> On Sat, Jul 26, 2008 at 22:28, Nate Duehr <nate@natetech.com> wrote:
>
>> I think Duffey wants me to get my butt in the Jeep and go
>> out in January more often.
>
> Mike asks
>
> And why the heck not <grin>. If we can do Field Day with the
> temperatures and humidity being just on the lower end of hell I'll
> gladly brave the cold. Come on can we do FD in January ... even just
> once?
>
Before I did the roving thing, I would camp out on the end of the only
unpaved
State Highway in Washington State... which in January conveniently is
where the Evans Creek ORV park lower parking lot (at 3000 feet AMSL) is
located, in CN96AW. Normally, the folks in their cozy homes and roving
about in CN87 and surrounding grids would be forced to push a signal over
the Cascade mountains to the gang down in the Yakima Valley to work that
grid, but, there I would be in line-of-sight range.
Generally I would be sitting on top of several inches of compact snow at
that altitude. The highway up to the ORV park area is kept open not by
snowplows, but all the 4X4's towing trailerloads of snowmobiles, etc...
up there.
Most of the gas burned in the genset kept the interior of the vehicle
warm, and the rest recharging the batteries which kept my two, then three,
band QRP portable station going...
Then I got more bands, more than the portable tower could reasonably
support... so did big wheels and a halo for six, and generally started my
January roves up there, as the site is conveniently near a grid corner.
If one is prepared for the conditions, one can still have fun in the cold!
Eric
KB7DQH
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