September 2006

Bill Noyce, AB1AV, and I pushed off from a sandy shore in mid-morning. Even our over-active imaginations couldn't foresee the adventure that was ahead... Herons swooping past the canoe closer than we'd ever seen, bald eagles soaring at treetop level overhead, and the quiet of a wilderness stretch of river that hasn't seen development. All that... and a riverside QRP radio excursion complete with an antenna that stretched nearly 200 feet across the river... from one shore to the other which landed us a QSO an entire ocean away.

We chose Bill's canoe over my aluminum Grumman. Bill spent five months building the 17 footer in his garage, and it's exquisite... made from strips of wood carefully glued over a form and finished with beautiful ash gunwales.

Bill's no stranger to the outdoors. In mid-August he spent more than a week in the White Mountains camping and hiking with his family. He's been a Scout leader for years, and it shows... he came fully prepared with rain gear, first aid kit, man-overboard throw rope, and most importantly his ATS-3 and box of radio gear. All we really needed was the radio.

The Merrimack River between Franklin and Concord, New Hampshire is wide, fairly shallow with a moderate current. It snakes through farmland, and is lined with hardwoods and rich cornfields. The area is rife with wildlife. A heron stands in the shallow lee of an island so still, you think it might be a branch of a fallen tree sticking up. He takes off, flies low just a bit to the side of the canoe revealing the secrets of flight and posture of outstretched legs. Around the bend a bald eagle surprises us by launching from a nearby tree branch and climbing above the water and turning left across our bow. The beavers have made tracks up the river bank and into the cornfields where they haul their booty back to the river leaving a trail of cornstalks.

Sand bars jut out as the river turns and there are plenty of resting places and quiet open areas. As lunchtime approached, we had no problem finding a spot. As we neared the shore, we eyed the trees for potential antenna branches. "Bill, let's run an antenna right across the river! Think we could?" I asked. "Why not," he answered. So we started adding up our wire and rope supply. "I've got two rolls of wire," I said. "One is about 90 feet; the other is about 65 feet." I had a couple of 50 ft. hanks of dacron and another 100 foot roll of cord. We were set. On the opposite shore we threw a rope over a branch about 30 feet above the water and tied the end to a root. We attached the wire and paddled back
toward our chosen operating site paying out the wire behind the canoe. Once on the shore we threw another rope to about 30 feet, spliced the two rolls of wire with a knot and a twist and setup an inverted L. The wire lifted beautifully above the water and we had an antenna... a glorious antenna. About 150 feet of antenna, right over the river!

I sat right down on the sand then connected the wire to my ZM-2 and hooked up the ATS-2 on 20 meters. There was no wire left for a counterpoise, so we went with what we had. I tuned down from 14.060 and there on the FISTS frequency was W7PFZ calling CQ! He came right back to me and the grin on my face probably frightened every beaver for a mile up and down stream. Phil was a 599 from Washington state. He gave me a 569.

After a quick lunch, Bill gave a listen on 40 meters. There were several loud stations but all in QSOs.

Because Bill had to be home by 5:00, we decided not to hang around. Bill took the canoe over to the other side to untie the line.

Our schedule was relaxed and smooth. After packing up, we pushed off and headed around the next bend and the next.

By mid-afternoon we'd covered 12 miles in five hours and reached our pull-out just north of Concord. As we brought our gear back to the car, we talked about our next adventure... perhaps we should make a longertrip of it... more time for operating, perhaps camping overnight. We wanted more... more quiet scenery, more time surrounded by the
sounds of summer and the sounds of shores beyond our own.

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Jim Cluett, W1PID, an expert outdoorsman and QRP field operator, is a frequent contributor to The ARS Sojourner living in Sanbornton, NH.