It was a good time, involving a very short overnight backpacking trip and a lot of radio operating. The campsite was on the Tuxachanie Trail, near and a little north of Copeland Spring. The hike out was pretty easy and the afternoon was nice. Then the rain started, as completely expected, as was forecast, and as we'd prepared for. Still, it was kind of a bummer trudging back to the truck with backpacks full of wet tents and damp gear.
Contacts... 24. Not a bunch, but more than last year. Most of them digital, all of them at either 5w (voice) or 2.5w (digital). Mostly it was tough going, with a few patches of lucky breaks when a band opened up. Still have to log and tabulate scores, but it was far more important to get the gear unpacked and drying first.
Backpacking details... Too much weight once again, but the hike was very short, only a mile or so from the Airey Lake trailhead. Things stayed pretty dry until the pack-out got going during a soaking rain, but there aren't a lot of good options here with a double-wall tent. At least the key things stayed dry, mostly by pre-bagging them. Finally... it is amazing how small that one-man tent gets when it's raining. It might be worth the extra weight to haul the old two-man tent, even with the 2x weight penalty.
Anyway, lots of fun, and here, have some pictures.
Clockwise from top left: Nice operating outside on a sunny afternoon. Base of W3EDP-mini hanging from a convenient pine; note the bag zip-tied over the unun transformer to ward off the expected rain. Operating inside the tent this morning, 'cause it's raining outside. Finally (bottom left), a zoom-in of the radio gear from the first picture. All the usual stuff to make this go, including the speech compressor in-line on the mic cord, at the bottom of the pic. That thing is pure magic.
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