FOBB ’06: Success and a Lot of Fun on a Maiden Flight

August 2006

During the Flight of the Bumblebees, hundreds of radio amateurs from around the continent (the Bees) walk, bike, kayak, etc., to locations remote from their home bases.
Over a period of four hours, they work (contact) each other, and other home-based amateurs, using low-power (less than 5 watts output), high-frequency radio equipment in the CW (carrier wave) mode using Morse Code.

For those in a competitive frame of mind, points are awarded for total number of contacts (QSOs) multiplied by the number of Bumblebees worked.

For this – my first “flight” – I operated perched on a ridge above Bluebell Mesa (BB!) about a mile from, and 700 feet above, the entrance to Chautauqua Park in Boulder, Colorado.

Contacts were made on 20 and 40 meters - the ether was alive with buzzing! I was very impressed with the performance of the AD5X antenna with the HW-8 transceiver. Direct conversion receivers are a delight for weak signal work because one is not struggling to copy signals buried in noise.

Even the weakest signals pop out of the quiet background and, unless they fade away completely, are very easy to copy.

The trail head. In the background, the world-famous "Flatirons," from right to left, numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. Notice the perfectly blue Colorado sky! Not a cloud was seen until late afternoon! Eat your hearts out! AND, it was 100 degrees (F) - ouch! The small white dot shows the operating location.

Rest stop along the trail (Nth of many!). Weight of pack beginning to kill. Hot dry air sucking the life . . . Just LOOK at that beautiful sky!

The last pitch! Climbing up boulder fields with a heavy pack is a real pain. That is, until we discover that the ridge along the left skyline (just behind those trees) is much smoother!

Made it at last, gasping for breath, legs like rubber, realizing we left half the water at home, looking back down at the trail head.

Your operator hard at work, with a view of the summit of the Third Flatiron. A table and chair? Must be the Tubby Division! He's actually faking - it was necessary to set the self-timer on the camera and race back to the table, very carefully climbing into the chair because it was sitting on the only spot where it didn't topple over. The table, however, was very stable.

Another view of hard working operator, with a view of the antenna and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in the background. I could have put the antenna farther down the slope (I had 50 feet of coax), but I was tired and running up and down for tweaking and tuning was real work.

A better view of the antenna (on the right) with NCAR in the left middle distance. Directly behind NCAR, on the horizon, lost in the mist (hah, you mean smog!) is the Denver skyline. I used high-visibility orange guy-lines and radial wires so that I wouldn't run into or trip over them. Didn't work.

Another view of NCAR, sitting on Table Mesa (also known as Mesa Table, Table Table, Mesa Mesa, and, now, Table Mountain!). Of course, it's not a mesa at all, or even a mountain. Everybody knows it's a peneplain. And, instead of just sitting on a peneplain, why don't they do something about this heat? All they ever do is talk about it!

Boulder, Colorado is the home of many fine federally funded laboratories. Here we see The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST, nee The National Bureau of Standards), home of "THE" clock. It's the white linear-shaped building in the middle left. To the right, the four brownish buildings, is the new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) laboratory, NCAR's fiercest competitor in the publicity wars. The NOAA lab was designed to block the mountain view of the residents to the east. The design was successful. The three towers in the upper left are Williams Village, a spiffy dormitory complex for the University of Colorado. Immediately to the right of them, and somewhat hard to see, is an even spiffier, new, apartment-style living complex for the University's students. High speed Internet service all around! These buildings, strictly speaking, are within walking distance of the campus, but not conveniently so. The students take vegetable powered buses to and from class. Burning food in buses. What's next, blood?

Which brings us to The University of Colorado at Boulder. Or part of it at least, shown by the red tile roofs. CU, as it's called (to distinguish it from UC, or Berkeley), is known for f**tb*ll, W*rd Ch*rch*ll, and declining academic standards (also for Nobel laureates, astronauts, and..... HIPPIES). The largest single object on campus is, of course, the f**tb*ll stadium, just visible in the middle left and partially hidden by a tree. The CU campus is very lovely, with all the buildings faced in the native red sandstone (of which the Flatirons are composed) known as the Fountain Formation. Unfortunately, most of the open spaces on campus are being filled with buildings, which the students now help pay for through student fees.

On a more serious note, the bright white area at the bottom is the roof of Chautauqua Auditorium, one of the only two remaining permanent Chautauqua buildings (the other is located in Chautauqua, NY). The Chautauqua Movement exemplifies an interesting phase in American history. More information on Boulder's Chautauqua Association is available here. Maybe we need another Chautauqua movement, even without the religious component.

Here we are looking down on Boulder, Colorado, known for . . . Wait a minute, I'll think of something. Yes, ENVY, that's it! Class Envy! And, beer, bicycles, barking dogs, breatharians, buskers, Buddhists and, Mork and Mindy. Actually, Boulder is a very nice, self-contained community tucked up against the eastern slope of the Rockies and located about 20 miles northwest of Denver. It's just BLOODY EXPENSIVE. Sorry, I pay property and sales taxes. Boulder is the seat of, you guessed it, Boulder County. The nearby city of Broomfield seceded from Boulder County and formed its very own county! And, it has all the best shopping malls! And office parks! And tax revenues! Boulder is VERY jealous.

Downtown Boulder, Colorado, "Where the Hip Meet to Trip" since at least the early 60's. I can see my house!