The forecast for the week was just too good. It was warm and the sun was out. Friday was set to be in the 70s with mostly blue skies and light breezes and that’s exactly what it was. I took the day off and decided that, after getting a haircut, I’d head out to the park and play radio for a bit. It was to be a last hurrah for pleasant weather in 2023.
It seemed to me that a quick run out to West Branch State Park – K-1999 was in order. How could I not take the opportunity to spend the day at a quiet park in the great weather?
I got my end-fed into a tree pretty quickly. It wasn’t a single throw this time, but it got where it needed to be. The TR-45L sprung to life and 40m wasn’t in bad shape. I started to call CQ and had some quick contacts in a nice clump and that was how the activation went. There were rather long spaces between clusters of contacts. More than a few times, I got stepped on by someone who either wasn’t listening or simply didn’t hear me.
That’s really the only piece of frustration with QRP operation. There’s always someone out there who doesn’t hear you and will post up on the same frequency. I never assume malice when I can assume that they don’t hear me. Most of the time, I will pack up and move on, but on that particular day, people were dropping in on top of me during pile-ups and that made for a different kind of challenge.
I was in the field for about two hours, though not all of that was radio. It was quiet and pretty and conducive to walking around and enjoying the breeze. When I was on the air, contacts weren’t flowing like a contest, but I ended up with 26 of them. Not a bad day considering I was moving around the bands a lot more than I would normally do.
It was an impressive spread in terms of locations for contacts. Running less than the full 5 watts that the TR-45L can muster, I managed to get to Maine, Washington State, Texas, and Florida – among others.
Here’s what the QSO Map looked like.
The forecast held. Saturday, it was much cooler and cloudier. Sunday was that cold rain that chills one to the bone. I didn’t venture out after doing some yard chores, so Friday was the only radio activity for me. No complaints. It was a great way to spend a beautiful late fall day.
