Monday, March 19, 2012

Trip report with photographs

The Daves, W6DLF  & W6VYC, would like to thank all of you, (almost 80) who contacted us during our expedition to the Death Valley ghost town of Furnace.  Also, thanks to all of you who posted here and those who sent QSL cards.  Commemorative QSL cards for all received will be going out this week.

Here are the pictures with captions from the trip:
Death Valley Expedition Photos/Movie Clip

Despite some harrowing weather and both of us losing our voices, the trip was a big success. These events caused us to miss out on testing some antenna designs such as kite-lifted, full ground plane verticals and DaveC's 20 meter Moxon beam.  And while we got good at taking up and down tall masts, next time we are going to let nature provide antenna elevation in the form of tall trees!

73,
DaveF, W6DLF & DaveC, W6VYC


Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Please use "Comments" to post info

Once we are at the ghost town of Greenwater we will be without any means of communication except ham radio.  If you are a ham who has worked us and can pass information via comments to this post, that would help us.  The Daves, W6DLF and W6VYC

Our travel plans and preliminary schedule

We will stop in Bakersfield on 2/29 and get into Death Valley late on 3/1.  We will try to operate the low bands (160, 80, and 40 meters) in the early morning (5 to 6 am ) and early evening around (5 to 8 pm.)  Dave F W6DLF) will operate PSK31, etc. primarily on the lower bands and Dave C will mostly work SSB on 20 and up.   Hopefully we can develop more of a schedule once the antennas are in place and people can help us post online.  (Please see next post.)

Now we are two...

Our friend Hiroki, AH6CY, will not be able to join us on our adventure tomorrow.  We will miss Hiro's wonderful company and special low-power operating skills. 


Thursday, February 16, 2012

QSL cards and QSOs


Now a word about QSL cards.  These are cards that are exchanged between hams (and sometimes between hams and shortwave listeners).  Here's the QSL card we are using for our expedition.  If you hear us on the air, let us know and we will send you one.

The box at the bottom of the card is filled in to confirm an exchange over the air called a QSO.  Abbreviations like QSL and QSO date back to when Morse code was the main way hams communicated.  Morse code communications often resembles today's texting.  For example, HI HI = LOL



Monday, February 13, 2012

Planning for the expedition

Dave, Hiroki and I planning our trip over lunch.  We met at a restaurant near where we operate our radios by the SF Bay.







- Posted from my iPad

Monday, February 6, 2012

Posted by Picasa
(L to R) Alex Wood, VE7EIS; Dave Crocker, W6VYC; Dave Flack, W6DLF; and Hiroki Kato, AH6CY.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Join us on our trip to Death Valley

The name of my blog is W6DLF, the call sign of my amateur radio station.  On February 29, two of my ham (amateur radio) friends and I are off to Death Valley for our annual radio adventure. I created this blog to share our experiences with family and friends--including other hams.

Once we are on the road you can track us on Google maps using something called APRS. At some point we will be in places where we can't be tracked. But we will never be out of range of communication. The fun of ham radio is that it lets us communicate around the earth without the need for cell phones or the internet.

Stay tuned (an old radio term) and I'll introduce you to my friends, Dave (W6VYC) and Hiroki (AH6CY).  I'll also show you some pictures from our trip last year.  Feel free to ask questions.  We want you on this trip too!