Each year, I spend a weekend in January with some QRP friends in the Delaware Water Gap Recreation Area. We’re all members of a loosely-organized group of QRPers known as the Boschveldt QRP Club. We stay in a cabin at the Mohican Outdoor Center (MOC) near Blairstown, New Jersey. We have come to call this annual trip, “Camp Run-a-MOC.” This year, the Boschveldt crew convened Camp Run-a-MOC over the weekend of January 15-17. There were four QRPers in attendance: WA3WSJ, NK1N, KB3SBC and me. As a bonus, this year’s trip coincided with the National Parks on the Air (NPOTA) event.
Mohican Outdoor Center is run by the Appalachian Mountain Club. It is located within the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and is popular stop-over point for Appalachian Trail through hikers.
Day 1
I rolled into camp around mid-day on Friday and the others were waiting for me in the parking lot. I got out of my truck and threw my backpack into WA3WSJ’s truck and we took off for a hike up to the Catfish Fire Tower. We hiked up the Fire Tower road and connected up with the Appalachian Trail. This location was an NPOTA “twofer.” It encompasses both the Delaware Water Gap (RC07) and the Appalachian Trail (TR01).
While the others were operating pedestrian mobile, I hiked a little further down the trail in search of a good place to hang my EFHW antenna. There weren’t a lot of good options. There were a lot of dense woods up on this high ridge and the trees weren’t particularly tall. I eventually got my antenna up in an inverted vee configuration. It was NVIS at best. I set up my YouKits HB-1B on a convenient flat rock and got on the air.
I worked one station on 20M CW but I didn’t hear much other activity. I moved down to 40M and started calling CQ. I fired off a quick text message to my friend, Carter N3AO, down in Virginia. A few minutes later he answered my CQ. After he spotted me on the cluster, I was soon met with a hoard of very strong signals calling me. However, the pile-up was short-lived and the activity quickly slowed down. About that time, the wind was blowing across the top of the ridge and it started getting cold up there. I packed up and rejoined the others for the hike back down the hill. I ended the day with 17 QSOs, most of them on 40M CW.
Day 2
After breakfast, we all packed up and headed out to the Crater Lake area to activate RC07. While, the others continued on to Crater Lake, I pulled off into the Blue Mountain Lake trailhead parking lot. It was a bit colder than the day before, so I opted to operate “stationary-mobile” from my truck. I set up a 30 foot vertical on the back of my truck, using my bike rack mount, and set up my station in the truck.
I worked several stations on 20M including WA3WSJ who had hiked up to Kittatinny Mountain for a combined SOTA (W2/NJ-003) and NPOTA activation. I heard a lot of activity on 30 meters, so I moved there next. That turned out to be a very productive move. I finished out my session on 20 meters. I worked NK1N who was with KB3SBC several miles away at Crater Lake.
The skies were starting to look threatening, so I started packing up. Over 2m simplex, WA3WSJ told me he had started hiking back down to Crater Lake. I drove over to Crater Lake to join up with the rest of the crew and we soon headed back to the cabin for lunch. It was a short session but I ended with 21 QSOs.
Once again, we had a great winter QRP getaway at Mohican Outdoor Center. The Boschveldt QRPers are already making plans for next year.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 