07/02/2007 | W7KMV Radio Activity in the Chiricahuas

Three Tucson hams decided to test their remote capability by setting up their equipment in at Rustler Park high in the Chiricahua Mountains.

With Tucson temperatures in their classic pre-monsoon spiral, the prospect of spending a long weekend camped under the pines at 8400 feet was not a hard sell. Plus tagging along would give me a unparalleled opportunity to observe hamo electrus at close range.

Believe it or not, although Dennis,W7KMV and Dave,N0JXB, have been in almost daily radio contact for more than a year, this was the first time they'd met face to face.

Dave's "portable" ham shack included a 40-foot dipole antenna and 100 feet of antenna wire. Dave used a slingshot to fire a fishing line high into the pines, then hoisted another 100 feet of feed line. Dennis and Al,N7SQN, would string their own colorful cables, weaving an impressive spider's web all around our campsites. As the weekend approached and the campground filled up, other cars pulled in, checked out our setup ... and kept driving.

Al arrived Saturday afternoon in a rig that reminds me of George Jetson's flying saucer (with a lot more hay). Between them, Dave, Dennis and Al have 134 years of experience as ham radio operators. So I guess they must have got their licenses when they were, like, two years old?

The boys spent most of the morning trying to find a handy description for three guys with souped-up mobile units and generators camped on a mountaintop, and finally settle for "Class 3A".

Dennis operated out of a truck tent behind the Taco Ma, running a cable through the camper shell and using the tailgate for a desk. He used an 11-year-old laptop to make his first-ever contact on PSK 31 (whatever that is).

In between radio contacts, we managed several hikes along the Chiricahua Crest Trail. Dennis maintains his balance by hiking with an electronic gadget in each hand, including a cell phone, a digital camera, a handi talkie and a GPS. I'm not complaining, all those gadgets have come in handy more than once. We were just starting Friday's hike when we heard what sounded like a vicious battle between a dog and a bear. We didn't know whether to dash downhill and join the fight, or run for our lives. Dennis called Dave on the Handi Talkie and found out that it was not a bear, but a bellowing steer. Here in Arizona, cowboys can still gallop through a public campground whooping and hollering, rope a steer, wrestle it to the ground.

Yup, both the cowboys and the hams were having a Field Day! Submitted by W7KMV's XYL -- W7KMV