Great Day on the Blue Ridge Parkway with Folding Hexbeam

WM4AA and I set up for HF DX contacts on the portion of the Blue Ridge Parkway just north of Pisgah Inn by about 3 miles. As can be seen in the photos, we set up the folding Hexbeam right next to the ridge drop off.

It was a great public awareness tool for amateur radio. One out of every 5 cars stopped by to inquire what we were doing. They were so surprised to find out that people still use Morse Code. Even the state park ranger stopped by. He was a ham himself. We got asked some really strange questions like "Are you guys with the NSA?

We made some good contacts to fill out our DXCC slots in the high bands. The 15m and 17m bands were good at making contacts. We even called CQ DX and were answered by many stations.

Our station consists of a K2/100 with LDG ZLPro ATU running 100 watts and a single lever N3ZN paddle and worked exclusively CW.