Hi Guys,
I go by the name Fred. I"m 65 years old and I have been hiking the White Mountains of New Hampshire for nearly 30 years. I’ve been a HAM since 1991 and it never dawned on me to mix these two hobbies.
Although I have hiked all of New Hampshire’s 4000 footers (NH-48) and the 52 With a View list I hope to do it again and activate these summits as part of SOTA. We’ll see how far these old legs will go.
Thank you so much for warm welcome into this wonderful group. Please recognize that keying CW from a remote peak with a hand held paddle is quite a challenge. My old fingers don’t work as well as they used to, especially in the cold.
Welcome aboard. Of course you will have enjoyed spending money on hiking gear and radio gear over the years. Combining the two hobbies gives you the opportunity to spend more money on gear that meets the extra needs of hiking with radios
My wife and I lived briefly in NH (1981-1982) but with a two-year old and a new baby [both adults now with their own kids] I never got the chance to do any serious hillwalking there.
I and others have posted a lot on that topic. If you search “cold fingers” or “cold hands” on this reflector you’ll find plenty of advice on paddling keys in the cold.
Thanks so much for the advise. Those are some rather ingenious ways to deal with the cold. I can’t help stumbling with old fingers but at least they’ll be warm.
See you again soon!
73,
fred
Welcome to SOTA! What a great playground you have with the White Mountains. I was lucky enough to activate Mount Washington a while back but I have to admit we “cheated” and drove up to near the summit - hi hi! I am hoping to go over again sometime soon once this dreadful disease is not so problematic as we have family in Needham MA.
Hi Nick,
I see that Mt Washington is a 10 point summit. My grandson and I summited in July of 2019. We left from the Cog Station where it was 90 degrees (32C). By the time we hit the summit it was 54 (12C). The wind was gusting over 60 (96 kmh).
Hang in there Nick, I’m sure you’ll be back soon.
73,
fred
Hi Ed,
I’m sure our paths will cross sooner or later. I hike Blue Job W1/NL-024 two or 3 times a week. My home is only .1 mile from the trail head.
73,
fred
Hello Fred,
welcome here. Yesterday we had a cw contact on 17m. Was on the summit DM/NS-122.
I’m a beginner in telegraphy and don’t yet dare to post a spot in cw mode because I’m still afraid of a pileup.
Yesterday I thought nobody would hear me at 17m. And then your call popped up and at first didn’t believe my ears.
That was my first cw qso with the states.
You make my day.
To be repeated soon as s2s.
73 Chris
Hi Chris,
I thought the band was dead and all of a sudden your call sign popped out. Very nice to meet you and hope to work you again soon.
By the way, your signal improved to S9 just after our QSO.
Don’t get to concerned about the pile ups. Take one station at a time and have fun. I’ve been on the radio for a lot of years and I’m still learning.
73,
fred
@WX1S , hope to bump into you soon. I lived in New England back in the 80s when I was in college (Boston). Recently bought a cottage just north of Keene. Hoping to start clocking some time up in NH once our tenants move out in July.
Jack,
Thanks for reaching out. I’m a pretty active hiker but new to SOTA. I spend a lot of my summer months in the WMNF. If you ever get out this way look me up. I live about .1 miles from the trail head at Blue Job W1/NL-024. Parker Mountain is another nice hike that’s close by W1/NL-010.
73,
fred
I live in Thetford, VT and spend quite a bit of time in the WMNF working on my 48 4K. Recently got back into SOTA and planning to activate as much as possible. Mostly solo hikes and activations but always keen for some partner expeditions. If you are interested, let’s try and connect.
