Hagerman has to be one of my favorite parks.  At 39 miles from home, it’s close enough to go regularly and far enough away to have actually gone somewhere.  I frequent the day-use picnic area on the North end of the refuge and aside from the occasional hiker, it’s quite secluded.

This morning was beautiful but a chilly 51 degrees and the wind had some teeth.  I had to resort to using the wool cap I keep reminding myself to take out of the car because it’s spring and I won’t need it.  Temperature aside, it was a perfect spring morning.

I fiddled with the Packtenna 20-10 I’d had trouble with before.  With it dry as a bone this time but my Stick Pro still showed 9:1 SWR at best.  Irritating – I’ll take a look at their web site and see what I’m missing.  Pretty sure it’s me.  So, with a disappointed huff, I pulled it down, wrapped it back up, and strung my old faithful – a 40-10 length wire and Sparkplug 49:1 transformer.

Rigs

• Elecraft KX1
• BaMaKeY TP-III

Antenna

• 40-10 wire with Sparkplug 49:1 transformer

Battery

• 20ah SmartPower LiPo

With everything situated, I cranked the KX2 up to 12 watts and hunted, making quick QSOs with one on 15 and three on 20.  The park was distracting and the sky the deep blue you only see in North Texas.  I took a few photos before buckling down to activate.

I locked the VFO on 14.045MHz, spotted on POTA.app and started calling with 5 watts at 11:21 central.  The first hunter came in at 11:21 and 21 minutes later I wrapped up with 16 QSOs.  I had a few quiet spots, but not too shabby for QRP.  The band seemed pretty stable, but it usually is when I run low power.  I assume it’s because if propagation will carry my wee 5 watts to them, it will carry their big honking 40 to me.

I ended the day with 20 QSOs, total.  I know plenty of operators who won’t leave the park with less than 100 contacts in their log and I admire them.  20 works for me right now.  I prefer to avoid that numbing numbers trap that held me during my FT8 phase.

CU AGN ES 73,

KA5TXN Mark
DitWit