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 (http://www.littleriverlight.org/)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?
Bob, that sounds like a great challenge, to find the most unusual places to transmit from!
Gil.
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 (http://www.bigbrutus.org/) - 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 :( .
Those bastards!! :'(
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
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/cockpitbob/brutus_zpsbe220365.gif) (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/cockpitbob/brutus_zpsbe220365.gif)
Quote from: cockpitbob on December 10, 2013, 04:24:58 PM
??? 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.
QuoteI'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.
Quote from: gil on December 10, 2013, 04:52:25 PM
QuoteI'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.
Quotethis world is turning into a bunch of pantie waist, limp wristed, wussies.
Ah, yes, there is that...
Gil.
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 !
Quote from: Lamewolf on December 11, 2013, 07:46:40 AM
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.
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
Quote from: cockpitbob on December 11, 2013, 08:27:57 AM
Quote from: Lamewolf on December 11, 2013, 07:46:40 AM
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
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.
Quote from: cockpitbob on January 19, 2014, 02:58:16 PM
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)
Baghdad Iraq as YI1HD
Quote from: K8hid on January 26, 2014, 09:16:55 PM
Baghdad Iraq as YI1HD
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/cockpitbob/Emoticons/Bow_zps5e1f4f3c.gif) (http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o170/cockpitbob/Emoticons/Bow_zps5e1f4f3c.gif)
I don't know if I should say Awesome, or I'm So Sorry. Either way, you've got stories to tell!
Bagdad would be it, unless you just happen to be in North Korea, which I hope no one has to go there.
I recently activated the 4th floor of the Residence Inn in Cranberry,PA. I'm here on an emergency business trip. I snaked my 20meter end fed half wave wire out the window and tied it off to the light fixture in the ceiling and hooked up my SOTA tuner. Monday pm was the Adventure Radio Scociey's monthlhy 2hr Spartan Sprint (score is number of QSOs divided by rig's weight). The bands sucked as did my fist (really tired) but I made a few QSOs. Not an exotic or bizzare location, but I figure any /P contact beats 10 from the home QTH.
Sounds like you're having fun there in exotic Cranberry. ;D Glad you were able to sneak that wire outside your room, every hotel room I've stayed in absolutely sucked to get RF into or out of with the antenna inside the room. It's as if they built the damn things inside of a Faraday cage! Unfortunately most of them also have the windows sealed shut.
Back in 2012 I was at Burning Man using my Icom 7200 to work some 20meter SSB. As I sat there calling CQCQ a pretty young lady rode by on a bicycle. She stopped and ask what I was doing. I explained about amateur radio and that I could talk to other hams all over the nation. Do you know how hard it is to explain amateur radio to a young lady when she is wearing only a pair of cutoff shorts?
I can't wait, August 25 we will be out on the playa setting up camp. 73'S KA5SIW