My First Four Park Rove...

Weather wise Saturday was going to be the best day of the weekend to get out and do things. It was also going to be, according to the forecast, the best propagation day of the weekend as well. So off I went on a four park rove around Northumberland and Hastings Counties.

The drive down the 401 Highway was fine, the crazy drivers must have decided to sleep in, or just stay home as traffic was light and moved very well.

Radio was my trusty KX3 with 10 screaming watts, and of course I used my various Hamsticks. The propagation for the day, and it never changed, was: SFI=165, SN=127, A Index=7, and the K Index=1.

                                                                                                                                                                       

The first park of the day was CA-5637, Goodrich-Loomis Conservation Area. This park is off the beaten track, but easy to find and is about 1.5 hours from my home. I put 12 in the log at this park, all on 40m. I didn't stick around as I wanted to make sure I had sufficient time to get all four parks completed that day.  First in the log was Mark, KD8MIV, in West Virginia.

Fifteen minutes north is CA-5086, Seymour Conservation Area, this site is right off of County Road 30. It was quite busy with hikers and families out for a stroll. The large parking lot allowed me to hide away in a corner out of everyone's way.

This park saw 13 contacts added to the log, and all contacts were made on 20m. First up here was Sherwin, KF0SVO, in Rock Valley, Iowa. 

The next park, CA-5088, King's Mill Conservation Area was about 23 minutes away to the west, and is easy to fine. There is a nice gravel parking area to park in on Wellmans Road, and a million or so ducks in the large pond all noisily awaiting their trip south for the winter.

Another 12 contacts went into the log at this site, all done on 15m. First up was Thomas, SM3NRY, in Nyravagen, Sweden. He was followed by Alex XE1UYS, and Fernando EA8DQP. 

The last park of the day, CA-5089 Sagar Conservation Area was 15 minutes south on Golf Course Road. This spot was the only site that actually had a washroom to use on it.  The other three did not. It does have a large gravel parking lot, and for most of my time there I was the only person there.

I ate a late lunch here and admired the view. It was nice and peaceful. At this park I used 15m, 17m, and 40m and put 16 contacts in the log. First up was Pat, W1WX, in Littleton, Massachusetts. He was followed by a good number of DX stations, all of whom had excellent signals into my location.

It was a great day, and I really enjoyed myself. There are several other parks in this general area that I still need to get to and activate before the snow flies, so hopefully I will get them done in the next few weeks.

Here's the contact map from the last activation of the day:

Not too bad at all for 10w and a Hamstick!

Stay Safe Out There!