With a week of precious vacation gradually dissolving in the wet and gloomy North Texas weather, I desperately grabbed a BnB in Laguna Park, TX with intentions of activating parks new to me.  These are my old stomping grounds from before I became a Ham.

Loadout

• Elecraft KX2
• Elecraft PD2 Paddles
• 6Ah Bioenno LiPo Battery
• ABR Industries RG-316
• Packtenna 20m EFHW
• POTA30 30ft Carbon fiber telescoping mast

US-3039 Meridian State Park

Up Sunday morning in Laguna Park, fully coffee’d, I headed 21 miles to Meridian State Park, about 50 miles Northwest of Waco.  Just outside of the city of Meridian, the park is smallish but it’s a gem.  The property is mostly dominated by a 72-acre lake with a road and hiking trails around it.  There’s a smidge of primitive camping but like most state parks, the RV’ers get the lion’s share of prime real estate.

I found a table on the edge of the smallish day use picnic area, tied my 30ft POTA30 telescoping mast to a state park grill, ran up my Packtenna 20m EFHW, called QRL, spotted – wait – no cell service.  Zero – zip – nada.  My iPhone asked me if I wanted to text using satellite and I have no idea when that started or what it costs, so no thank you.

I fired up SOTAMat, tuned the KX2 to 14.074 on SSB, and balsted FT8 caterwaul from my phone into the tiny pin hole Elecraft calls an onboard microphone.

I think it worked.  I couldn’t check the spots page, but hunters came back to my 4th CQ.  So something happened out there where the Internet lives.

I got busy on 20m with 5 watts.  N9SZ, Steven in North Carolina, opened the show.  I gathered 17 QSOs in 17 minutes.  Conditions were good and the KX2 ran like a champ.  The mast-on-a-grill method was simple and handy.  On to the next park, 31 miles to Lake Whitney State Park!

US-3032 Lake Whitney State Park

I used to fish the Brazos under the Whitney dam and it’s a fun start-off for kayakers. But, in all my visits, I never visited the state park.

I think State Parks are like pizza; the worst is better than none. Lake Whitney State Park is not my favorite pizza.

It’s mostly RV spots, a boat ramp, and a strip of shoreline for picnic’ers.  The tent camping and day use area shares a common field that’s cleared of most natural trees and brush. 

I might be a little grumpy because it took me four tries to get my throw line over a limb in one of the few trees surviving.  And even then, it wasn’t the limb I wanted!

I set up on 20m, called QRL a few times then sent CQ.  KB4BBF, Larry in Virginia started us off.  I noticed some fading on 20m and heard a few hunters send QSB with their signal reports.  15m was solid, but there’s much less hunter-population there than 20m. 

It was a pretty slow activation, 12 QSOs in about 30 minutes.  I saw five on 20m and seven on 15m.  But a slow activation beats watching TV every time!

I did see a buzzard being weird in a tree.  He just sat there motionless, with his wings spread out wide as they would go.  For a long while.  I had time to watch him, wonder, remember I have a camera on my phone, then get bored and walk back to my business. He could still be there like that for all I know

US-3004 Dinosaur Valley State Park

From Whitney, I headed 52 miles Northwest to Glen Rose.  We’ve been to Dinosaur Valley as a family when the kids were young, and my memories are covered in images of strollers, diapers, and family-logistics.  The park was a surprise.

It’s more of an attraction than a state park.  Folks come to see the footprints, not the nature.  And lawdy there were people.  The area around the park office was like the gates at an international airport – crowded, colorful, and with a roaring babble of different languages.

The day use area is along the Paluxy River with plenty of tree cover – mostly cedar and short oaks – and I found a table on the edge of the area, away from foot paths and traffic.  I opted for the ol’ mast-in-a-grill antenna deployment.

There were allot of activators spotted on 20m so instead of looking for an open spot, I started my activation with hunting and made six park to park contacts on 20m.  Tired of waiting in line to Q, I found a quiet frequency, sent a few QRLs and sent CQ.  Still a little QSB on 20m, I wrapped the activation with 12 contacts, 11 on 20m and one on 10m, before I broke down the station and went looking for dinosaur tracks.

The Paluxy was too high to see the really good prints so I had to settle for what the river would show me.  It was still pretty cool.  An interesting note, there was a good bit of fame associated with successful fossil hunters.  In the true spirit of Indiana Jones, there was no shortage of shenanigans.  Top hunters would steal each other’s bones and hire thugs to intimidate each other as well as the land owners granting access to sites.

It was a great day and a great way to wrap up the year.  Everything went smoothly and the hunters were kind and patient with me.  The weather was perfect, 50’s in the morning and 70’s in the afternoon.  Clear skies and sunshine the whole time.  I left my YouTube filming kit at home and really enjoyed a full day about being outdoors and playing radio.

Today, Monday the 30th, I plan to shoot over to Cleburne State Park and collect another “new to me” POTA entity.  Hope to meet you on the air.

As Always,
TNX ES 73
KA5TXN
DitWit