For some reason, I've been recently re-bitten by the paddling bug. My poor neglected kayak has been hanging in the garage for years, but this spring I put it on the car, dug up my life jacket, paddle, and flotation bags, and took it for a paddle on a nearby lake. I enjoyed it so much that I started paddling on a regular basis. Naturally, when it came time to pick an operating site for Flight of the Bumblebees 2004, I started looking for an operating site near a lake.

Blue Ridge Reservoir turned out to be the ideal choice. Located on East Clear Creek in Arizona's Mogollon Rim country, the lake lies at nearly 7,000 feet, an important consideration during the hot summer months. Set in two beautiful canyons, the lake shores are heavily forested with ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir and white fir, as well as quaking aspen. (The lake is actually a reservoir- but Arizonans, having virtually no natural lakes, use the terms interchangeably.) Motors are limited to 5 hp, so Blue Ridge Reservoir is a quiet lake, mostly popular with anglers and paddlers. The only problem is that the lake shore is rocky, offering limited places to land, and the deep canyons could be a problem for the operating QTH.

A bit of work with the topo map of the lake revealed several possible sites on promontories, but would I be able to land and unload the boat? I took a recon trip (another excuse to go paddle!) and checked out the sites. The first site turned out to be a bummer. After struggling up a steep slope through the forest, I found that the ridge top was small and it would be difficult to put wires in the trees. The second and third sites proved to be winners, with the second site being the highest and most open. I kept the third site, which was lower and required less hiking, in reserve in case I was pressed for time.
One of my exploratory hikes took me to the site of one of the last battles in the Apache Indian Wars. The Battle of Big Dry Wash broke out when a band of Apaches left their reservation, then attempted to ambush the pursuing U.S. Army cavalry troops. Soundly defeated, the Apaches quietly slipped away during the night and returned to the reservation.

On contest day, I was able to leave the house at 1200Z, due to the work I'd put in on Saturday afternoon organizing loading the radio and boat gear. By 1400Z I'd arrived at the reservoir and loaded the boat. An hour’s paddle on the serene early morning waters took me to the planned landing site. I must admit it was a chore unloading the radio gear from the waterproof storage / flotation bags and repacking everything into a large daypack for the climb up the hill. Still, I was on the hilltop by 1530Z and was ready to set up the station.

I put up two antennas, 170 and 82-foot end fed wires in opposite directions on the roughly north-south ridgeline. I used a small water bottle, half-filled, to launch the monofilament and #26 Teflon wires over the trees. A 66-foot counterpoise completed the antenna farm.

Taking advantage of the kayak's carrying capacity, I not only brought my Elecraft K2, a 7 amp hour SLA battery, and a 5 watt solar panel, but also a light camp chair and a portable laptop table. The table and chair made all the difference in operating comfort.

For logging, I used GoLog on a Palm Tungsten E with a Palm wireless keyboard. I've found that Graffiti and the on screen Palm keyboard are both too slow for contest logging, but the external keyboard works very well. Unfortunately, the built in lithium-ion battery in the Tungsten runs down pretty quickly, so I cobbled up an external battery pack using 4 AA NiMH cells.

An Arizona ScQRPion paddle completed the station. I've found the ScQRPion paddle to be almost ideal for field use where weight is not critical- it's very tough and has a good feel.

The horizon was low, the trees sparse, and the antennas should have a clear shot. A few minutes before the Flight was to begin, I tuned the antennas on the contest bands and listened around. Uh oh- not good. Forty, 15, and 10 were dead, and there were very few signals on 20. My dire prediction came true a few minutes later at 1700Z when the contest started with a whimper instead of a bang. I could hardly hear anything!

I persisted and eventually a few stations came up out of the noise. I ended up working 16 stations, 15 of them Bees, through the 4 hour period. No one I heard or worked even budged the S meter, and often I had to call several times to make a contact. It was a lot of work but as always, fun to work stations right on the edge of disappearing. And of course, the fine operating site made all the difference.

What lessons did I learn from this voyage of my unit of the Bumblebee Navy? Even with the load capacity of a kayak, traveling light is good. Unless I can set up right next to the water, the Elecraft KX1 would be a lot less work to pack, unpack, and set up. On the other hand, I might not have heard anyone at all with the slightly less sensitive receiver in the little rig.

My resurgent interest in kayaking continues to rage unabated. I just bought a Folbot Cooper, a folding sea kayak. Just 31 pounds and packing into a suitcase-sized case, the Cooper can easily be taken on airlines and public transit to reach waters that are inaccessible to my hardshell kayak. Since the Cooper has a larger cockpit and is more stable than my old boat, I may be able to try kayak mobile. Stay tuned for more adventure of the Bumblebee Navy!

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