The Deep Thoughts
Documentary films are my favorite form of visual entertainment. There is nothing better than settling in to watch a deep dive on something like a particular ecosystem or concept or literary movement. Naturally, I’ve seen most of Ken Burns’ oeuvre and it would follow that I have watched The National Parks documentary. It’s a wonderful and beautiful film in his iconic style. As with all things, it’s not perfect. The thing that grabbed me as I watched it was the number of times people called out that the National Parks are the country’s “best idea.” They used that phrase and variants over and over. All I could think was, “Yeah. I get it. What else ya got?” Years later, I think of that differently.
For me, having a place where anyone can go and sit in the sun is important. Even if it’s sunny and 27 dF. The world is still beautiful below freezing and the silence afforded to those of us who will go out and sit in it is worth more than all the gold in the world. However, the silence is only as golden as the geese will allow. And we’ll come back to that.
I guess what I’m saying is that these places are where we can have shared memories. They’re the scenes of childhood adventures and where we go as adults to maybe take a step back from the heavier responsibilities that come with age. They are truly a force for good in a world that can feel far too fast paced. That’s what draws me outside even in an Ohio winter.
Friday
I managed to pull off a four day weekend as Presidents Day is a day off at my place of business. I took Friday off and it was just what the doctor ordered. The doctor in this case is me. And I’m not a doctor even on TV.
I keep going to West Branch SP – K-1999 because I’m getting closer and closer to my kilo and because it’s the time of year when that park is empty. On this particular Friday, I didn’t see much at all in terms of human presence. It was in the 20s in terms of temperatures and the wind wasn’t too bad, but I did slide the table around so I could sit in the sun and still have my back to the wind.
Most of the bands were either in poor condition or no one was listening. I got to 20-meters and things took off for me. I pulled in about 31 contacts. For the setup, I was using the IC-705 with the AX1. It was a good day for being outside, but the wind did start to pick up a bit. When that happens, things get a little weird and I tend to pack it in if I’m using a vertical. It was a really good day in the park!
QSO Map
Here’s what the QSO Map looked like.
Sunday
But wait! What about Saturday?! Saturday was garbage. High winds gusting up to 30+ mph and temperatures in the teens. That did not sound like any fun. So I stayed inside and listened to my son’s band “jam” in the basement while my daughter had 4 friends over running around upstairs. It was a busy day in our house.
That was Saturday. Sunday it was quieter. After getting everyone where they needed to be, I went back out to K-1999 and set up. This time I used my Chameleon whip and hybrid micro. The wind was still pretty bad and this probably wasn’t the right time to mess around with a vertical of that height, but I clamped it to the table and got on the air while I boiled some water for coffee. I was pretty alone in the park because only an idiot would be out in those temperatures with that wind.
Did I mention that the wind was bad? I had to get up multiple times to save the antenna. It was just wild. It was also the ARRL DX CW contest. Not a great day to be a POTA activator. I squeaked out 13 contacts before calling it quits. No one was hunting and the wind was just too beastly for my antenna. It wasn’t a bad day, just miserably windy. I did survive with a completed activation. That’s called a win!
QSO Map
Here’s what the QSO Map looked like.
Monday
What a difference 24 hours can make. Monday morning was sunny without even a trace of wind. The temperatures were forecast to hit the 40s. That sounded like a winning combination, so I went back out to the park. I set up the Chameleon again to see if I could redeem that setup.
I boiled up some water for coffee and got on the air. Right away, I noticed how wonderfully quiet it was without the wind. The water was flat – something I’ve not seen in a long, long time. I bounced around to several different bands without a lot of success. But by the end of the day, I pulled in 28 contacts. Not too shabby!
The Geese
Over on Mastodon I mentioned that the geese at the park were causing a great deal of QRM. I was corrected and told that it should be QRN by Matt W1CDN. Well, I went and looked. Sure enough QRN is natural interference and QRM is human generated interference. Now, in my mind, I had always mapped QRM to intentional interference rather than natural interference like static or atmospheric conditions. There were, naturally, a lot of jokes about the geese and if they were perhaps bionic or altered in some way.
I am taking the line that geese are more aware than we may give them credit for being and that they are, in fact, creating these disturbances intentionally. I will rest my entire argument on intent. However, a poll was created and geese were determined to be QRN despite their designation as CANADIAN.
Next time, I will have to get a video. This was an enormous group of geese and they were congregated in the water near my position. And they were LOUD. Some of them were at the same pitch as my sidetone and as such were making it difficult to copy. Being as I was the only human I could see, I did have words with them. They didn’t seem to feel like moving off, so I made do.
Geese. Just… Geese.
QSO Map
Here’s what the QSO Map looked like.
Final
Getting outside in the winter is important. The cabin fever is real and it’s always good to get some sun during the darker months. The wind will forever be my enemy as it tries to topply my antennas and blow out the flame on my Jetboil, but it’s a small price to pay in irritation for the joys of getting outside and playing radio.
Thanks for reading and 72!
