BEAT THE HEAT QRP!

 CLARKSVILLE TN.

AFTERNOON TEMP. IN THE 90's SO WE STARTED AT 7AM A COOL 75'

This is John, KM6NN and Lewis, KF4WK

 from Clarksville TN on another QRP adventure. After several weeks of

 off and on contacts with my friends Lewis, KF4WK and Doc, NV4T we

 decided to get on the radio and have a Beat the Heat QRP get together.

 We chose a local location in the older part of Clarksville. The

 Clarksville area has several outstanding places to set up and work

 QRP. Today we picked the RJ Corman Railway Station. This station is no

 longer active but the L & N train at one time ran through Clarksville

 to many places north and south via Nashville.

  We chose to use Lewis' K3 radio and his Buddy Pole. We met at about

 0710 hours our time and started setting up. The Buddy Pole was going

 to be attached to the back of the caboose that is on display next to

 the engine from the RJ Corman line. The Buddy Pole was a snap to put

 together and as Lewis located the parts and assembled them, I set up

 the table and chairs and made ready for the paperwork that was to be

 used for contact information.

 The sun was still low in the on the horizon and a slight breeze made

 working a little better than what was to come in a short time as the

 sun came over the buildings to our east.

 In no time flat I climbed the back of the caboose and attached the

 Buddy Pole to the top of the ladder. While I was setting up the

 antenna Lewis connected the K3 to the other end, he  attached the

 power and away we went.

 We set up the Buddy Pole for 40 meters and the first thing I heard was

 a QSO between W9JK and another station I did not catch the call of. It

 was a rag chew so I rolled off and heard K4BKD calling CQ. The K3 did

 what it does so well and I was on K4BKD in a heartbeat. He was a good

 559 signal and my signal was also a 559 until he changed antennas.

 Then my report went up to 579. Pete is located in Marietta GA and has

 a great signal. He was taking the day off from work and getting some

 things ready for Field Day. He must have been checking out his radio

 Hi Hi... I was listening to 7027 and as soon as I signed with Pete I

 heard W9JK, Jim. This time I called him and he came right back. Who

 said you need more than 5 watts? Anyway his signal was 599 from

 Lafayette, IN.

 He said I had a little QSB but he had solid copy on me. I was starting

 to get excited and I had a little sweat on my brow. That is when I

 realized that the sun had came up and was hitting me  right in the

 face. I looked around and Lewis was sitting in the shade smiling at me

 and drinking a cup of coffee. I guess I was getting a little excited.

 I started to get things together to wrap up the station when I heard

 my call on the K3. It was AE4DT, Jim calling from Cartersville GA. He

 gave me a 569 report and his was the same. He was running 10 watts and

 was solid copy.  As the QSO went on I realized it was time to brake

 down the station and get somewhere that was a little cooler. So after

 signing with Jim, Lewis and I shut down and put away everything with

 great hopes for the upcoming Field Day 2009.

 So long for now and 72 from KM6NN and KF4WK till next time.

 72, KM6NN, John