What an absolutely beautiful day at US-0548 Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge.  About 45 degrees.  While an overcast sky looked like dirty dish water and the air carried moisture just marginally on the dry side of mist, it was a stunning day for me none the less!

See, I broke my leg on February 17^th and not to be outdone, my XYL Melissa broke hers more.  My own injury is nothing to write home about (I haven’t told my Mom), but it carries a doctor ordered “no weight bearing” for 6 weeks.  Since my weight is indeed considerable, I’ve tried to honor that part of the bone-doctor edict. This is my first POTA since the snap.

What’s the big deal?  Nothing says sedentary like Ham Radio so somebody wheel me to a key, right?  Wrong.  I’ve built my hobby around portable radio so my operating from home is a little like using an old Army Jeep as a daily commuter.  I mean, it’ll work….. but it sucks.

My youngest, Jessie, is using PTO and FMLA to stay home and care for us I and I decided to reward her by letting her “coolie” me to US-0548 Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge yesterday.  I even awarded her the coveted “second round trip” to retrieve the key I forgot to pack.  Gotta look after your troops, right?!?

David, W5DRT, met me at the Hag HQ covered pavilion and was generous enough to let me mooch off his antenna and battery. Note:  If you know my friends, then you know each would do back flips to get me to a park – which is exactly why you never ask.

While Jessie ran home to grab my forgotten key David used throw line and bag to deploy his Packtenna 9:1 random length wire. Hitting on the first try, he got the wire nearly vertical with the unun elevated about two feet.

We both set up FT-891s and manual tuners, planning to share the single antenna and RG-316 feedline, to run our individual activations in series.

Still keyless, David kicked off his activation on 20m SSB and within moments of spotting, had hunters stacking in the door.  He coolly managed a non-stop pileup for better than 30 minutes.  Smooth operator!

My activation wasn’t as … active.  Hunters were thin on 20m with my 20 watts, though the band seemed crowded.  I found clean air at 14050, called QRL a few times to make sure then sent CQ POTA. Steve, WI5D, from Parksville, MO was first to come back.  Steve seems like a regular CW POTA friend, always hunting – we’ve logged 36 QSOs since I started using CW.

I gathered 10 more – with other stations starting to crowd me and my leg starting to throb, declared the park “activated” and sent QRT.

My Solar Lying App predicted “fair” for 20m and by that, I think they meant Dave’s side of the picnic table would be great and mine would stink.  The two conditions averaging to fair.  But, getting outside, spending time with a friend while he ran a perfect SSB activation, and spending some time beebooping with hunters made for a fantastic Sunday.

I’m already looking forward to next weekend. See you there!

As always,
TNX ES 73
KA5TXN
DitWit