Great DX...

I decided, despite the CQ WPX SSB Contest, to try and activate Parrott's Bay, CA-5142. Normally on contest weekends I try and refrain from activating parks as it's too much of a hassle fighting for bandwidth.

Today was a little bit different. Instead of posting my activation on POTA Spots I just chased stations from the park, and it worked very well for me, in fact I think I will try this again during the next big contest.

It was a great day on 15m SSB today. I was very happy at how many pileups I broke with my KX3 at 10 watts, and a Hamstick. Is it just me or are there less people contesting these days? It just didn't seem as busy as I thought it would be.

Propagation was fine, but there was a little QSB. The numbers were: SFI=162, SN=118, A Index=10, and the K Index=2. 

First up today was Miguel TO7O, and he was followed by: TI7W, P45A, TI1K, HI3LT, PT1M, 8P5A, J62K, and V47T.

So don't be scared to try and activate a park during a contest, instead of posting a spot, just go and hunt.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

POTA...

Somedays you come across things that make you scratch your head, today was one of those days.

Five years and 876 POTA activations ago I went on line, found the nearest POTA park...and there were not too many in those days...drove there, set up my radio, battery, and antenna and got on the air calling CQ POTA. That was September 18th, 2020. POTA was one of the few activities we could do here because of the Covid epidemic shutdown then happening.

It took a while back then to get the ten required contacts for a successful activation, some days it took over an hour as it wasn't as popular as it has become. In fact you had to explain what POTA was to many of the contacts you made, they had only responded to your call so they could find out what "POTA" was. They all knew what SOTA was, what IOTA was, but POTA, not so much.

We had an excellent guide, the POTA website. It told us all we needed to do, the rules were few and easy to follow...just as they are today. 

So you can imagine my surprise when a friend sent me a link today to a website that is offering a formal course, with a certificate, in "How to POTA". It costs US$99. Who are these people who would pay that price rather than simply read the POTA website? My head explodes every time I think about it. 

Has POTA changed? Have the rules changed? Do operators not understand how easy it is to get out and do POTA? 

You need five things to do POTA, an approved park, a radio, a battery, an antenna, and a way of logging. That's it, there's no course required, and no $99 taken from your wallet, put that money towards a better antenna. It's easy, and you don't need to have a Phd to do POTA. 

Stay Safe Out There....and keep your hands on your wallet!

Propagation...

The latest propagation reports don't look very good.  Here's the forecast for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

Let's hope it gets better for next week.

Stay Safe Out There!

First in Over a Year...

It was a warm day here today, for a change. A remarkable +14C (57F) under clear, blue, skies. Definitely portable radio weather! Most of the snow has now melted and the parking sites are drying up.

I discovered yesterday that Marshlands Conservation Area, CA-5143, had not been activated in over a year...18 months in fact, so I decided to get out there today and get it back on the air.

The propagation was SFI=128, SN=67, A Index=7, and the K Index=3. There was a bit of QSB about as well.

Radio was the KX3 at 10w and the antenna were various Hamsticks. First up today on 15m was Jose, EA1BUL, followed by F5PYI, DL1AX, DL4DBM, F5MQU, and HI8D. All together I worked 27 SSB and CW stations using 40m, 17m, and 15m.

The rest of the week here is looking decidedly wintery, lots of heavy rain and snow just about every day. 

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Saturday was good...

Finally after weeks of below zero temperatures we had a day with positive numbers! It was actually 7C (44.6F) outside during my activation at Parrot's Bay....felt like a heat wave!

Propagation was: SFI=139, SN=41, A Index=10, and the K Index=2. There was quite a bit of QSB around as well that made a few hunters not copyable for me.

I managed to do the whole activation on 15m, complete with a few mini-pileups. Not bad for a SSB QRP station.

As you can see from the contact map below, a good number of QSO's were made into Europe, including a fantastic one with Nasos, SV3SFJ in Greece. That's 730 km per watt, not too shabby!

My activations will start to slow down now for a couple of weeks, as the snow and ice start to melt the park parking lots become fields of mud and are very difficult to get in and out of.  I'll be back at it once everything has melted and firmed up ready for the spring.

Here's the contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!