You Read That Right
It was a dessert activation. Monday nights are Scout meetings so I figured I could sneak out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 and get an activation in after dinner. I thought of it as a bit of mental sorbet to cleanse the pallette after a long day. It worked out very well!
The past few times that I’ve been out at the park, the local star has been a royal pain. When the sun throws a tantrum, things get crazy for all of us radio folks – not just the QRP operators! As a result, the past couple of activations have been ones that I barely got over the line. Having taken a good look at the conditions for the day in question, it seemed like I might be hitting the right time in terms of solar weather which I normally don’t check at all. My approach is usually one of “Sure, they say the conditions are bad but what does that mean to me in the spot where I’ll be sitting when I’m sitting there? Best test it to find out!” After a few solar tantrums, I at least check to see how much water or coffee to take along.
Tried And True
The gear was predictable. I took the IC-705 and paired it with the AX1. I had my tarp out and everything set up in about 5 minutes. I have this kit down to SOP levels of repeatability. With everything deployed, I didn’t really take any chances. I went straight to 20-meters and I was rewarded.
Moving Around
I managed to get enough contacts for the activation rather quickly on 20. That’s not a shock, but it was nice to get them in the bag. I decided to move to 17 and see what I could hear. It was really, really quiet. I managed to get a contact in Idaho and one in Utah. A friend from Mastodon said I could be heard poking my head out of some serious QSB in Colorado. I can usually tell how well things are going by the number of other activators on the band. I was the only one, so I moved on to 40 to get the local crew. I was not disappointed.
Refreshing
Getting outside on a warm, sunny evening is a beautiful thing. Even if the bands hadn’t cooperated, it was still nice to be the only one at The Octagon. The field around the structure had just been mowed and there was still the smell of cut grass in the air. The birds were busy – including a few crows that were quite disruptive with some QRN (see what I did there?) while I was trying to copy.
The truth is that radio is one of those things where you can only focus on the activity at hand. Careful listening requires attention and when it’s done right all of those other thoughts from the day disappear. After a good hour or so on the air I almost always walk away feeling refreshed and reset. Every thing is cleared out and I can move on to whatever is next without any mental clutter.
QSO Map
With three bands in play, I managed to get 26 contacts. Here’s what it looked like on the QSO Map:
Final
I get the sense that I need to do more of these “Dessert Activations” this summer while we still have the daylight. As has been mentioned to me a few times recently, we’re hitting the solstice and that means that The Long Dark is slowly turning in our direction. I definitely want to make radio hay while the sun shines.
Thanks for reading and 72!
