Operated portable from Florida recently

[n3pdt]

My work took me to St. Pete Beach, Florida last month and I brought along my Elecraft K1. Was able to get three sessions in. We stayed in the historic Don Cesar Hotel, right on the beach (Gulf of Mexico). Was able to commandeer a roof-top terrace area about 70ft. above the beach for set up.

First session I was pressed for time and simply stretch a 31' wire across the terrace and supported the sags with some plastic folding chairs. Was able to work a station in Hamburg, Germany on 20m and a couple east cost stations in NC and NJ.

Second and third sessions I was able to get a NorCal doublet up about 9 feet above the terrace with the ends at about 5 ft. This worked quite well and had some nice rag chews with AR, IL, and KS.

So there I am in a beautiful resort hotel on a gorgeous white sand beach and all I wanted to do was play radio on the roof! In the photo below, my station was on the left hand side upper terrace with the striped canopy and umbrella shapes.

[w5alt]

So there I am in a beautiful resort hotel on a gorgeous white sand beach and all I wanted to do was play radio on the roof!

Yeah, last time I was in Puerto La Cruz I strung an antenna on the balcony and played with my FT817 operating as YV6/W5ALT while my bride was down on the beach.

73,
Walt, W5ALT