Durham Region 5 Park Rove...

Once again it was an early morning departure for another 5 park POTA rove. All of these parks were new to me.

The parks were CA-5087 Enniskillen Conservation Area, CA-5635 Long Sault Conservation Area, CA-5638 Ganaraska Forest Conservation Area, CA-5640 Stephen's Gultch Conservation Area, and CA-Thurne Parks Conservation Area.

Three of these Conservation Areas require you to pay for parking, CA-5087, CA-5635, and CA-5640. Unfortunately when you pay for one park, the ticket isn't transferrable to the next park, even though they are operated by the same Conservation Authority. Bit of a rip off I think! There is no explanation why you don't have to pay for the other 2 parks.

The bands were in excellent condition, and I had no issues making contacts in any of the parks. Even the QSB took a day off. The propagation numbers for the day were: SFI=115, SN=61, A Index=19, and the K Index=4. I was a bit worried when I saw the K Index sitting at K4, but it didn't seem to hurt the bands at all. In fact the bands were quite busy.

Furthest DX was with Larry, F5PYI. Larry and I work quite often so it was great to get him in the log once again. But that was it, one lonely DX contact for the day. All five of the parks were activated which was a relief.

The strangest sight of the day was just north of Newcastle, in farming country. There, sitting in the front yard of a house was a Spitfire, Hurricane, and a Me109. Not the average front lawn decor!

All in all it was a good day. The drive home was down a very busy highway, which was truly the worst part of the day. But as we keep racking up our new park score the only way to do this is to travel further and further away from the home area.

There will be a few more adventures coming before the snow flies, which shouldn't be too long from now.

Stay Safe Out There!