas patch so we settled in at the Westend JCs Park and had the place to ourselves, I finally got a nice Es opening around the western States and worked 70 stations on both CW and SSB. On FSK441 I completed with 17 stations; several were out past 1,000 miles.
June 19th – 21 stations worked on FSK441 from here in Miles City, MT (DN76cj) this morning. No Es yet, but we're watching. We may stay here another day if I can conjure up a band opening.
June 18th – I took the truck and gear out to the DN65/DN75 border this morning. 18 stations worked on FSK441. I looked east quite a bit, but only W5WE worked and N8JX heard in that direction. Some cockpit problems, and this new laptop does a poor job of keeping time – I finally broke out the GPS and got it right. Some Es last night, for something like 15 contacts, I did work XE2S. Breaking camp and on to DN76 today. Pit stop in Broadus, MT for gasoline, Internet, and rodeo.
June 17th – DN65wn – Brief Es opening last night after dinner. This morning saw excellent FSK441 activity both east and west (pointing south is a problem). Seventeen stations worked including K9CT worked. We're beyond Internet range, but folks seemed to follow me fine on FSK441. I try to split my calling between east and west. More heavy rain last night that sent the SWR to 2:1, but Red Shale Campground is lovely.
I plan to take the gear in the truck and activate DN75 from the Wilbur Creek Road tomorrow morning, then on to DN76 and the Chinese Buffet in Miles City!
June 16th – Yesterday was a pretty good day. We put DN65 and DN66 on FSK441 and made some meteor scatter contacts out to 950 miles. No Es however. Today we'll sit here in DN66sg until mid-day and then move down to DN75. Big storm here last night, and the rain static finally drove us off the air.
I worked stations this morning on FSK441, one was out past 1,000 miles, so it was well worth breaking the amp out.
The Plan:
Joyce and I will leave Bozeman, Montana June 15th on our first trip and head direct to Eastern Montana intending to activate grids DN65, DN75, DN76, DN77, DN78, DN68, DN58 on 6 meters. There is lots of flooding going on out in that country so our plans may change to fit the circumstances. I'll use this web site to keep you informed.
A second trip is planned for DN46, DN47, and DN48 later in the summer. With a third trip to far western Montana possible.
Equipment:
K3, with a 700 watt amp, and 4 element Yagi. Internet via Mi-Fi 3G modem. Modes CW, SSB, FSK441.
Operating Details:
Meteor Scatter FSK441 – I'll be on most morning from 1230 UTC, if no Internet access I'll call CQ D10 50.260 Mhz, and when I think folks have me spotted I'll stay on 50.250 Mhz. With Internet access I'll come up on Ping Jockey and let folks know I'm on 50.250 Mhz and open for business.
Es – If it's marginal I'll be on CW around 50.098 Mhz +-, switching to SSB around 50.150 Mhz when I sense I can run. If I have Internet access I'll come up on the ON4KST 6 Meter chat.
I'll always just use plain "KB7Q" as my call sign. Power will vary from 100 to 700 watts depending how early/late I can run the generator for the amp.
E-Mail contact: geneshea AT gmail.com.
QSL info:
My QRZ.COM address is fine, SASE please. LoTW uploads too.
73,
Gene, KB7Q
