A WALK IN THE PARK:
Pedestrian Mobile From Colorado
Special to The ARS Sojourner
I worked a bunch of guys recently on 18157.5.
I was backpacking around the top of Bull Hill, 2 miles north of Victor, CO, checking out a radio site for the QRP To the Field competition that was going to be held April 24.
This site is called the American Eagles Overlook. It is at 10,570 feet, and the mineshaft at the site is 1,540 feet straight down, (38 40' 44', 105 08' 20").
I worked KIØPF, Mark, a mobile on Conifer Mountain, CO 100 miles north – direct line of sight – as well as Texas, Kentucky and Illinois. I also worked K6ACJ, Bill; K6FYY Howard, and JH1OCC Yuu in Japan on 17M SSB with my PRC-319 at 50W and an 8 foot whip.
Yuu was my first Japan Pedestrian Mobile backpack contact. He has a big station over there. Then I QSY'ed to the KX1 and worked K6ACJ using an 8 foot whip in my rear pocket on 14,063 kHz running 3 watts.
There was 4 to 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and clouds blowing over the top of the hill. My hands got really cold holding the KX1 without gloves. I could get at least 3 dB signal improvement to California by standing on the west side of the 100 foot tall headframe mine shaft elevator.
This is an active gold mining area and I could see giant skip loaders and 30 foot high dump trucks transporting ore from this site. I was bottoming out on the 4 wheel drive to the summit.
About the Battle of Bull Hill
The Militia was there to play the role of spoiler; keeping the sheriffs department raiding parties from tangling with the unionists who were entrenched in a jerry-riged fort upon Bull Cliff. The fort was equipped with fake log cannons which were pointed at the town of Victor below. A crude bow gun propelled beer bottles filled with dynamite down the hill toward the hired mercenaries.
Meanwhile, up at Altman, the miners loaded a flatcar with explosives and rolled it downhill toward the deputies from Denver. It jumped the track on a curve, exploded and killed two cows. Finally, the Denver deputies captured five strikers. The whole event, worthy of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, has been called the "Battle of Bull Hill."
See more at http://members.tripod.com/~mr_sedivy/colorado20.html
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By Paul Signorelli, W0RW, is an avid pedestrian mobile operator living in Colorado Springs.
I was backpacking around the top of Bull Hill, 2 miles north of Victor, CO, checking out a radio site for the QRP To the Field competition that was going to be held April 24.
This site is called the American Eagles Overlook. It is at 10,570 feet, and the mineshaft at the site is 1,540 feet straight down, (38 40' 44', 105 08' 20").
I worked KIØPF, Mark, a mobile on Conifer Mountain, CO 100 miles north – direct line of sight – as well as Texas, Kentucky and Illinois. I also worked K6ACJ, Bill; K6FYY Howard, and JH1OCC Yuu in Japan on 17M SSB with my PRC-319 at 50W and an 8 foot whip.
Yuu was my first Japan Pedestrian Mobile backpack contact. He has a big station over there. Then I QSY'ed to the KX1 and worked K6ACJ using an 8 foot whip in my rear pocket on 14,063 kHz running 3 watts.
There was 4 to 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground and clouds blowing over the top of the hill. My hands got really cold holding the KX1 without gloves. I could get at least 3 dB signal improvement to California by standing on the west side of the 100 foot tall headframe mine shaft elevator.
This is an active gold mining area and I could see giant skip loaders and 30 foot high dump trucks transporting ore from this site. I was bottoming out on the 4 wheel drive to the summit.
About the Battle of Bull Hill
The Militia was there to play the role of spoiler; keeping the sheriffs department raiding parties from tangling with the unionists who were entrenched in a jerry-riged fort upon Bull Cliff. The fort was equipped with fake log cannons which were pointed at the town of Victor below. A crude bow gun propelled beer bottles filled with dynamite down the hill toward the hired mercenaries.
Meanwhile, up at Altman, the miners loaded a flatcar with explosives and rolled it downhill toward the deputies from Denver. It jumped the track on a curve, exploded and killed two cows. Finally, the Denver deputies captured five strikers. The whole event, worthy of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, has been called the "Battle of Bull Hill."
See more at http://members.tripod.com/~mr_sedivy/colorado20.html
* * * * * * * * * *
By Paul Signorelli, W0RW, is an avid pedestrian mobile operator living in Colorado Springs.