Merry Christmas...

May peace, happiness and goodwill be with you and your family not only on Christmas, 
but throughout the year and beyond. 

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a

Happy New Year for 2026.

Last Activation Before Christmas?...

The question today is: "Can I go 5 days without doing a POTA activation?".....probably not, but I'm going to try. However, given the incoming weather and propagation forecasts for the next week it may be easier than I think.

This morning I drove to Lemoine Point and did a quiet activation there. It was nice and quiet, I suspect most of the usual walkers and dog people are busy doing their Christmas shopping, and have no time for exercise.

Propagation today was: SFI=118, SN=47, A Index=6, and the K Index=1. There was also no sign of any QSB today.

First in the log today was John, K8ELS, from Huntington, WV. Interestingly, John is the third generation of his family to have that callsign. Both his Grandfather and his Dad had it before him. I can't imagine that there are many third generation callsigns out there.

John was also operating QRP, 5w SSB. He had a fantastic signal, a solid S9 into my location. I was using my KX3 at 10w into my usual hamstick antenna. I used both 40m and 15m today, and managed to get 15 contacts in the log. 

The only DX contact today was with Gaspar, KP4GSC, in Puerto Rico, he managed to work me on 15m SSB with a nice S9 signal.

Here's today's contact map:

Stay Safe Out There!!

Nice Day...

Thursday was a nice day around here....for a change. Gone were the negative temperatures, and just to be different we had a positive temperature, with no snow or freezing rain falling from the heavens. It was time to go and activate a park!

I have a choice of two, very close, local parks, Lemoine Point and Parrott's Bay. The last time I was at Parrott's Bay the parking lot was a total mess due to not being plowed after a large snow fall, and I thought that might be the last activation there for the winter as it was turning to solid ice. Well.....unusually for this time of the year they finally got around to cleaning out the lot, so it was off there for a quick activation. 

First up was Gary, VA3GHB, in Halliburton, with a nice S7 SSB signal, and thirteen contacts later I shut down. All contacts were made on 40m with my KX3 and a Hamstick.

Propagation was SFI=119, SN=75, A Index=18, and the K Index=3. I didn't notice any QSB which made for a nice activation. There are a few more days coming up where the weather looks half decent enough to get out and play radio in a park. I can't see travelling too far from home given the uncertainty of the weather patterns we seem to be having. But it will be nice to get away from the noise and Christmas rush, and just relax with the KX3.

Here'e the contact map:

Stay Warm and Safe Out There!

10m Contest...

ARRL 10-Meter Contest is this weekend starting on Saturday, December 14 at 0000 UTC, and concluding on Sunday, December 15 at 2359 UTC. 

Stations may contact any other station, regardless of location, using CW and phone.

The Rules can be found HERE.

I'm hoping to get on for a few hours over the weekend. It's been a long time since I took part in this contest, but this year it looks pretty good propagation wise.

Good Luck, have fun out there, and Stay Safe!!

A Cold Day...

This morning I decided to activate Parrott's Bay, CA-5142. This will probably be my last activation there until the spring unless they decide to plow out the parking lot.....which they didn't do last year. The conservation area is still open, but I needed to turn on my 4-wheel drive to get into the parking lot, as it has about a foot of snow over it.

It was a nippy -18C (0.4F) morning with the wind there today, making antenna changes very uncomfortable.

I started on 40m SSB and called for over 10 minutes and another 8 minutes on CW without a response, This is highly unusual as I can normally scare somebody up on that band....but not today. There were a number of stations on POTA Spots shown working on 40m, but I went looking for them and never heard a single one.

I then moved to 20m and made 22 easy SSB contacts in 18 minutes, so it seems 40m was just being fickle today. First in the log was John, N2XD in North Carolina. No DX was either heard or worked.

Radio was the KX3 with hamsticks for my antenna.

Propagation was: SFI=194, SN=131, A Index=8, and the K Index=0, and no QSB.

Here's todays contact map:

Stay Safe and Warm Out There!!