WD9EWK/7 from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Mohave County, Arizona - 1-3 November
2002
Updated 23 December 2003
I was going to Las Vegas for a bachelor party over the weekend of 1-3 November
2002, and decided to haul my 5-watt "superstation" (Yaesu FT-817
transceiver, W3FF
"Buddipole" portable multiband dipole) for some radio time on
this trip. I did not intend on a lot of radio operating this weekend,
but ended up with more time than I would have anticipated. And, once
again, lots of fun!!!!!
Friday afternoon (1-2 November, UTC time) from Las Vegas, Nevada
I was operating next to the New York-New York Hotel/Casino along the "Strip"
(Las Vegas Boulevard), grid DM26jc in Clark County, Nevada. I set up my
Buddipole antenna, grabbed my radio and a gel-cell battery, and made my first
QSO at 2154 UTC (1354 local time) on 18.1575 MHz with Mike
KC4VG/6 on
Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay followed by a quick chat with Budd
W3FF in northern
California. On this day, I had several other QSOs with people in the
HFpack
group (KC7MFG in Oregon, KC5UN/m in Houston TX, WB0QQT in Nebraska, and
N3PN in Pennsylvania). On other 17m frequencies I had QSOs with a few
others (K2WS on Long Island NY, KA0PQW in Minnesota, N9ZRT/m in Wisconsin,
W7RUB in Washington state, and KC7DVC in Wyoming).
After just over 90 minutes on 17m, I moved to the 10m band for more fun.
I had one CW QSO, with JA7EYL, and several SSB QSOs (VE6XTC near Edmonton,
6J2YUL and 6J1UN in Mexico, JH3DPB in Japan, VY1MB in the Yukon Territory of
Canada). I spent another 90 minutes up on 10m, making a total of about
3 hours playing radio this afternoon.
Since this trip was for other purposes, I didn't use the radio any more from
Nevada after this afternoon. There will be other times, since it is just
about 300 miles/500km from my home to Las Vegas - a 4.5-hour drive.
UPDATE: My QSO with JA7EYL qualified for the
QRP Amateur Radio Club
International 1000 Mile per Watt award, as this contact spanned 5280
miles (8496km). I received this award in December 2002, and it is
listed on my wallpaper page for WD9EWK.
Sunday afternoon (3 November) from Mohave County, Arizona
After the weekend in Las Vegas, I planned on trying to operate from one of two
locations in Arizona on my way home (along Route 66 in
Kingman, or at the
London Bridge in Lake Havasu City on the Colorado River). Since I left
later than I had been planning on, I did not take the longer route through
Lake Havasu City and decided on trying for Kingman. In order to be on the
air for the 2230 UTC HFpack gathering on 18.1575 MHz I stopped driving about
20 miles/32km northwest of Kingman along US highway 93. This was in grid
DM25uj, in Mohave County
AZ, at milepost 53 (53 miles/85km southeast of Hoover Dam on the Colorado
River). I only made 1 QSO with an HFpacker, Mark
KI0PF in
Colorado, on that frequency. I had one other 17m QSO (K0TBT in Minnesota,
briefly due to poor conditions) before moving up to 10m again. No CW
QSOs, but 4 nice SSB QSOs (AY1ECZ and LU6DF in Argentina, N0TRI near Des Moines
IA, and Adolfo CA0YAM on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean).
I spent approximately 90 minutes playing radio along this busy highway, and
could have stayed longer, but with over 3 hours to go on my drive home - and
having to work the next day - I did not want to be driving too late in the
evening.
QSL information for WD9EWK/7 from Nevada and Mohave County AZ
I already sent out QSL cards for all QSOs I made this weekend. I made
card designs for each location, incorporating the flag of each state and my
call in an image of a vehicle license plate for the state I operated from
during each QSO. If you wish to send me a card, please send it either
through the QSL bureau or direct to me - and I have more information about
that on my QSL VIA WD9EWK page.
Until my next trip.... 73!
WD9EWK/VA7EWK - WD9EWK (in USA) - QSL VIA WD9EWK