My day started out on the wrong side of the bed.
I over slept and work was not a good one. I was
planning to run up to the north west section of
Berks County in PA to the Appalachian Trail. There
I would set up and try to work Carter, N3AO, in Maryland or Ed, WA3WSJ, on the West Virginia & Virginia State borders where the Appalachian Trail runs. While in route to my operating location I made a wrong turn which I could quickly correct.

My day turned around when I got to the top of the mountain and seen a fellow QRP'ers car sitting in the lot. Ken, N2CQ, from NJ decided to spend the day and work some states from the PA location on the AT. I chatted for a little bit with Ken and his wife while I unpacked my rig. Ken told me that he did work Ed and his signal was very strong. To my surprise Ken told me to use his antenna because they were going to have supper.

When they walked away I listen with a greater intensity for WA3WSJ/QRP. I thought if I could only hear him this would really improve my day. I listen to a conversation on 7041.0 for a few minutes. Each station signed their call and it was not Ed. So I moved down to 7040.0 and called WA3WSJ de WB3AAL KN. To my surprise Ed came back to me immediately after I signed KN. Wow!

We chatted on CW for a little while and then we went to SSB. The band gods were good to us. We had a nice QSO on 40 meter SSB. Ed dropped his power to 100 mW and I dropped down to 950 mW. We still had a very
good QSO at milliWatts levels on 40 meter SSB around 20:00 UTC. I never did hear Carter, N3AO, on 40 or 20 meters.

I went home a happy hiker of the Appalachian Trail. When I arrived home and my wife seen the grin on my face she knew I had a good day on the AT.

A bad day on the Appalachian Trail beats a good day at work!

72 & 73
Good DXing

Ron Polityka
de WB3AAL
wb3aal@fast.net


Link:  Eastern PA QRP Club