My birthday turned out to be a fantastic day in terms of November weather for NE Ohio. It was sunny and the sky was perfectly clear. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 40s and there was the slightest breeze. Given that it was my birthday and a Saturday to boot, it was a perfect day to partake of my hobby and get outside. I decided that West Branch SP – K-1999 would be the park of the day.
I can’t emphasize enough how much I love this time of year. Not only is it my preferred weather, but also the park attendance drops significantly. On a Saturday like this one, it’s the disc golf crew and a couple of really, really hardcore fishermen. Maybe the occasional hiker, but it’s rare. I have seen an uptick in nature photographers, which is great! They don’t want to be talking to people any more than I do. In short, people who are out at the park on a day like this one are people who are there with a purpose. It’s wonderful.
My original thought was to use the AX1 since I’ve been really into that little guy, but I changed my mind and put the EFHW up in The Tree. I did not get it into The Tree on the first, second, or third try. So much for birthday luck! Once it was up, I was ready to go.
The thing that POTA gives us as a gift is silly statistics. Why are they silly? Because they don’t mean anything. Maybe they show a level of dedication to the hobby or how often one is getting on the air. That’s a pretty good metric to have around for mental health and all. These stats also give us points of interest. On this particular Saturday, if I got the park activated, it would be my 100th activation! What’s that mean? NOTHING! Again, one of the reasons I love POTA so much is that the points are imaginary and no one ever “wins”.
I got on the air and immediately noticed the my copying was A LOT better. I was grabbing full exchanges now and picking up the subtle differences. I was most pleased with myself when I copied in the parks of other activators who were getting us those sweet Park To Park contacts. This was noticeable improvement. That is exciting!
At one point, I had the wildest experience. A station was calling back to me and it sounded like there was a multi-tap delay and then it devolved into muddled garbage. At first, I thought two stations were doubling so I sent “W0?” because I definitely had that much for one of them. But things didn’t improve. This station had a serious issue. Finally, I made out W0DAN. OK. Cool! Then, immediately after that QSO, W0MM came back to me. What are the odds of that? I mean, probably pretty good, but this was completely new to me! The MM was making picking out the DAN almost impossible. When the stations sent “W0” they were just barely off in their timing. I don’t think either station could hear the other at all. Radio is weird magic.
For the day, I managed 27 CW contacts. It was a really wonderful way to spend my birthday. I can only hope the next 100 activations will be this much fun!
Here’s what it looks like on the QSO Map:
72!
