Weeks Without POTA?
The past couple of weeks have been very busy and kept me away from my beloved parks and activations. Life is like that sometimes and we have to muscle through it. When I saw a break in the action on Sunday morning, I knew that I had to jump on it. The weather was going to be great and I didn’t have any commitments for a stretch. I knew that I could grab about 90 minutes or so for an activation at Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020.
Tried And True
I’ve been putting together some resonant wire antennas lately and really wanted to pull one of those out, but I knew that with it being Memorial Day Weekend the park was going to be crowded at all of my normal spots and getting a wire in a tree or a mast set up was going to be a hassle. I fell back on my reliable AX1 paired with the IC-705.
It’s fun to experiement and I do love to try new things, but when time is short we have to reach for what we know will provide results. This combination has rarely left me skunked in the field and it’s very quick and easy to put up and tear down. Given that time was a concern, this was really the only kit to take.
The Bands…Again
The good news is that the bands were not complete garbage like they have been of late. But not being bad and being good are two different things. I would put it all at a solid medium for performance. It didn’t help that there was a contest going on, but the day before the bands had been far worse. It took about an hour to land 11 contacts. One of those in there was a park to park. That always adds a little spice to the mix.
I felt a little rusty. I’ve been practicing my copying at the computer on and off during most days, but being in the field is different. It’s all a surprise. There’s no telling when that call will come breaking through the noise or how hard you will have to listen to copy it. It was nice to get back in front of my rig and paddles.
The QSO Map
It’s a pretty good spread given that it was 40 and 20-meters all day long. Here’s what it looks like on the QSO Map:
Final
There are days when all that matters is that I get myself outside and into the field with my rig. Sitting there in the quiet and playing radio is a very peaceful way to spend a bit of time. It’s very intentional and almost meditative. The time flies by and I always head back feeling refreshed. Here’s hoping that I’m able to sneak out a bit more as we hit the long summer days.
