Remember Pearl Harbor
Greetings from the Flying
Pigs of North Central Tennessee. In keeping with our tradition of taking every
special event we can to get on the radio we have decided to make Pearl Harbor
Day a QRP event for our Flying Pigs Radio Club. We enjoy getting out whenever
the fancy strikes us but when we have a chance to make some special contacts we
jump on it. We agreed that if the weather held we would set up on the banks of
the Cumberland River near Mc Donald's here in Clarksville, TN. When we decided
to go on our outing the weather
forecast was up and down. I decided
that if it was raining that I would take my motor home out for a spin and use it
as a pig pin to hold our radio equipment and assorted pigs who decided to show
up. As luck would have it the rain was coming down on the day of our
outing so it was a no
brainier that the motor home was where
we would be working from. Terry N5HOT, Doc NV4T, Richard KJ4MXI, Lewis KF4WK,
John KX6F and I (John KM6NN) met at Mc Donald's for a little coffee and a bite
before we went out. We were graced with some other ham radio operators from the
Clarksville area who heard about our outing
and wanted to check it out. Jim KT4FQ, and Donnie KK4EKK met with us before we
pulled out. We got word that a few other hams would be showing up after we got
set up. Yea the weather was too much for them to get out and help throw up an
antenna. Just a little wet, but the chill was in the air and wind blowing off
the Cumberland River cut through our cloths like a knife. I had driven to Mc
Donald's in my truck and left before everyone else to go get the motor home. By
the time I got back to our operating area, Terry and Richard had the antenna
almost up. Terry brought his K3 and his home made off center fed
dipole and they were unloading
antennas as quick as they could because of the rain. I pulled in and positioned
the motor home to get the best access for the antenna. By the time I parked
Terry was pulling up the antenna from one end and Richard was pulling from the
other. I moved around and started up my generator to run the heater in the motor
home and fed in the antenna to the operating position. Next I began moving the
radio and assorted keys into the motor home. The rain was a mist at times then
at other times it came down in a steady pattern that just would soak you to the
bone. We all worked fast to get inside and warm up before we started working the
bands.
While we worked Aaron W4AAN
showed up and watched as we scurried
around moving radios and keys to get everything right so as many people as could
would fit into the small space of the motor home. The guys came and went so that
others could check out what we were doing. I later found out they were walking
to the fast food establishments that were located nearby getting coffee and hot
coco. Real good idea as it helped get more people in and out of the motor home
so we could show off our skills on the radio. LOL At one point I looked up and
saw KC0JGF Kan watching as we moved up and down the band. Kan is also a Flying
Pig and comes to our outings as his job allows. Kan is one of our Clarksville
police officers and stays busy fighting crime and leaping tall buildings. Terry
had scouted out special event stations for Pearl Harbor Day and we set about
looking for them on the bands. We searched known locations where they were
suppose to be but had no luck pulling them out. We kept searching as we looked
for any operators that might be available for a QSO. One of the things about
working any radio is that weekends and holidays are the best. You often fall
into a contest that is going on and you can make many contacts without a lot of
searching. Well today was not one of those type of days and we worked the bands
up and down. I got on and moved to 20 meters to see if any DX was on and in a
short time I heard K3RRL Don in Daytona Beach. Don was as steady 599 and during
our QSO I found out he was also working QRP with 5 watts. His antenna was a
fishing pole vertical stuck into the
sand. Man this was cool..... While discussing the Flying Pigs and other QRP
related information, Don told me he knew another QRP operator in Clarksville. He
said that a guy by the name of Lewis had worked him before with 5 watts from
Clarksville. We all got a great laugh when I reported back to Don that Lewis was
sitting right next to me and Lewis gave him a big HELLO . This radio stuff is
too much fun.....Don is a snow bird and lives down south in Florida when the
cold winter blows up in his home stomping grounds of PA. Don is also a member of
another group that we also belong to that does QRP CW only. Real small world or
so it seems.
Next up we got Doc NV4T on the air. Doc usually makes
our first contact but today things got a little mixed up. Doc started on 20
meters but soon moved to 10 meters to check for some good DX. In no time Doc had
a real strong signal coming over the speaker of the K3. France F3AT was hitting
the air with a good signal 589, Ivan lives in Saint Georges sur Baulche France.
As it happened I was able to record the QSO that Doc had with Ivan and I have
attached it to this story as an MP3 file. If you want to hear it just click on
the file and you should be able to copy our first audio file ever associated
with our outings. We tried again to find our special event stations but had no
luck. We moved back to 20 meters and I found W0WM Percy, working from Sissetion
South Dakota. Percy gave us a 579 and he was 599. I found out he was running a
cool 100 watts into his Kenwood radio.
Must have been to keep him warm....... Man 5 watts is a fun way to work when you
can tell people you are QRP and they hear you from around the world. We called a
few more stations then changed radios to the Yaesu FT 817D that Terry brought
along. We just put a CW filter into it and wanted to check out the performance
alongside the K3. Now this is like comparing
apples to oranges but we like radio so much we try anything we have when we are
on the air. The signals were a lot better using the filter and we were able to
get a better handle on working portable with the FT 817D. This radio is our for
hiking and mobile work so we wanted the best we could get from this fine radio.
We played a little more and slowly the guys said goodbye to us so we decided to
call it a day and go home and take a hot shower to warm our bones. You all have
been nice to read our stories and we hope to see you on the air during our slow
speed CW net that we do every day except Sunday on 40 meters. We get on at 1355Z
on 7125 and hope to hear you on the air.
Take care and 72 from John and Flying Pig gang...
