We are out here in the US desert southwest, where there are some hills, but it’s mostly flat. Since VHF/UHF radio transmission is primarily line of sight, this can work in a radio operator’s favor, especially if the target radio or repeater is in the hills. I’m set up with a Quansheng UV-K6 with F4HWN … Read more
The record breaking late summer heat wave is over and we’ve had some great kayak fishing for largemouth bass on the Colorado River. It will start getting windy here soon so we don’t want to waste a single day of kayak fishing. It’s cooler, but still 75° before dawn on it’s way to about 100°, … Read more
Another pretty good day of desert kayak fishing on the Colorado River, so a quick post with some photos. A bit of a change in the weather with scattered clouds moving across the Sonora Desert. The clouds had no effect on the blazing heat and we were out early to avoid the triple digit temperature … Read more
We are back on the water for hot kayak fishing from the hot desert southwest. When I say “hot”, I mean “hot”. The fishing has been pretty good under the circumstances, but the weather in the desert has been the big news. It is hot, very hot. I am writing this today because it is … Read more
It’s that time of year, time for the last mountain bike ride of the season. Not only the last ride of the season, but the last ride on our favorite trails, which are now burned. The future is looking more uncertain every day and I ain’t getting any younger, so it might be the last … Read more
We’ve spent most of the month of August running from fire in the Pacific Northwest. The trails in the Cascade Mountains we’ve ridden for years are burned. We spent about a week following the outbreak of the Williams Mine fire camping by the Columbia River to see what would happen. The only thing that happened … Read more
In this post, I will describe basic radio antenna tuning using an SWR meter. For best transmission and reception, antennas must be “tuned” to the frequencies of the radio. When you tune a radio antenna, you are adjusting the length of the antenna so the radio transmits most efficiently. Even though this is the Ham … Read more
Today, we spent the day running from the Williams Mine Fire in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. It’s been a few days now and the fire has grown to 5000 acres and is 1% contained. Estimated containment date is 10-31-24, so our mountain bike riding in this part of the National Forest is done for … Read more
The weather has been nice, a bit on the hot side, but perfect for midsummer mountain biking in the Cascade Mountains. It has been 80-90°F during the day and in the 40’s and 50’s at night. No rain to speak of. It warms up quick when the summer sun rises above the tall forest trees, … Read more
Time for hot mountain biking, in more ways than one, from the Pacific Northwest. Things quiet down a bit after July fourth, but it’s summer. People around here know that the beautiful days of summer are short, so this is a busy time of year for outdoor activities. For the most part, the weather has … Read more