The First Activation of 2025: Solitude
It was absolutely silent and completely deserted at West Branch SP – K-1999 on 19-Jan. It was Sunday morning at about 10:00 local time and the temperature was sitting at about 20dF. There was a steady 6mph wind and it was a safe bet that no one would be at the park.
West Branch has two pavillions that are publicly available and in good spots for putting up an antenna. But the draw for me has always been the point where the pavillion I used to use was demolished. The view of the reservoir is beautiful and without the pavillion or restrooms, no one goes there except the odd disc golfer passing through on the course.
The reservoir was frozen over for the first time in the past few years. Last year at this time, there was at least one bass boat with a bundled up fisherman casting along the edges of the water. This year, for better or worse, he’d be somewhere indoors staring out the window at the grey sky.
There were no geese. No birds at all, in fact. The trees were stripped bare and the wind had nothing to rattle. The point where I prefer to set up my station was quietly waiting for me when the Jeep crunched across the ice of the parking lot and came to a halt.
Being as it was Support Your Parks weekend, the intention was to get in an activation on Saturday. The weather, however, hovered at around 35dF and alternated between rain and snow. That’s not great for electronics and the wind was high which isn’t great for this operator.
I didn’t log a single activation in December of 2024. That is the first time I’ve gone a month without an activation since I started doing POTA in March of 2022. If I’d known I was breaking a real streak there, it might have forced me to sit in the horrible weather – even operate from the Jeep, maybe! It’s for the best. December was a wild ride of getting things done and uncomfortable weather. Besides, we shouldn’t get too precious about things like streaks in a hobby.
I chose this park to be the first activation of the year because I enjoy it most in the winter. In the summer, there are always families out and people dragging up and down the reservoir with twin outboard engines. People walking through the fields with their dogs might even take an interest in a guy sitting at a picnic table with some weird contraptions and start a conversation. It’s wonderful to see folks out enjoying the park and it’s fun to talk to people about what I’m up to, but the truth is that I prefer the solitude that winter affords.
Tried And True
A side benefit of this season is the lack of leaves on the trees. It was one of the first things that caught my eye when the Jeep came to a halt. The plan was to set up the AX1 as that would get me on 40-meters and would be easy to deploy and quick to pack down. But the sight of those tree limbs was just too much. I grabbed my wire antenna pack from the trunk of the Jeep and marched through the ice encrusted snow down to my spot.
Being badly out of practice, it took three throws to get a line where I wanted it. With that done, the antenna was in place in no time. With it clipped to my backpack, I quickly set up the IC-705. I let the 705 call CQ a few times while I got my log started. Before leaving the house, I’d scheduled the activation on the POTA website and that function seems to have worked like a charm! I’ve never used it before, but I don’t think I’ll ever do an activation without that again.
I did think long and hard about taking along the QMX+ for this trip to the field. The truth of the matter is that knowing that it was going to be quite cold, I defaulted to my best friend the IC-705. Much like my resonant wire antenna, I know it will always perform and I don’t have to think about it much once it’s up and running. The QMX+ will get its first trip to the field when I’m a bit more comfortable with its performance and when I have some more time to sit with it.
On The Air
Given the time of day, 40-meters seemed like a good play. I would get a lot of nearby stations and that was handy because no one out further west than the central time zone would be up and on the air based on prior experience. As it turned out, 40 was in great shape while 20 was rough and noisy. I stuck to 40 and was rewarded.
It took about 30 minutes to grab 17 contacts. I was sitting with my back to the water to keep the wind off of my face, but things changed direction. My gear was good and I could have stayed out a bit longer, but I’m in a stage of my life where I have nothing left to prove when it comes to outdoor endurance. When things got quiet again, I called QRT and packed up.
On my way back to the parking lot, I slipped on a chunk of ice left by a less than courteous park visitor who had decided it would be fun to drive their truck on the snow. The tire tracks froze over and created sheets of ice. I found myself on my side in the snow quite irritated that I’d spilled some coffee. Not all of my coffee, mind you. I am, after all, a professional. As I was getting off of the groud I came down on my knee pretty hard. That wasn’t fun. I have a history with my knees that go back to a car accient in college where my legs were introduced to the dashboard of the car in a head-on collision. Things haven’t been right since.
I made it the remaining hundred meters or so back to the Jeep without incident and got myself squared away for the ride home. The wind was picking up and I felt very, very good about the time I’d had on the air.
QSO Map
The contacts I made were all quite local. Again, given the time of day, the band was in good shape and I was getting people who were awake. Here’s what it looks like on the QSO Map.
Final
It felt good to get outside after being cooped up for most of December. It was the right day for it and given the cold snap we’re in now, it might be a minute before I get out again. The curse of being indoors is, however, broken and with that I will keep my gear at hand. I’ve been working out different combinations of rigs and antennas the past week or so and I’ll have a lot more to say about that as we move through the coldest part of winter and on into a hopeful spring.
72 and thanks for reading!
