WD9EWK/0 and WD9EWK from northern Minnesota, 14-15 December 2001

WD9EWK/0 in Minnesota

Updated 30 December 2004
I had the opportunity to attend a family reunion in northern Minnesota, and as an owner of the Yaesu FT-817 I wanted to try working HF with this radio from there.  I did not have much free time to work the radio since I had to attend family activities, just a couple of hours in the mornings.  It was cold outside, below the freezing point, so I did not operate outside.  My motel room had two panes of glass for the window, and the outer pane would not open, so I could not run wires out of the room.  Also, being indoors, I did not want to operate in the evenings when I might interfere with TVs in neighboring rooms (my TV went blank when I transmitted on 10m).  With all these limitations, I proceeded to try - and enjoy - working 10m SSB from Minnesota while avoiding the cold weather outside. 

I was in Walker, a small town in Cass County in northern Minnesota - about 200 miles/320km NNW of Minneapolis and St. Paul.  My station was very simple: 

Friday morning (14 December), as WD9EWK/0
I woke up early on Friday morning, and decided I had some time before meeting the rest of my family, so I set up my radio.  I had a magnet mount for a mobile antenna, with an SO-239 connector on it, so I placed an adapter on there so I could put the antenna on there, and have it away from me and my radio.  For 10m SSB (28.300 MHz up to at least 28.600 MHz) I had no SWR problems according to the FT-817, but knew that operating indoors with this antenna might not lead to many contacts.  I tuned around, hoping to hear a strong station calling CQ so I might have a chance of being heard.  The first station I worked was OQ4UN (John, ON4UN - with a special prefix) at 1538 UTC on 28.5148 MHz.  I only had to call him once, he gave me a 59 report - the same report he gave to everyone else he worked.  Since my small station was heard in western Europe, I thought I could work more stations - and so I tried. 

My next contact lasted about 15 minutes or so, with KC3PX near Philadelphia.  Not a long distance compared to Belgium, but this was a fun contact.  Bill, KC3PX, is a school teacher.  He asked if I could answer some questions from his class.  I told him that would be fine.  Five of his students, one at a time, took the microphone.  Each student would say his or her name, spell it phonetically, and then ask their question.  I had never done that before, work a station in a classroom, and it was a fun time!  Bill appreciated my small station, and the class was interested in things like the weather in northern Minnesota, among other things.  At the end of the contact, Bill had his class come around the microphone and the students all said "73" to end the contact.  I worked K2UJ (Randy, in New York state) after that, and then my Friday radio time came to an end. 

Saturday morning (15 December), as WD9EWK
Saturday morning came, and the ARRL 10 Meter Contest was in progress.  I had the entire morning free, as my family activities did not start until 1pm (1900 UTC), so I hoped to make a few contacts in the contest to give other stations a Minnesota contact (and not get bored out of my mind!!!).  I decided to give it a try, this time using just my call WD9EWK in the contest since my location was part of the exchange - and I would not have to say "portable zero" to pinpoint my location.  I operated for about 3 hours, making 25 contacts with stations in 12 US states, 2 Canadian provinces (British Columbia and Quebec), plus stations in 3 other countries (Belgium, Czech Republic, Scotland) with my 5-watt station. 

Could I have done things differently to improve on these numbers?  Sure, if I was outside with this radio/antenna setup, or if I used some other antenna, or if I used my small MFJ-971 tuner with wire (indoors or outdoors), I might have done better.  Again, this trip was not a DXpedition or anything focused on the radio, the radio was simply a nice diversion to pass time while I was up there visiting relatives in cold country.  Considering the increased security measures at airports across the USA, I did not want much more than the radio in my carry-on bag, and I did not want to have more than a single checked bag for my flights, so I could not bring as much with me than I might if I loaded my car for a Field Day weekend. 

Need a QSL from WD9EWK/0 or WD9EWK in Minnesota?
Just drop me an e-mail with your address and QSO information, and I will mail one to you - or send it through the QSL bureau via WD9EWK. 

Until my next trip.... 73! 

WD9EWK/VA7EWK - WD9EWK (in USA) - QSL VIA WD9EWK