Category: amateur radio

Compton Hollow SRA – K-10386 AAR — 12 December 2024

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My view from the rig at Compton Hollow SRA, K-10386 (POTA). It was cold, snowy, and windy. Did I mention cold? Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max and SOOC.

Friday morning did not dawn, at least the Sun was not visible that morning because of the clouds. I woke with the rest of my family, rolled out, had coffee, and saw them off to work.

The Girl and I then took a nap.

With a little more sleep, I rose and made another coffee and sat down at my desk. After a bit of work, I decided that I wanted to get out for some breakfast and some Waffle House coffee. Yes, I also wanted a pecan waffle.

I got The Girl out to do her morning business and we loaded up and drove over to the Waffle House. I returned with the hash browns and the bulk of my bacon. I decided to brave the weather and activate K-10386, Compton Hill SRA, for the second time. It was about 20 minutes to the site.

There, the snow was blowing sideways and it was very cold. I got The Girl out again because she was holding her poop for walkies. However, it was too cold for walkies, so I let her eliminate (she was running back and forth) and then returned her to rig.

It did not take long to deploy the Chameleon MPAS 2.0 in vertical mode and connect the KX3 to a battery and key. I used my iPhone to log (HAMRS).

I had a phone signal, so I spotted myself on the 40m band and started sending CQ. My buddy Dick was watching the RBN network to see if any sniffers picked up my spot. I called for a few minutes and then abandoned 40m and moved up to the 30m band.

With that change the RBN sniffers picked up my signal (10w) and the POTA tracker spotted me. I started taking calls.

I had turned off the rig while on the 40m band because of the ignition noise. However, when I moved to the 30m band I started the vehicle (for heat) and it was quiet enough. I was less worried about me getting cold than I was for The Girl. She can probably handle it better than I think, but she really does not have much fur and little undercoat.

When the 10MHz frequency I was running ran dry, I moved up the the 20m band and started calling at 14.062MHz. Again, the RBN picked me up and respotted me. My buddy Dick was able to work me (repeat offender) and I finished off my activation.

I ran back out to collect the antenna and put things away (mostly). The wind was rough although the snow was not too bad. It did not take long to recover the antenna and stow the radio.

I jumped back into the rig to warm up. The Girl moved back to the front seat and her perch. I got out my camera and made an image of the horizontally-blowing snow.

We headed for the house. It did not take long to warm up again.

I really should have a pair of insulated coveralls in my rig. It would have been much easier on me if I had and if I had a good pair of cold-weather gloves.

Those were my lessons for this trip. It was a good activation even if the weather was poor.

Life is good.

Daily Image: 02 January 2024 — End of the Road

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This is my first image of the new year. Shot with the Fuji X100V 23mm f/2 at f/2.8 using the Tri-X film simulation.

Happy New Year 2024! I am here in Ozark, Missouri, visiting some of my kids and recovering from a cold. I took the camper to Camping World for a damage estimate and now will see whether the insurance company will cover some of the repairs or I have to bear the cost. But, it needs to be repaired. So, I wait.

The entry of the New Year was uneventful. With my cold, I went to bed about 2000h, done. My kids also turned in early; both are also sick. No, it was not me… she was sick when I arrived and I started shortly thereafter. No, she did not give it to me because it was too soon. No, it is not COVID. I am pretty confident it was the pre-travel stress, travel, camper-damage stress, and exposure to a lot of people along the way.

I will get better, but I might go see an urgent care clinic to get some antibiotics as I feel a chest cold/bronchitis starting.

For now, I am spending my effort healing and recovering from travel. I need to start some work on a couple of outstanding projects. That will be good as I will generate some billable hours. I had no billing the end of December to close out the year.

Once the dust settles on the camper, I will decide how to go see the last set of my kids as I need to see them on this trip. The question will be whether I am dragging the camper or using hotels for the trip there.

My original intention was to head south from Pennsylvania and work some new parks, see some new places, make some photographs, and work my way home. I need my camper to do that. So, my plans are unset until others finish their work.

In the meantime, I will work, rest, recover, and spend time with Older Son and DiL. Older Son and I drove out the Compton Hills SRA last Saturday and activated the park. Well, I activated the park. It was too cold to sit outdoors so I only put up a low-power station. We sat in the rig and I activated using CW mode (Morse Code).

I made the capture with the Fujifilm X100V on walkies with The Girl on New Years Day. It was my first good capture of the year. Life is still good. I am still grateful.

Parks on the Air

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Shot with the Fujifilm X100V.

A couple of weekends ago I decided it was time to not work all weekend. On Saturday morning, The Girl and I headed out, not knowing where I might end up. We walked for an hour out at Silver Saddle Ranch, then headed east on US 50. I was on the phone with my buddy Dick and indicated that I needed to get out and do something away from the house.

At first, I thought I would drive down to Yerington and activate the wildlife management area north of town. But, as I turned south on US 95, I decided that either Buckland Station or Ft. Churchill were both closer and needed to be activated.

Buckland Station won the coin toss. I parked the rig and looked for a place to deploy a wire. Seeing none, I retrieved the drive-on mast mount and the 10m SOTAbeams mast from the rig and set them up. I also retrieved the Elecraft KX3 and a small battery from the rig.

A little wider shot of the Buckland Station deployment. The KX3 is in the foreground and the SOTAbeams mast, random-wire antenna, and part of the drive-on mast are in the background. Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max.
I used the Sagebrush Antenna deployed to near vertical with the distal end affixed to the top of the mast. The opposite end went to a cobrahead adapter and direct to the radio. I threw the counterpoise on the ground around the rig.

I sat down at my folding table with my back to the sun (it was chilly), started a log on my iPhone (HAMRS), and listened on 20m near the QRP watering hole of 14.060MHz. With nothing heard, I called QRL? (“Is the frequency in use?”) a couple of times, then hit the message button to transmit “CQ CQ POTA DE AG7TX AG7TX POTA K” a couple of times, then paused to listen for a caller.

The KX3 station setup at Buckland Station for a POTA activation. Shot with iPhone 13 Pro Max.
While the radio was sending my general call, I spotted myself on the POTA network. After a few minutes, the calls began to come in. I worked each station as I could and even managed a few DX (foreign country) contacts. The most memorable being an OH1 station located in Finland.

I worked the bands for an hour or so and made my quota for an activation. I was cold, so The Girl and I headed home after a brief pit stop.

The door of Buckland Station. This is what arriving travelers and Pony Express riders would have seen a hundred years ago. Shot with Fujifilm X100V at f/8 with Reggie’s Portra film simulation.
I woke Sunday morning again not wanting to spend the day working. So I puttered a bit over my morning coffee and then decided to get The Girl out to walk and do another POTA activation.

I grabbed a snack because my blood sugar has been falling unexpectedly, some water, and a battery for the radio. We loaded up into the rig and headed west to Spooner Summit. I pulled off onto the forest road and parked the rig at the staging area where I like to work.

The Girl and I then headed out to walk before I set up a radio. Again, I talked to my buddy in Montana as I walked. But I kept my eyes open for critters as I have seen a big coyote who is not afraid of humans several times.

She was ready to rest when we returned to the rig, so I gave her some water and put her in the 4Runner. She settled right down for a nap in the sun.

I retrieved the new line-throwing kit from the 4Runner, stretched out the line, and affixed the throw weight. After four or five throws, I was unable to hit my target branch. Instead of fumbling more, I retrieved the drive-on mast mount and the 10m mast from the rig and setup a wire antenna. I again used the Elecraft KX3 barefoot (10-15w of power) and set up my table and chair.

A wind had come up, maybe gusting to 10–15mph, but variable direction. It was kinda-sorta from the south, but was curling around to the point I could not get shelter.

So I put on my heavier hoodie, put my back to the wind (and the sun), and worked the radio. The higher bands have been good lately, so I started on 10m and worked my way down.

Again, it took an hour or hour-and-a-half to make my activation quota and work the bands dry. The sun was falling lower in the sky and I was cold, so I quit.

It did not take long to put away the station and get The Girl out for a last bit. She looked for critters and peed until I called her in and we got into the rig.

It was another good day and a good day for me to get outdoors. The Girl loved it, too.

I learned a few more things.

  • I need practice with the throwing kit. I suspect there is something of an art to using a throw weight and line to hit a particular target.
  • I need some kind of shelter for cool-weather activations. I looked at a fishing hut last year, but did not buy one. A small fishing hut that folds up would make a good operating shelter. I could deploy a heater (I have one) and place a mat for The Girl.
  • My principal reservation about a hut is the lack of windows. I like being outside because (in part) I like the sun and the light. I do not want my activation shelter to cut those things off.
  • I need the means to heat water and make coffee, tea, soup, or a hot meal. I have used the Trangia burner in another stove I have in my inventory. But it is not as handy as I want. Hence, I am working on an upgraded kit and some of the results are posted on this weblog.
  • The iPhone works for spotting myself and for logging, But I think a Rite-in-the-Rain notebook and pencil should be in my field kit. I am thinking again of reducing my dependence on technology, although it is good to be able to spot myself for SOTA/POTA activations.
  • HAMRS is well suited to logging POTA activations. It has features that display other activators and make it easy to log their information for park-to-park chasing.
  • I am not sure I ever documented my post-processing of POTA logs. Most of my activations are multiple parks, at least two. I have a couple of favorite places that are three or four park activations. That means the post-processing of my log requires some editing so that chasers get credit of more than one park. I also get credit for activating multiple parks.
  • The new field cooking kit is coming along. I will have the ability to make a hot drink or food in the field. This is a critical safety issue as hypothermia is real and it does not have to be very cold for it to strike. Hot food and drink are part of combating environmental dangers effectively.
  • I am really enjoying Morse Code. I still operate phone part of the time. But the ability to deploy a small radio kit and make contacts thousands of miles away with a few watts means everything is smaller, lighter, and simpler than a more powerful radio kit.

That is all I can think of. It was a good couple of days in the field. Life is good.

Before I left the park, I walked around Buckland Station for a few captures. This one is of the north-facing side of Buckland Station. Shot with the Fujifilm X100V at f/8 with Reggie’s Portra film simulation.

Daily Image — 10 September 2023

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I love textures. This old log attracted my attention with the combination of surface texture and the play of light on the surface. I made the capture with a Fuji X-E4 and a Voigtlander Ultron 27mm f/2 at f/8. I used the Kodachrome 64 film simulation.

The Girl and I are hiking up near Spooner Summit a lot lately. It is cool up there. The lodgepole pines give a lot of shade and I love the sound of the wind in them. The risk of snakes is less than it is in the sageland. There are lots of things to photograph and the offering changes often with the change in light.

The area was burned a few years ago. Many of the trees are undamaged. But there are plenty of downed trees that can be interesting (both for The Girl and for me). There are also lots and exposed rocks that provide interesting textures.

It will take me a while to exhaust the area of photographic subjects.

On this particular day, The Girl and I hiked our regular trail from the staging area. She sniffed about looking for critters while I explored visually. I found this downed tree and like the texture and play of light across the surface. I made the capture. Post-processing was light with a little change in contrast and a little boost to the color.

When we returned to the staging area, I setup a radio station and activated the park. The site is also a designated Parks on the Air site (actually it is a double — two parks). It was a good day. I am grateful. Life is good.

The Girl Poses

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She would rather be hunting. But she needed a break because she was overheating. Shot with Fuji X-T5 and the Fujinon 33mm f/1.4 at f/4.
While I work through my first morning coffee, I decided to post a capture of my lovely Girl. She will pose for me if I ask. Well, maybe sometimes I have to tell. [Heh]

We have been spending some time every weekend in the national forest at an elevation of about 7,000 feet. It is much cooler there and the pines provide shade and that soothing shooshing sound when the breeze blows through the needles. The lagniappe is that I can play radio a little, hike as much as I want, and enjoy being away from the sounds of Carson City.

I already have enough backlog of photographs to post for weeks. Those are just the captures from the last couple of weekends up there near Spooner Summit. I have many more from our walks at Silver Saddle Ranch.

I am already looking forward to the weekend. I plan on going back to this place. Although, as I think on it, my friend Greg mentioned Hermit Valley out south of us. It is also at elevation and is a new place to explore. I will have a look this week to see if there is a park or a summit to activate. Then I might plan a day trip out there to explore.

Down the (NVIS) Rabbit Hole

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Here is another short entry I wrote some time ago. I am not sure when I wrote it nor why I never posted it. But it turned up when i did a search for draft articles. It is complete, so here it is.

It all started so innocuously. The May edition of the SNARS Crackin’ Static arrived in my email inbox. I started reading it and came across an article about Near Vertical Incident Skywave (NVIS) antennas.

NVIS is very useful for short range high-frequency radio communications. The military uses it for their communications and the Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) uses it for emergency auxiliary communications for their served agencies.

It is also useful for contacting close stations when activating a park (POTA) or a summit (SOTA) when the stations have intervening topography or are beyond ground wave propagation. Ground wave works out to about 50 miles or so (depending on frequency). The first skip is out somewhere over 500 miles or so (depending on both frequency and ionospheric conditions). So there is a gap in between the 50–500-mile range.

This is where NVIS comes into play. The trick is to choose an operating frequency such that the ionosphere will refract near vertical radio waves back to ground. If the frequency is too low, then it is absorbed by the ionosphere. If it is too high, no refraction occurs.

So, the Goldilocks principle applies — the just right frequency is needed.

And so off I go down the rabbit hole, reading about ionosondes (radio stations that test the ionospheric conditions) and the data they produce.

And here I go learning about Lowest Usable Frequency, Critical Frequency, and Maximum Usable Frequency plus a host of associated data and technology.

I love looking at graphs of data as well and learning how to interpret what I see.

This research will probably result in a short note on how to read the data and the charts. If one is a radio operator, then this is important material… provided you want your signal to get through.

A SOTA Weekend

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The Girl passing by my KX1 station while we were on Hot Springs Mountain for a SOTA activation.

I wrote this over a year ago, but never got around to posting it. I am not sure why. Perhaps I set it aside to look for a photograph for the header. Or, perhaps I simply forgot about it. Nonetheless, it is not a bad story so I think I will tell it.

This weekend was a study in contrasts. Saturday, a friend and I drove up to the activation zone of Prison Hill, at the south side of Carson City. The trail to the top is no challenge for the 4Runner and I’m not a hard driver.

So I had the luxury of computer logging, full output power from the KX3, a table to work from, and a nice chair. The antenna was a kit-built EFHW in inverted-L using a SOTAbeams 10m travel mast. It was a fun afternoon with a friend and my dog, although neither of them participated in the radio fun (the friend is licensed; the dog is not).

This morning I decided I had so much fun yesterday that I would do it again, this time Hot Springs Mountain. It was just doggo and me. I attempted an approach from the west side, but the last half-mile was a rough trail of scrabble and I did not think the 4Runner would traverse it.

So I drove around to the south side and up a sand wash. The sand had a little moisture from the last snow and I was able to stay on top of the sand by keeping up my speed.

I expected the sand ravine near the top and there it was. I was sure I could get down to the bottom of the ravine, but figured that’s where I would stay.

So, I got out my KX1 kit (shack in a small Pelican box), a bottle of water, a 3Ah LFP battery (gives just a little more output power from the little KX1 and will run forever), and the SOTAbeams mast.

The SOTAbeams travel mast leaned up against a rock cairn atop Hot Springs Mountain. An end fed random wire is affixed to the top of the antenna for the activation.
Doggo has four-paw drive, but not so this old man. She sprinted back and forth urging me on while I trudged up the remaining quartile mile of trail, pausing now and again to catch my breath.

There was a cairn in the activation zone and I found a way to stabilize the mast against the cairn with a Voile strap I brought along, just in case. I stretched the wire I carry in the kit along the mast and threw the second bundle of wires I use for a counterpoise on the rocks.

The radio matched the antenna readily and the 40m noon net (7.2835MHz) NCO heard me. So I knew I had a working station.

Over the next hour and a half I worked 17 stations on 40m, 30m, and 20m, including a couple of summit-to-summit operators. Doggo sat patiently next to me, enjoying the sun and the view.

I was on 20m when the antenna was blown over by the wind a second time. It had come up near the end of my operation.

I finished landing the fish I had on the line and announced my QRT, followed by a post to the SOTAwatch portal. It only took me a few minutes to tear down and head back down the hill.

I should mention that I used the backup key for this activation. The key I had been using failed during the first part of my activation. Fortunately, I keep the factory key in the kit as a backup. It’s not my favorite key, but it is a working key.

The contrast in the two ops is striking. Saturday was what I’ll GLOTA (glam-SOTA), with all the luxuries one could want in the field. Today I earned my contacts the hard way — by humping up the last, steepest, part of the hill.

Both days were good. Today was better. I’m whupped!

Daily Image — Antenna Testing

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A fellow member of The Tech Prepper’s Discord sent me an antenna to test. The Girl and I took it to Washoe Lake.

I sat on this project for almost three weeks. A fellow member of The Tech Prepper’s Discord channel offered to send me an antenna to test. It is a linked, end-fed, half-wave antenna. It covers the 20m, 30m, 40m, 60m, and 80m amateur radio bands. It is intended to be set up low so that the low bands will provide regional communications (near vertical incident skywave, which is technical talk for bouncing off the ionosphere).

So we drove up to Washoe Lake where I would have room to deploy the antenna. I did not get out a radio, but used the antenna analyzer to test it.

After about an hour of playing with the antenna, I got Sera out to play in the water a bit. It was hot.

Parks on the Air AAR

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The Girl and I stopped briefly at the south side of Mono Lake for a short break. There is still a lot of snow in the Sierra Nevada.

This week I was tasked with travel to Southern California for a field walk. The project is just getting started and doing a site visit is a critical part of forensic engineering.

I activated Manzanar National Historic Site for Parks on the Air. The place is a testimony to the mistreatment of Japanese-American citizens about 80-years ago.
On the way down, I stopped at K-0845, Manzanar National Historic Site. In 2014, Ki and I visited Manzanar on our way back from Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, where I had a project. It was in January, so the weather was good for a visit to Death Valley, which we did. On the way north we spent an hour or so at Manzanar, walking the site and taking in what we, as a country, did to our Japanese-American fellow citizens. It was wrong. The site feels wrong.

Be that as it may, Manzanar is also a designated Parks on the Air park. I wanted to activate it. And time spent outside the rig for a few minutes is always good on a long trip. Sera got out of the rig for a run around while I got out the station. It was hot enough and there was enough traffic that I put her back in the rig.

I setup my folding table and chair under the rear hatch. Sera found a spot in the back out of the sun. It did not take long to put out an antenna and get the station on the air. In less than an hour I made my activation running 15 watts. I put everything away, gave Sera a drink, got one myself, and we got back on the road.

We spent the night at a Best Western in Sherman Oaks. It was noisy with city energy and the neighbors had a small dog that barked. This irritated Sera… she growled and grumbled several times that night. I rested some, enough to be up early to deal with accumulated email and the market.

There is a Denny’s in the facility, so I got some coffee and breakfast. Of course, I took The Girl some of my bacon and sausage, plus a couple of scrambled eggs for her breakfast.

It took about 45 minutes to get to the site and a couple of hours to see what I needed to see. I visited with my clients a bit, then headed back home.

Wisely, I had a reservation for a hotel in Lone Pine, California. This is about halfway between the site and home. I knew I would not want to drive all the way home after spending the morning on the site. So I did the easy thing and stayed over.

The Girl and I had a nice visit of the Alabama Hills National Scenic Area in Lone Pine, California. I also activated the park.
I checked out early Friday morning, got Sera out for a little constitutional, and then bought a biscuit and a coffee from McD’s. I shared my biscuit with Sera and drove over to K-8300, Alabama Hills National Scenic Area, another designated park. I found a spot to setup the station and got Sera out for a bit. She hunted lizards in the willow brush while I got out my radio station and setup the antenna. Again, there was a little too much traffic so she had to stay in the rig. But it was cool in the morning so it was not too bad.

I had my quota after about 45 minutes. The 20-meter band was the go to band for this activation. I worked an Indonesian station and that surprised me. But DX is always welcome.

I put away the station and was able to make a meeting (virtual) using my iPhone at 1100h local. That did not last long, so Sera and I puttered a bit before heading north towards home.

At the north end of Independence, California (I think) is a BBQ place called the Copper Top. It was lunch time as we passed, so I turned back and bought a tri-tip sandwich. With pickles, onion (red onion), and a few jalapeños (and some sauce) it was good. But it was not as good as smoked Texas brisket. I shared a bite of sandwich with Sera, of course.

Then it was time to slug out the home stretch. I was tired, of course. I stopped a few times to stretch, give Sera some water, and get her out of the rig. Still, it was a tough slog.

I learned a few things, of course.

  • I need to either add another set of blue Voile straps, or add a longer set of Voile straps to the antenna kit. The blue straps were not long enough to go around the 4×4 or 6×6 posts at the Alabama Hills site. I had to double the blue straps and then find a rock to keep the mast in place.
  • I really think it would be better to log on the computer than my iPhone, particularly for POTA activations. The larger screen of the computer is simply easier to see.
  • In addition, I was checking the Reverse Beacon Network for my spots. RBN is a great way for CW and digital operators to determine whether their signal is getting out to the spotter stations. The spotter stations decode the signals they hear and post the calling stations callsign, mode, signal strength, and speed to the webpage. If I am spotted, then I know the station is working because other stations are receiving my transmissions. It would be a lot easier to have multiple browser tabs open on the computer than it is to flip back and forth between tabs on my iPhone.
  • I prefer a more leisurely activation, one where I have (and take) time to operate multiple modes and work through all the open bands to take the calls of the park hunters.
  • But, when traveling, it is also a good break to stop for an hour, make at least ten contacts, be out of the rig for awhile, and get Sera out too. This type of activation has a place as well as the more deliberate, longer activation.

In all, the radio play was a nice break from the drive. I gave a few hunters an opportunity to chase a couple more parks. And Sera got a chance to be out of the rig for a while too. It was good. Life is good.

Washoe Lake SP AAR — 18 June 2023

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A little wider view of Washoe Lake and my operating position.

I had not intended any radio play when I rose Sunday morning. But, after getting some work done and then getting The Girl out for a walk, I sat at my work table thinking about what I should do and what I wanted to do.

I have an antenna provided by a colleague in The Tech Prepper Discord channel. It is intended for NVIS (near vertical incident skywave) operations, which is a useful tool for regional communications. The ability of a station to reach others in a range from local to about 500 miles out (or so) is critical for emergency communications.

It turns out this is a useful range for park activations (and summits).

NVIS uses frequencies below about 10MHz, which includes the 30m, 40m, 60m, 80m, and 160m amateur radio bands. I often see other activators using 60m, which is in the 5MHz range and is often available during the daytime hours.

But… I really did not feel like working that hard. (That is, working at testing an antenna.) I have been so busy the last few months that I am a bit burned out. I had a lot of fun in Missouri with my family and working parks on my way out and on my way back. But, there was quite a bit of pressure to get back and get work done (another report).

The report is nearly done (review comments on Monday) and another project will be completed shortly thereafter. But the bottom line is that I am mentally fatigued and need to regroup and recharge.

Field Day will be the coming weekend (24–25 June) and there will be some camping. That will help. But the following week is travel to SoCal for another field walk, then reduce results from that and prepare for upcoming field work.

So, OK, enough whining. The bottom line is that I wanted to get outside (the weather is gorgeous), maybe play a little radio, and not do anything like work.

At that point, I found myself stuck in a mental loop. The question “What do I want to do?” was quickly followed by “What radio do I want to take?” I went round and round, mentally, and could not make a decision.

Eventually, and this took some time, I decided to use whatever was already in the rig. I got Sera and we headed out. I bought a sandwich to share with Sera on the way and we drove up to Washoe Lake State Park (K-2640).

Portrait view of my operating position and Washoe Lake in the background.

I was astounded by the amount of water in Washoe Lake. I know we had a lot of snow over the winter (the melt is not yet done), but all of the areas I normally use were under water. I found a little bit of dry ground, set up the Chameleon MPAS 2.0 in its vertical configuration (thought about using a wire, decided to use the vertical), and setup the ELecraft KX3 with the KXPA100 amplifier.

The island in the water is usually dry and I often setup the station near it… not on this trip. Probably not on any trip in the near future either.

I talked to my buddy Dick a bit while getting equipment out of the 4Runner. But I had to end the call to work on the station. I forgot my earbuds.

The bands were a little noisy. The Sun is busy right now, although the geomagnetic field of the Earth is relatively quiet. I set the radio to calling CQ and spotted myself.

None of the higher bands produced any calls. I had only one on 15m. When I got to the 20m band, things perked up. I worked a couple of nice pile-ups and found I could still copy Morse Code. I struggled with my sending, though. My key kept slipping on the surface of my folding table.

I quit about 1630h local (before we turn over a new day on UTC). It did not take long to put away the station. I got Sera out to play a little. She wanted to get in the water, but I did not want to have a wet dog in the rig… nor did I feel like using the towel on her and getting her all rowdy. (Heh)

In the end, it was a good day. I left with 28 contacts (plenty for my activation), a good deal of Sun and fresh air, and a happy dog.

I did learn a few things, as usual:

  • I really need to have a plan for these outings.
  • My propensity to get caught in a mental loop will be averted if I make such a plan.
  • I need to plan for experimental time, such as testing of the antenna provided by a friend. This is more like work, but is necessary if I am to learn more about radio.
  • The back of my rig is now disorganized. I need to spend some time sorting out the gear in my 4Runner and using the space efficiently.
  • The top of my folding table is too slick for the Begali Traveller key. I need a pad of some kind in the kit for this key. I could have gotten out the N3ZN key and bracket for the KX3 and used it. (It will not move because it is attached to the radio.) But I was already in the thick of the activation when I noticed the key moving.
  • I encountered the usual number of LIDS who will call, send their exchange, and then assume I copied them and logged them. I do not log these callers.
  • I know I had one operator who had a similar call to another I was working. He/she will think I logged the contact; but I did not because I did not copy their call or their exchange.

It was still a good day, even with the mental loop that trapped me for a half-hour. I enjoyed the outdoors. Washoe Lake is beautiful with all the water. The weather is absolutely gorgeous this spring — it is hard to believe it is nearly summer. We are usually much warmer by now. But, I will take it! Life is good. I am grateful.

Contact map for the 18 June 2023 activation of K-2640, Washoe Lake State Park.