Oops, I thought I had already posted the results of my "bicycle communications systems" test, but I see I was mistaken. Doh!

I hit the W&OD trail about 1 p.m. on Sunday, and found Bill McCourt WF1L on a local repeater. We changed to the simplex frequency we'll be using for the bike race, and we had solid copy on each other as I wheeled my way west on the trail out of Reston. We bounced back and forth between the repeater and simplex as I progressed through Herndon and on into Loudoun County and Sterling Park. This was a good test of my system, since Bill lives in Reston, about two miles north of our planned fixed site in Reston.

Joe Sheinman W2BHK also joined in while he was driving around CountrySide and Cascades, and again, nothing but solid copy each way. As I slogged my way west, Bill and Joe conversed on the repeater, and I would occasionally switch over to the input frequency to see how my simplex connection was faring.

It was only after I had gone about a half mile or so past the Loudoun County Parkway did I start to lose Bill on the input. If I had to copy him, I probably could have, but it would have definitely taken a lot of concentration. Since Joe was in "North Sterling" and much closer, I could still read him very strongly on the input frequency.

All-in-all, a very successful test. I was able to talk with Bill for over six miles, and at that point, I was about two miles from Ashburn, so I have no doubt that I'll easily be able to communicate with either Reston, Ashburn, or both along the entire length of the W&OD trail between those two communities.