Many things have changed in the world and my life in the last 34 years. It had been about a dozen years since I had fished and "radioed" from this part of California's Stanislaus National Forest, located in the Sierra-Nevada Mountains.

The most amazing thing I was struck by, is that the exact location that the 1963 picture was taken has been "returned to nature" by the government. The former campground area was closed about 15 years ago, the tables, and other improvements removed. Were it not for some very identifiable rock formations and fishing areas at the nearby river, etched in the mind of the 15 year-old part of me, it would be hard to tell it was ever a campground.

A pine tree with a trunk diameter of 6" is now where my ARC-5 WW2 receiver & single tube crystal controlled transmitter powered by a 12 dynamotor was located. I think trees always make you feel older... small trees that I passed on sidewalks where I grew up, now loom above providing shelter from the Sun to today's school kids walking the same sidewalk.

I found a location a few yards away, and set-up another 40 meter station. It is not 7mc now, it is 7mh; it is not 6 tubes and a dynamotor to recieve, it is a direct conversion receiver driving lightweight headphones. The carefully crafted single tube transmitter with its colorful crystal and plug-in coil atop the chassis is a memory (soon to be exactly rebuilt). Now a few hundred cycles from the receive signal, is my transmitter,sharing the same oscillator, has a couple of transistors that bring about a watt and a half to the antenna, and is powered by a gel cell battery from the shelf of my small burglar alarm business.

The 63 antenna was about 500' of wire thrown up into tree limb after tree limb at an average height of 15'. In the most recent visit, 33' pieces of wire were used. A couple of them counterpoise to ground of the Oak Hills Research "Classic 40" CW Tranceiver. and another was used as a radiator with a small plexiglass isulator at the ends connecting the monofiliament fishline that supports it.

My thoughts about QRP have evolved through the years too! In 1963 the low power single tube transmitter that relied on a WW2 receiver dynamotor for DC high voltage to develop the few watts of power on 7mc was very QRP for the time. My 75 watt home QTH station was QRP, I even joined QRPI a club dedicated to running less than 100 watts! The same club has evolved to QRPIARC where 5 watts is the maximum, and many members are using QRPp- in the milliwatts (including me sometimes...).

I must confess that in the 60s I even built a CW transmitter with a 4-125 tube in the output. Mostly just to see if I could do it. I used it a few days, and then took it apart, reusing the driver stages to build a 50 watt bandswitching CW/AM transmitter, that ran for years. I also helped my friend Rich build his 6' rack mounted 4-1000 amplifier (he did most of the work). I am not at liberty to disclose the level of power that he confided that it "might" be able to generate, but he did actually get a glow out of streetlights when his beam pointed at them on 20 meters. I was lucky, and lived on the side of a mountain and had a quad, and still worked stations Rich could not even hear. Rich is not into radio anymore, and let his license lapse.

Fishing has changed in the area too. In 1963 the limit was 15 trout, today the limit is 3. The California Department of Fish and Game suggests that you not eat alot of these fish due to chemicals that have been found in the fish. These fish are 6,000 ft in the Sierras in a remote rural county in a government controlled forest. The fishing license was not required for the 15 year-old Greg, the license was $27.00 for the 49 year-old Greg. I try to catch and release these days, If I injure the fish I give it away to some hungry campers.

Since the 1963 DXpedition/Family Vacation my Dad is gone, we fished for the last time together in far Northern California and now I wear his fishing vest. I remember that it had alot of flaps, zippers and pockets that seemed to hold alot of mystery too. Well, I have it filled with much the same items and can not remember what is in which compartment, how did he do that?

I am more of a Motel Fisherman these days, tents and camping are not of much interest to the XYL, she has been there and done that. Now it is soft beds not rocky soil, a restraunt and showers. OK, maybe I did read the signs at the nearby campgrounds. Recent Bear sightings in the campgrounds, small animals with diseases, Meat-eating Bees, and the like. I will brave these conditions alone with my battery-powered QRP equipment on another DXpedition & Fishing Trip. Thanks to an understanding XYL, Jeanne, the 15 year-old going-on 50 still can go on DXpeditions.

Recently, I joined the Adventure Radio Club. It is full of people that are going the next step that technology has made possible. Take your small, battery-powered radio to the outdoors and enjoy the magic of radio with the grandure of nature.

I have made lots of trips to the outdoors with my radios through the years, mostly limited to the areas I could park my service van. I suspect I had one of the few Alarm Company Service Vans with 3 extra batteries, isolation diodes, relays, and a 2nd alternator dedicated to the communications batteries. Since it had an automatic transmission, I needed to have the starting battery divorced from the radios. I used to carry 2 meter and Business Band tube-type FM radios, a Heathkit SB-101 SSB/CW transceiver. I often loaded my WW2 TCS Radio System (1.5- 12.0 mc) into the Van too. -A truck that proudly carried a boatanchor!

I still operate the 1944 Collins TCS-12 today, a newer Van is parked in N.CA with transistor radios and only 1 extra battery. I now have a complete home-built CW radio station & power source in a fanny pack. As long as I can walk I will find new places to take radio and my fishing pole.

Take a radio to someplace special, and make it more special. Create a memory that you can revisit through the years and encourage others to do the same.

72/73- Greg Greenwood WB6FZH