Bob Cunnings NW8L

This year I returned to the Ojito Wilderness for FOBB. The location
up on a mesa overlooking the Arroyo Bernalillito area of the Wilder
northwest of Albuquerque, NM, adjacent to Zia Pueblo lands. A narro
promontory juts out northward from the main body of the mesa, with 
head standing about 300 feet above the surrounding terrain at an el
of 6100 feet. This is a great spot for a QRP station if you don't m
the July heat!

The caprock forms a sheer vertical sandstone wall at the top and th
below are steep with ia lot of loose and crumbling rock. The best w
to climb the ridge at the far left and work up to the wall very gra
over the slopes and terraces below. Then the wall can be followed t
entrance point.

A tree marks a break in the sandstone wall which is one of the few 
offering easy access to the top.

Here a tree is perched precariously on a sandstone shelf supported 
crumbling mudstone.

This year the antenna was a 33 foot doublet with a balanced feedlin
from vinyl speaker wire. The antenna was supported by a 32 ft. tele
fiberglass windsock pole, tied to a juniper tree. It was set up as 
"sloper" with the low end tied off to another juniper tree. This wa
needed since I was making a single-band effort on 20 meters. The ri
trusty Elecraft KX1, with a small self-powered speaker. Power is su
by 8 AA cells in an external pack. RF output is about 3W on 20 m.

Near the edge the rock is broken up, and I set up the shack in this
under the juniper tree holding up the antenna mast, with a "Noah's 
for shade. 

To the West is Cabezon, a volcanic plug, looming on the horizon.

To the North is the area in the Ojito Wilderness where the dinosaur
"Seismosaurus" was excavated. The old track you see leads to the 
excavation site.

To the East is White Mesa, where gypsum is mined to make wallboard.

Conditions were variable, with stations fading in and out the whole
I made 39 QSOs, all on 20 meters. 35 were with fellow BBs, and 4 wi
stations. 25 states and provinces were worked: 
ID, CA, MI, WA, IL, OR, GA, MS, WI, WV, ON, NY, AZ, ND, IN, OH, MO,
NM, NE, TX, TN, NC, VA, OK and FL.
Once FOBB was done, I took a few pictures before heading down.

Even though this seems like a tough place to live, wildflowers mana
grow here. It rained quite a bit in these parts in the last 2 weeks
these flowers are blooming.

The juniper trees are pretty gnarled, this one is showing how they 
break up the rock with their roots.

Scattered around on top are old crumpled fragments of heavy iron sh
metal. I've been told that this area was used as a bombing range fo
training of B-17 crews flying out of Kirkland Field during WWII, an
that these are dummy bomb fragments. I don't know if that is true. 
it's a mystery, because there seems to be a lot of the stuff out he

Here is a picture of a stock pond filled by recent rains, east of t
on the way out. I haven't seen this pond filled in years. The last 
I saw it filled it was populated by "desert shrimp", strange crusta
that lurk deep in the ground during dry times, then emerge when the
fills. I didn't get close enough to look for them this time.

See you next year!