My free time has been somewhat limited lately, so I’ve been itching to get out for some QRP-portable operating. A rare mid-week opportunity presented itself, so I decided to take a quick bike ride and make a few ham radio contacts while I was out.
I threw some radio gear into my pannier bags and headed out on the Schuylkill River and Perkiomen trails. Before heading back, I made a stop at Lower Perkiomen Valley Park. There weren’t many people around on a Wednesday morning.
My first attempt to put a line into a tree got some great elevation but I missed my target branch completely. My second attempt caught a lower branch. Since I was limited on time, I decided to go with that. My 30-foot wire ended up as a sloper. I used my bike as a tie-off for my halyard and attached my 9:1 unun to one of the handlebars.
I tuned around 30 meters and heard Roger KO5Q calling CQ from Georgia. We chatted for a few minutes but there was some deep fading on the band. Roger said my signal came up to 599 for a bit and faded quickly.
I moved up to 20 meters and called CQ. Enzo VE3VTG called me from the Toronto area. He had a great signal. If I copied correctly, he said he was running 2 watts into a beam.
After that, I packed up the bike for the ride back to the trailhead. The beautiful weather and a couple of QRP-portable contacts were enough to tide me over until the QRP Skeeter Hunt this weekend.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 