Monday at the Park...

The weather and propagation forecasts didn't look very promising when I first looked at them in the morning, it was supposed to be cool and poor propagation.  By the time I had finished my daily walk, things had improved.  So it was home to grab my radio gear and off to Parrotts Bay and another activation.

Parrott's Bay is named after James and Marie Parrott, who arrived there in 1784 as United Empire Loyalists fleeing New York in the aftermath of the American Revolution.

Considering how nice the day had turned out, I was very surprised to find I was the only person at the Conservation Area, and the trails and parking lot were all empty.  It was a very peaceful spot, and the scenery wasn't too bad either.

By the time I finally got myself setup  and ready to go on the air, it had reached a temperature of 21C, under a deep blue sky.  I had to remind myself that it is now October and this type of weather here is highly unusual.  

Radio of the day was my KX3, and my antenna was a hamstick for whatever band I was on.  I could have put up a wire antenna....but I was too lazy 😎

The propagation numbers were: SFI=159, SN=92, A Index=10, and the K Index=2.

I setup first for 40m and managed a total of 7 contacts there before the band went quiet.  I then moved to 20m and didn't make a single contact - between a very noisy band, deep QSB, and it being far too busy to find a quiet spot to operate on, I was wasting my time.  In the end, in a last ditch effort to save the activation I moved to 15m, and what a ride that was.

15m was wide open and busy with signals.  First up was Neal 2E0MNG, closely followed by Jose EA1BUL.  Next up was Steven AC6DX in California......and the rest of the activation went just like that, a non-stop pileup.  

Here's the days contact map:

The Fall Colours are starting to pop out these days.

Stay Safe Out There!!