Yes!! It's time for Sweepstakes. See the Live Action photos from this years ARRL CW Sweepstakes contest...!!!!!!!!!
So maybe looking at a picture of me sitting in front of a computer isn't so exciting. I, however, had a blast. I like Sweepstakes because it has the longest and toughest exchange of any radio contest: During the 24 hour contest, the goal is to contact as many other ham radio operators as possible and exchange information with them. For Sweepstakes, the exchange is:
Serial number --- Output power level --- Callsign --- First year licensed --- ARRL section. Mine this year was NR 370 A N7RVD 75 CO
I ran 150 watts output to a shortened screwdriver antenna mounted to the ladder. In spite of being under trees, and having to quit early due to lightning, I turned in my third best performance in 15 years. Sweepstakes Rocks!! If you spent the weekend watching football, you missed all the fun. It's not too late to get ready for next year. 73 de N7RVD . .
We are camped at Navajo State Park about 5 minutes away from the San Juan River, another Blue-Ribbon trout stream. As far as I can tell, we lucked into the best campsite in the park. This is our view out the living room/dining room window:
Same view, an hour later.....
I didn't go fishing. I COULD have gone fishing, but I'm not fond of cracking the ice off rod guides. If you've never fished a tail-water or spring creek, the secret is supposed to be small flies. I whipped these out while the weather did it's thing. Clockwise from the top: chocolate brown floss fly, red disco midge, WD-40, clear disco midge, gray floss fly, red floss fly, and an olive/clear disco midge. Sizes are #20 and #22.
Trout don't always gobble these down like they are supposed to. When the going gets tough, I haul out my secret weapon: The triple Beef Steak Sandwich!!! a.k.a. Sparkle Buggers (keep in mind that pull tabs were outlawed because fish ate the tabs. Go figure). A disgruntled fisherman who got skunked on the Green River called these flies "lures" (a derogatory term) after I showed him what I was catching them on.
I stopped by Abe's Fly Shop, THE fly shop on the San Juan River. On the way in, I asked three guys huddled around the entrance how it went. "Oh man it's cold" ones says while the other two slowly nod. "That's what I thought. I'm going to wait until tomorrow" I say. All three slowly nod like that was the smartest thing they'd heard in years. Inside the shop, it's standing room only. The place was packed, elbow to elbow. After waiting an inordinate amount of time to pay for a small purchase, the clerk says "I just don't get it. We've never this busy". I point out that nobody is fishing. They are all standing in his store keeping warm.
On the river the next day, the hatch for the day was a small gray midge about half the size of my floss fly in the lower center photo above. My fly was way too big but still fooled five fish. The steak sandwich netted a fish as well.
Hola Amigos! Que tal? Greetings from New Mexico.
We are hanging out doing typical tourist things: museums, gift shops, restaurants. Ah yes. Good Mexican food after 18 years of gringo grub in the Pacific Northwest. Chile Verde, Chile Colorado, Chile Rellenos, blue corn tortillas. What's not to like? Our dining out budget is taking a beating.
Local tour guides for part of our adventures have been Deb's cousin and her husband. They have been gracious hosts and we have enjoyed their company immensely.
One afternoon, we found a wonderful little mountain hike just minutes from downtown Santa Fe. If you haven't hiked in Western Washington, 100 foot pines shadow forests that are green, lush, damp, mossy, and overgrown. Vegetation abounds; stuff is growing on top of other stuff. Like the jungles of central America, cross country bushwhacking requires a machete. Here, it's a different story --- dry, dusty, open forest of low growing pines, cottonwoods, and pinion. With a stout pair of boots, one could hike in any direction.
Fortunately, the IDPA web page is reasonably current. I hooked up with a the Del Norte pistol club in Rio Rancho and had a blast poking holes in cardboard at 1100 feet per second.
Cold weather seems to follow us. It was 22 or 23 degrees every morning at Navajo Dam. We stopped at Chama, on the way in to Santa Fe, where we planned to spend the night until we found out it was 1 the night before (That's not a typo. It was one degree F above zero). So far, we've frozen every morning this week. The really nice weather is alluding us. I can't really complain. At least we don't need a canoe to get around like the folks in Seattle right now.
We are actually staying in Bernalillo, NM just north of Albuquerque. What can I tell you? Museums, gift shops and restaurant don't make stunning photographs. We have taken some day trips to Taos, Corrales, Madrid, Jemez, and Socorro. The Jemez trip was particularly interesting. We learned a new trick.
After a strenuous hike to the top of Rabbit Ridge to get a scenic overview of the Valles Caldera (a sunken volcanic basin), we found a natural hot springs and had a nice long, hot, soak. After the obligatory espresso stop. I felt whole again. Amen.
Just down the street from the coffee joint was the remains of a Spanish Mission from 1620.
Getting our kicks on Route 66, or above it anyway. We got in two hikes this week --- both less than 10 minutes drive from downtown. On the second hike, to Eldon Lookout, we slipped out AFTER the snow and BEFORE the rain.
At the trailhead, there was a whole bunch of warnings about mountain lion in the area. Yeah, whatever...
Muddy parts of the trail left readily visible boot prints. On our way down, we were surprised to see large cat foot prints on top of the tracks we had left on the way up. A BIG cat had followed the trail behind us for at least 200 yards...
Flagstaff, AZ Nov. 24th, 2008
We are in beautiful Flagstaff, AZ. We showed up just in time to have our leveling system fail (see "breakdowns" link). So far, The weather here is just like Seattle ---- gray, overcast, chilly, and damn damp. Flagstaff is a cute little town even though I40 and the railroad tracks cut right through the middle of it.
We got up this morning with the thermometer pegged at 26 degrees F. There goes the kayaking. Plan B: stay inside and work the CQWW International Radio Contest. This is one of a half a dozen big contests of the year. Tens of thousands of radio operators around the work participate. This serious stuff. The guys who win these things have antenna farms that look like this:
In comparison, see my dinky antenna mounted on the rear ladder. It is a Radio Shack CB whip and a soup can sized loading coil. Nevertheless, I dived in. From the West Coast, one of the tricks is to work the 80 meter band right before, and after, sunrise. 80 meters is a night time band and the radio propagation is toward the darkness. So, just before sunrise, 80 meters is open to the entire Pacific rim: Japan, Hawaii, China, Korea, etc. At the same time, the sun has risen in the east and the solar radiation has ionized the D layer and fried the band for the folks to the east so you can work the Pacific without East coast or Midwest radio signals blowing you out of the water.
I was pretty thrilled. Through the weekend, I had 102 contacts with operators in 30 countries: Aruba, Barbados, Dutch Antilles, Brazil, Canada, China, Japan, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Germany, England, France, Italy, Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro, Cayman Islands, Belgium, Scotland, Galapagos Islands, Russia, Argentina, Spain, Bahamas, Madeira Island (Africa), Grenada, Columbia, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. Best distances were China at 6400 miles and Argentina at 5800 miles --- not bad for a soup can antenna.
It finally warmed up a bit, so Deb and I took a field trip to check out Lake Mary and the Rioridan Mansion. The Mansion dates back to 1904 when it was built by the lumber folks who founded this town --- very interesting use of lava rock!!
Flagstaff is home of the Lowell observatory. The observatory is where the planet Pluto was discovered and where they first confirmed the expansion of the universe. In the 60's, the Lowell staff mapped the entire lunar surface for NASA's moon landings.
Saturday night there was an evening astronomy showing with several large telescopes set up for public use, including the main dome with Percival Lowell's nearly 100 year old, 24" Alvan Clark, refractor telescope. Thru it, I viewed the Gamma Aries twin star. I stuck around after the crowds dwindled. Astronomy undergrads flipped 10" and 15" reflector scopes around so I could view the dumbbell nebula, the Orion Nebula (below) and more star clusters that I will ever remember.
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