John Stevens, K5JS, and I, W5JH, didn't decide to participate in QRPTTF until Friday afternoon (04/25/2003). We were waiting on our day passes from the bosses :-) Because of the late start, we decided to set up at nearby ThunderBird Mountain Park in Glendale, AZ. This park is quite large (maybe 500 acres) and has great views of the surrounding area. It is a very popular hiking area with miles and miles of trails. We set up at one of the ramadas on the back side of the park. I brought my 27 foot mast and some refreshments and John brought the radios and a 44 foot dipole fed with twisted pair. It took us longer than usual to set up because I forgot to bring the guy anchors. We made do by using some Arizona rocks to secure the pole. By 9 AM we were on the air. We worked stations at a leasurely rate stopping to talk to the hikers that were curious as to what we were up to. We used John's call K5JS and switched operators off and on throughout the morning. We weren't there for more than an hour when the park ranger came by and checked us out. He was curious and asked a lot of questions about radio. He talked for a good hour! Finally, he left and we were able to work a few more stations. The highlight of the day was working the KI6DS and group. K7GT and W5YA were the loudest stations heard. They were like beacons - always there. I think we worked a total of 26 stations before breaking everything down at 12:15 PM or so. It was great day to be out playing radio. The Sun was out, not a cloud in the sky and the temperature was around 85-88 degrees. It doesn't get a lot better! Picture links are below.
Jerry Haigwood W5JH
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