12/04/2005 | KB7Q I turned this year's 160 meter contest into a mini-Dxpedition! I have access to a cabin high in the mountains just north of Yellowstone Park now. The four miles of dirt road climbs to 7,000' and requires chains on all tires and four wheel drive. The pay off was no AM broadcast stations, no power line noise, no neighbors, and all the room I want for antennas. Yippee!
I used a five foot helium balloon to fly a 1/4 wave vertical over 60 ground radials. Thankfully I only had one bout of wind and heavy snow to deal with. The antenna was a huge success - what else can you call W.A.S. in 14 hours and single 6.75 hour run of 475 stations! It was SO nice to be on the receiving end of a pile-up for a change. I managed a raw score of 146.9K points.

The setup: Icom 746 Pro, N1MM logger, SGC autotuner, and the little Honda genertor that could!

Can you see the green balloon in the photo and tracks in the snow leading out to the auto tuner?

73, Gene -- KB7Q