I’m amazing. This was my 266th activation and you might think it would start to get boring. Not when I’m there. I’m a seemingly endless source of unique and unexpected blunders that keep it fresh and new. No sooner do I think I have it figured out, then I amaze myself with new and exciting ineptitudes. I did it again.

After a night of thunderstorms and tornados, yes tornados, it was a beautiful morning for portable radio. It was warmish and muggy, but the sky was clear, and the wind was manageable. I decided on an afternoon activation US-6553 Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site for some picnic table portable in the shade of their pavilion. I expected decent propagation with plenty of action. The crowed was thin with only a few cars in the lot, and the pavilion was vacant.

Loadout

• Yaesu FT-891
• ExpertPower 12V 20Ah Lithium LiFePO4
• Begali Expedition
• Packtenna EFHW
• MFJ-904 Travel Tuner
• ABR Industries RG-316 w/ ferrite beads

Station Setup
Deciding to deploy a 40-10 EFHW antenna I chose a new tree. The endfed wire, being 66-ish feet long, I needed a tall tree about 50 feet away to locate the feedpoint within a reasonable distance of my table and rig. The park provides. I got a throw line in this tree, not as high as I’d liked but good enough, and hoisted my wire antenna. There was enough “branch friction” I decided to forgo the seconds required to anchor the throwline. Seconds make minutes and I’m always looking for ways to shave time off of my setup.

Activation
I tuned to 20m, listened, sent QRL a few times, spotted and called CQ POTA at 1905 UTC. KX4BE from Chattanooga, TN heard me two minutes later and came back. The next 7 contacts came in pretty steady, about one a minute then everybody left. It took eight minutes to attract the next QSO. A little too relaxed.

So, I QSY’d to 30m (tuner) – nothin’ – then 17 and found two Qs. By 1945 UTC, it seemed like either propagation had just dried up or I was the least popular boy at school. Or so I’d thought until I stood up, turned around, and looked at my antenna wire. Half the radiator was laying on the ground. There’d been enough wind to move the branches of the antenna tree and without the throwline anchored with my usual piñata method, it had slipped loose and the radiator wire relaxed onto the ground. It left me about 6 feet of sloper to hear the world.

I learned a few lessons here so let’s call it a teachable moment instead of rookie blunder.

Lessons
1. Some shortcuts aren’t worth it. It would have taken five seconds to throw lark’s head on the line and hang my throw bag like a piñata. Five extra seconds would have saved 20 minutes of calling into a vacuum.
2. Face the antenna. I know this – have learned it before. But, my life experiences have left me feeling itchy and uncomfortable when my back is to an imagined threat. In my impatience and excitement to get on the air, I chose an antenna-tree I knew would have to be behind me.

Stretching the wire radiator tight again, the propagation woke back up and gave me eight more contacts in eight minutes – like it’s supposed to. I wrapped the activation with a measly 19 contacts but a little wiser for it. All combined, it was a great time outside. The weather and the location were beautiful and though not as productive as I hoped, I still wouldn’t trade it for a day at work.

TNK ES 73,
KA5TXN
DitWit