I am a relatively new amateur radio operator and my wife Mary and I have been RVing for a few years to provide recreation for our dog, Gia. So, we jumped at the opportunity to combine these interests and take a trip at a different time of year than we normally do. We combined the desert trek with a week-long trip down the California coast to visit all the dog beaches.
It rained our first two days in Quartzsite, which rendered our new solar system unusable. Fortunately, we camped next to our friends Dave (WD6CZY) and Judy (WD6DCD), who had a diesel generator big enough to power both their motorhome and our little trailer. Gia made good friends with their dog Molly.
Mary took some crochet classes from Marcia (KG6FIX) and we made new friends with her and Sam and their dog Nico. The YLRL group also welcomed Mary into their fold. We also learned about Handi Hams and we hope to share that information with our friends who have various disabilities, including my sisters, who are deaf.
I went to workshops about POTA, HF propagation, DXing, antenna grounding, teaching Ham courses via Zoom, grounding and bonding. Unfortunately, due to weather, dog care, and other interruptions, we were unable to participate in the longer activities such as POTA, SOTA, and off-road trip. We’ll do all those next year.
We found a dog park on the north side of town where we made friends with some of the locals and with all the doggies. We got some good advice about local services, including a dog groomer, and the local pizza joint (Silly Al’s).
Eric (WB7OYL) walked me through the steps to make my first HF contact on 15 meters using the event station (W7Q, temporary). (All my previous contacts had been on VHF repeaters using an HT.)
Brent (N7SKV) helped dial in the settings on my new Yaesu 710 radio so that I could actually hear some signals and see the waterfall display. (The Yaesu radios are powerful but not at all intuitive.) I also followed Brent’s advice to snap up a good deal on an external antenna tuner at the swap meet.
A highlight of the week is when Mary passed the Technician license test on the very last day at the ARRL testing area. She had been studying all week and was quite stressed. She was able to enter the final raffle drawing and her number drew a copy of the ARRL Operations Manual.
On the way home, we happened to camp next to Eric (N6OIM) who was also returning to his home from Quartzfest. That was an unexpected surprise.
We came home with many new friends and a shared appreciation of our hobby.
73,
Mark K9GIA
