Best or Weirdest Places You've Activated

[cockpitbob]

Gil's post in the Morse forum on operating Java Portable got me thinking.  He activated a street-side cafe table.  I bet some of you guys have some very entertaining stories of the strange or unusual places you've operated from.

As for me, the best I can claim is the northern most island light house on the east coast.  Little River Lighthouse off the coast of Maine.  I hung my 40M/20M coupled resonator dipole from the lighthouse and operated from the keeper's quarters where we were spending the night.  The fun part was after an hour and a bottle of wine the keeper and I discovered we went to high school together and were in the same Scout troop 40 years ago.

My 2 ambitions for the spring are to clamp a hamstick to an aluminum canoe and operate /MM in the local river, and on a Scout campout attach an antenna to an outhouse and operate /outhouse portable.  Yeah, I set my sights pretty low.

How about you?

[gil]

Bob, that sounds like a great challenge, to find the most unusual places to transmit from!

Gil.

[KK0G]

Doesn't really rate as weird but I've operated from some beautiful campsites and along the trail. Last year I operated from a spot off of Lovell Canyon Road (road being used as sort of a relative term, more like a trail in places 8) ) in the desert west of Las Vegas. Lesson learned: there are practically no trees to hang wire antennas from in the desert.


I suppose the weirdest place I transmitted from would be from the top of the boom of Big Brutus - a VERY large electric shovel in an abandoned strip mine turned museum in SE Kansas. Back when I visited it they allowed those brave enough to climb to the top of the boom so I took my HT with me and hit few repeaters in the area, I hear they don't allow that any longer :( .

[RichardSinFWTX]

Those bastards!!   :'(

[cockpitbob]

KK0G, you activated a strip mine shovel?!?!?

Now THAT would have made a great QSL card!

??? Hmmmm, would that have been Portable or Mobile ops?  :o

[KK0G]

??? Hmmmm, would that have been Portable or Mobile ops?  :o

Well it's completely immobile now - they removed all the motors for scrap many years ago. Even back when it was in operation it had a top speed of only .22 MPH............ I can crawl faster than that but I suppose technically it would have been mobile.
I'd bet I wasn't the first ham to climb to the top with an HT, although I may have been one of the last.


In any event, if anyone is ever in the area and has even a slight interest in mechanical "stuff", I highly recommend checking it out. For a gearhead mechanic like me it was absolutely fascinating.

[gil]

I'd bet I wasn't the first ham to climb to the top with an HT, although I may have been one of the last.

Hum.. If they don't pat you down, I don't see how they could prevent it...

Gil.

[KK0G]

I'd bet I wasn't the first ham to climb to the top with an HT, although I may have been one of the last.

Hum.. If they don't pat you down, I don't see how they could prevent it...

Gil.

It's not the HT that's the problem, it's getting up there in the first place. I'm just going off of second hand info but a buddy of mine that went there last year told me they don't allow anyone to climb the boom any longer. No doubt due to some lawyer, insurance company, government agency, etc.................... this world is turning into a bunch of pantie waist, limp wristed, wussies.

[gil]

this world is turning into a bunch of pantie waist, limp wristed, wussies.

Ah, yes, there is that...

Gil.

[Lamewolf]

Imagine a 31' Jackite pole supporting a vertical wire and sitting in the middle of a 14' jonboat with the aluminum boat as a groundplane and sitting in the middle of a Southern Ohio lake !  Did that once while fishing and other folks kept stopping by my boat asking me when I was going to hoist my sail. LOL  But it was fun to operate 40 meter CW from my Yaesu FT-817 while on the lake, just wish I had taken the camera with me !

[cockpitbob]

Imagine a 31' Jackite pole supporting a vertical wire and sitting in the middle of a 14' jonboat...

Excellent 8) .  And the risk of tipping and dunking your 817 adds to the adventure.

[Jim Boswell]

Pine Island La.
I was traveling through LA. working on some 6ghz. radio systems and was spending most of my time watching the tower crews. I rigged up a 15meter dipole and made several CW contacts using a NCG tri-bander. One station I worked needed that county for worked all county award. What great fun.  73'S  KA5SIW

[Lamewolf]

Imagine a 31' Jackite pole supporting a vertical wire and sitting in the middle of a 14' jonboat...

Excellent 8) .  And the risk of tipping and dunking your 817 adds to the adventure.

Not with my 375 pouns holding the boat down !! LOL

[cockpitbob]

This weekend I operated Boy Scout Cabin portable. 

Bunk beds, a wood stove and 7 loud teenagers.  Brought my TenTec R4020 and SOTA end fed tuner.  Strung a 20M wire in the cabin rafters but didn't hear much, mostly mid-west USA.  No QSOs on 20M so I Got my 63' wire about 25' up in a tree and through a window so I could operate 40M.  Had a nice QSO from my bunk with someone in IL then in the a.m. I found K3Y/1 special event station for the SKCC.  The other dad in the cabin and some of the scouts showed a good amount of interest.  I may have to organize something for the Jamboree On the Air this year.

[KK0G]

This weekend I operated Boy Scout Cabin portable. 

Bunk beds, a wood stove and 7 loud teenagers.  Brought my TenTec R4020 and SOTA end fed tuner.  Strung a 20M wire in the cabin rafters but didn't hear much, mostly mid-west USA.  No QSOs on 20M so I Got my 63' wire about 25' up in a tree and through a window so I could operate 40M.  Had a nice QSO from my bunk with someone in IL then in the a.m. I found K3Y/1 special event station for the SKCC.  The other dad in the cabin and some of the scouts showed a good amount of interest.  I may have to organize something for the Jamboree On the Air this year.

Sounds like an excellent opportunity for some Scouts to earn the Radio Merit Badge and and an amateur radio license in one fell swoop. 8)