12/03/2006 | KB7Q It was a lot more fun laying down 64 ground radials up at the cabin on a "blue bird" early October day then waiting for the snows of December. The balloon supported vertical once again played real well. I managed Worked All States the first night of the contest and enjoyed the quiet band conditions - that nasty storm front had come thru Montana several days before the contest start.

The station I hauled up to the cabin was pretty simple: An Elecraft K-2 transceiver, a small amp to give me 150 watts, an LDG tuner, and of course N1MM logger running on a Dell laptop. It was the support gear (Honda generators, big tank of helium, 300 amp/hours of batteries, and food) that filled a 3/4 ton pick up truck!

Highlight of the contest for me was lining up with the "big boys" down on the lower end of the band and working a few JA's each morning just before a southwest Montana sunrise. -- KB7Q