I missed a weekend of radio and I feel it.  Last weekend, I drove down to Clifton to shoot a Sporting Clays tournament with some good friends.  It was a great time; travel, catching up with friends, and punctuated with a healthy dose or regret for not practicing ahead of the shoot.  There’s two parks down there, but the weather was against my POTA intentions – significant thunderstorms.

As for rain – I try not to openly complain.  In Texas, the weather can be spiteful: One derogatory comment about weather and it will change, sometimes for years.  It’s entirely possible that Texans are causing the “global warming” by whining about the summer heat and droughts.  Sorry about that.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and I’ve enjoyed a great weekend of portable radio, this weekend.  I activated US-6553 Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site on Friday and US-2991 Bonham State Park on Saturday.

240503 @ US-6553 Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site

My Friday activation was load of fun from the new picnic tables under the cover of their pavilion.  I raised a Packtenna EFRW on my 10-meter Spiderbeam mast and started with my Elecraft KX2.

Loadout:

• Elecraft KX2
• Bioenno Power 12V, 6Ah LFP LiFePO4 Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery (PVC, BLF-1206A)
• BaMaKeY TP-III Paddles
• Spiderbeam 10m Mini fiberglass pole
• PackTenna Mini Random Wire Antenna (9:1 UNUN)
• ABR Industries RG-316 w/ ferrite beads
• Yaesu FT-891
• MFJ-921 Travel Tuner
• ExpertPower 12V 20Ah Lithium LiFePO4

Propagation had the contacts coming in a little slow, but not terribly so, considering QRP power.  I started on 20 meters, setup my log on HAMRS, found an open frequency, called QRL, spotted on pota.app, and called CQ.

The Activation

The QSB was noticeable and on all bands. It wasn’t the “slightly fading” kind of QSB that you can manage by riding the gain.  It was the disappearing kind – now you hear me, now you don’t. So I worked across several bands, some more open than others. I made a total of 25 contacts:

15m	2
17m	1
20m	14
30m	8
Grand Total	25

Radio Friends

KB5TMU, Levent, saw me on the RBN (HamAlert app), drove out, and joined me.  I changed rigs to my FT-891 with MFJ-921 Travel Tuner for more output power before he arrived. 

We spent some time chatting and dual-hunting using my HAMRS app to find POTA spots, but the propagation conditions seemed really tough, even at 40 watts.  We’d tune to each spotted park and pass they key back and forth to hunt.  I’d hoped Levent would spot and activate US-6553 but he declined.  He’s recently refreshing his CW skills and is more ready than he thinks he is.  I’ll say it right here, spotting a park and calling CQ in CW mode for the first time is no “little thang”.  It’s tremendously intimidating and the anticipation of it generates all kinds of self-doubt and solid reasons to put it off.  I eagerly await his “I DID IT!”.

So I took the key, tuned up on 20m, refreshed my spot, and called CQ POTA at 40w.  Hunters piled up like shoppers outside Walmart on Black Friday!

We had 20 minutes of uninterrupted pileup.  So much so, that I logged on paper and Levent took my phone and logged what I recorded into HAMRS.  It was adrenaline-fueled fun, ending the day with 42 contacts.

15m	2
17m	1
20m	31
30m	8
Grand Total	42

240504 @ US-2991 Bonham State Park

I woke Saturday morning to an overcast sky and drizzle.  I planned to return to Ike’s birthplace but found some pretty serious rain so I turned East in Denison and drove the 30 miles to Bonham State Park.  Lessons learned from yesterday’s activation and Internet murmurs of recent CMEs, Coronal Mass Ejections, persuaded me to go QRO from the start.  I wanted the full capabilities of my FT-891.

Loadout:

• Yaesu FT-891
• MFJ-921 Travel Tuner
• ExpertPower 12V 20Ah Lithium LiFePO4
• BaMaKeY TP-III Paddles
• Spiderbeam 10m Mini fiberglass pole
• PackTenna Mini Random Wire Antenna (9:1 UNUN)
• ABR Industries RG-316 w/ ferrite beads

The Activation

The park was crowded, in my experience there, despite the weather.  I found a picnic table and set up a rain fly which promptly stopped the rain and called out the sun. 

With my mast lashed to a state park grill I set up the FT-891, created a log in HAMRS, called QRL, spotted, and called CQ.  Propagation was still challenged, even at 40 watts, but I got’r done.

The Curious

And I had visitors.  Adults in parks will give you space, pass at a respectful distance, but kids won’t.  Though there are 268,597 square miles in Texas, children are inclined to walk between you and whatever you’re doing.  It’s just how kids are, I don’t mind, I’ve made a few children, myself.

The adults are just as interested, but more subtle.  I can often feel them looking at me, passing slowly at a respectful distance with little pauses, waiting for me to look up and make eye contact.  A smile and shallow nod will usually bring them in.

The first question is always, “Is that Morse code?  Are you talking in Morse code.”  Yup.  “Like in the movies?” Another, “Yup”.  “You know Morse code?”, and yesterday for the first time ever, I answered, “Yup”.  Always before, I’d qualify my answer with, “a little” or “I’m trying”, but this time I just answered, “Yup”.  I guess I do know Morse code … a little.

At this point in their investigation, conversation typically shifts to, “So, what are you doing?” and I take a moment to explain Parks On The Air. I do a little show-n-tell of my rig and antenna to polite ahh’s and oh’s.  I try to be friendly and open, a challenge with my face and usual expression.

I wrapped up the activation with 42 QSOs, a pretty big day for me.

15m	2
17m	1
20m	31
30m	8
Grand Total	42

As always,

TNX ES CU AGN,
KA5TXN
DitWit