2010 - ZS1D Piketberg Portable

Dec 17 - 20, 2010.

Our mountain top location for this trip is about 100 miles north of Cape Town.  1800ft elev.

The multi-band vertical is easy to setup and the station is on-air within minutes.  Antenna is based on a design from the ARRL handbook - multi-band design based on a bottom loaded design.

Scanning the 40m band results in a few local QSO's but nothing too exciting.  We easily establish contact with ZS stations about 1000 miles away.  During the afternoon, 20m opens up with some longer distance dx. 
We easily manage a few QSO's with Europe around 14h00Z.

Our Cabin under the clear Milky Way night sky.

During the late afternoon, 20m grayline allows an easy path to EU.  Soon after that the path switches to NA, with both 20m and 40m paths between 17h00Z - 20h00Z.

 706 with Vertical and the view from the shack

Roelof, ZS1XD taking a well-deserved break from all that dx...

 The field kitchen at the nearby camp site.

 View from the shack - looking east towards the reflection of sunset