I took Friday off and managed to get out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park (K-0020) for a bit with my wife and her dog. I decided to leave The Mighty Nacho at home as the weather was questionable at best. For some reason Ohio can’t let go of the snow this year. While my wife would be off hiking for 5km or so (her dog is a Rottie puppy who isn’t quite two years old yet – lots and lots of energy!) so I figured I had more than enough time to get a wire in a tree and make some contacts.
I had a devil of a time getting my line ready to launch into the tree. I have no idea how it turned into such a mess, but I will be taking care of that before my next trip out. I can’t fiddle around for 10 minutes getting the line ready to throw! I’m not that talented, so I’m lucky no one was around to stare at me while I worked to get things set up.
With the line secured and the antenna up, I got to work quickly. In fact, just calling CQ on FT8 at 40m had me in a mini-pile-up almost right away.
I got 10 contacts in well under an hour. Mostly on 40m FT8 with one on 40m FT4 (that for some reason didn’t log) and a few FT8 contacts on 20m. Just about the time things were getting quiet, I tried to text my wife only to see her coming around the corner to cross the field to my station. It was a great activation and despite the grey, cold day, it was a lot of fun. Any time I’m in the field with my radio I’m having a great time.
Here’s a map of what it looked like from PSK Reporter.
And here’s the log:
- W2FIX FN02 FT8 40m
- W9AV EN43 FT8 40m
- N4DWD EM86 FT8 40m
- KA4RSZ EM73 40m
- N4KGO EM73 FT8 40m
- KC9MEG EN52 FT8 40m
- W4NRG FM18 FT8 40m
- KG2CV FN20 FT8 40m
- KD8SCL EM89 FT8 40m
- N4TVC FM18 FT8 40m
- KQ3K EL89 FT8 20m
- WH6A EL99 FT8 20m
- K6KDB DM44 FT8 20m
- NB7B DN31 FT8 20m
What did I learn? Well, my line needs to be dealt with so I can get it out without tangles. I’ve never had trouble with rope before. There’s a first (and last) time for everything, I suppose. I also did NOT do a Winlink email which was something that I’d put on the list but promptly forgot. I will have to do that first thing next time I’m in the field.
What’s next? I’d like to keep getting unique parks. I have two very close to home that should be easy enough to hit. I hope to try one next weekend, but I don’t control the family calendar! Maybe a quick out and back is in the cards. And again, I will try to get a Winlink email in.