I returned again to a hilltop at the Palouse Ridge Golf Course for mobile afternoon operating session with the KX3 and a simple, speaker wire dipole strung between trees, its twin-lead center about 4 feet off the ground. Weather was cool and sunny with temperatures in the high 30's or so. I got the antenna in place, hooked it up to the KX3 along with my portable key and phones and fired up on 15M CW.
Within the first few minutes I responded to V73NS calling CQ, having no idea about his QTH. Turns out it was Neil Schwanitz in the Marshall Islands! What good fortune for me. As soon as I signed off there were lots of stations calling him. I must have hit it just right since I doubt my 3W would have punched through the pile-up.
From there I QSO'd with Ted in Sioux City, Nebraska, then N1WPU in Maine. I also worked Valery, UA0ZC in Russia.
For me, this is some of Ham radio at its best!
Here is a photo of my gear and antenna just prior to set-up.
This photo is my view of the hillside overlooking the Washington State Palouse. If you look carefully at the photo you can see my dipole crossing the top portion of the picture.
73
N7RCS
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