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Here's the "DX inn", right on the rocky shore at Chamberlain,
Maine. BADX occupied the lower floor of this comfortable seaside
cottage. Andy Wallace is surveying the view from the antenna
termination platform (er... flagstone patio). |
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We're here for
the seaside reception enhancement, and relatively low electrical noise
But its a pleasant place to hang out as well. Frankly, its too good for
the likes of us!
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A little
kitchen provides all the comforts of home... |
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...and
it looks like someone has laid up a serious store of DX Power Food
for the late nights. |
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This beautiful
sunrise greeted me as I awoke. Isn't that super? Well, maybe not. It
really means that I slept through the crack-of-dawn DX. In fact, we all did,
except for our early bird, John Fisher.
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Ross Comeau
snags a rare latin on 890. He strains to catch the resonant, reverberating
ID. There it is... "La Mega!"... Boston! Oh well, maybe he's
hearing the long path.
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Here's
Gary Thorburn's listening post. Gary used a long wire, an on-the-rocks
dipole, a broadband amplified loop consisting of about 50-feet of wire
in the vertical plane, and a DXP-3 phasing unit by Mark Connelly.
Betraying his preference for stations that are easy to ID,
Gary logged 43 LW beacons in about an hour late Saturday afternoon.
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With CW
skills that go well beyond the beacon ID level, Andy Wallace (KA1GTT) worked
QRP on 30 meters and other bands. Andy is using an Elecraft K2, which
he built himself.
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Here's
a closer view of Andy's station and the K2. Sorry about the flash
reflection, its a beautiful piece of electronics inside and out,
lovingly crafted by Andy. |
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While the
early-rising John Fisher catches some ZZZZs, Paul Graveline keeps John's
radio straining for those weak signals... listen... I think its
"traffic on the threes"! |
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We string
longwire antennas out along the rocks which separate the house from the open
Atlantic. Here's the view to the north along the rocks. |
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This is
the view to the south. In the lower right you can see two orange wires,
the proximal end of antennas running several hundred feet along the rocks.
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We briefly did
the tourist thing when we were out for lunch. Pemaquid light is just a
couple miles from here.
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Andy keeps track
of his contacts. His K1, also an Elecraft kit, can be seen in the background.
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This is the
challenge receiver. Yes, its a radio, the cap is the tuning knob.
We could hear, well, almost nothing on this state-of-the-art combination
radio, flashlight, siren, and Valvoline marketing gimmick. But we put the
siren to good use when John's naps got a bit too long. Say, seems like I
never caught a picture of John in action... where's that siren...
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