FYBO 2012 - Cooler Than Expected

For the 2012 running of FYBO, I went to the same site I used twelve years ago near Deary, ID about 30 miles east of Moscow, ID.  There was plenty of snow on the ground as there had been in 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2004.  However, this year rather than dig a snow pit and sit on the snow, I took a roll-up table and a chair to increase my creature comfort.

Forecast overnight lows for Moscow for Friday night were in the mid-20s with a high around 38 and a cloudless sky. Deary is a bit higher, so I expected it to be some cooler, but still great with the sun out. As I drove through Troy on the way to Deary on Saturday morning, the bank temperature was 11.

I arrived at the site about 1600Z and backpacked the gear the short distance. This was the first time I'd used the dog ball slingshot and it worked great. Two nearly perfect shots into pine trees, tie on the 20 m dipole, and pull it up to 38 feet. Stomping back and forth in the snow single handed took me a quick hour to get the antenna up and ready. I pushed the table legs in the snow and saw that I would need a pit to put the chair under the table. I got that dug, looked at the thermometer that I had just taken out of my backpack, and got on the air.  First QSO was with Ed, WD7Y, in NV.

In 20 minutes I had 6 QSOs.  I looked at the thermometer and it read a big 8 degrees F. It had read 28 for the first QSO, but had not stabilized with the outside temperature. Well, this is a bit cooler than I expected! I kept my hands warm all day with a hand warmer muff that the XYL made just for FYBO several years ago. Two packages of chemical hand warmers helped a lot. Several layers of wool kept the rest of me warm.

The rig was a K2 at 5 W powered by a 7 AHr gel cell and a solar panel. I logged with an old Palm and GOLog by Dave Ek, NK0E. Both did a great job which is more than I can say for the camera battery which wanted to say in my warm pocket before coming outside to work.  Over the 6 1/2 hours, I made 61 Qs, 4 of which were dupes. Several FYBO friends were worked. Among them were Cam, N6GA; Larry (W1HUE, formerly from ID); NQ7RP, Chuck (K7QO), NQ7RP; and Ed, K9EW. The maximum temperature I received was from Bob, N4BP, in FL at 76 while the coldest was from Jed, AD7KG, in UT at 21. There were not many sub-freezing temps.

It was a great sunny day to be in the snow again after eight years!