Eric Kehler (VA7NX) set out with his son and HF go kit to the far reaches of the back country where no other communication is available and from there make a call back home. The site where Eric set up was near the furthest point along the Elaho forestry road far up the valley and overlooking the river with the beauty of the rugged coastal mountains as a back drop. The area truly is a marvelous place to enjoy nature.

Eric set up his home built OCF antenna in an inverted V configuration, it was suspended by a segmented fiberglass pole. It was raised not too high so as to trigger an NVIS propagation pattern as home was only 155km across several mountain ranges. It took around 15 minutes to get the antenna set up and on the air once a spot was located. Right after the first call was put out on 40m two club members (Brett VA7 BWG and Ralph VE7OM) back in White Rock answered the call and a pleasant conversation took place over the next 10 minutes. It was way too hot to operate for long but the exercise was a success and Eric had a chance to test out his gear in the field.

More photos can be seen here: http://www.scenicart.ca/content/return-elaho