Great Weekend on the Bands

The ARRL 10m Contest is in full swing right now, and I have stayed away from that band all weekend. I didn't want to give the contesters any more competition than they all ready have....true story!!  Instead, I spent the weekend activating local parks on 40m and 15m; both of which behaved splendidly.

The propagation numbers have been very good all weekend, and I'm sure the contesters each made a pile of contacts. I was happy with the 64 QRP contacts I made today. My KX3 was in top form as were my hamsticks, it never ceases to amaze me just how well I do during my POTA activations. 

My furthest contact was with OH5TQ in Verla, Finland, he was 6438 km from me. That's a respectable 643.8 km per watt. In second place was IW2BNA at 6414 km away.

While I was out activating the park today I was thinking of my Dad, VE7CVQ (SK), and what he would have thought of POTA and operating portable in a park. My Dad was a Heathkit guy, his "baby" was his SB-101...and I can't imagine him dragging that rig out to a park to play radio. That would have been a foreign concept to him. 

However, as long as I provided the radio, I'm sure he would have loved it.

If the weather holds I'll be back out tomorrow at another park. I know the weather is going to turn for the worse...soon, so I'm trying to get as many activations in the log in the good weather I can.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!