Ah, The Weather
October isn’t usually kind enough to grant days in the 70dF range here in NE Ohio. The past few weeks have been really good for that. Sunny, clear days with leaves in high color and a light breeze. It really doesn’t get much better than that for me at this time of year. With school back in full force and Scouts doing their thing, we’re outside a lot. And it feels good!
This week in particular was one where some radio therapy was definitely something I needed. We’ve had some health issues in the family over the past couple of weeks and some other things have been putting a lot on my plate, so getting out and not thinking about things was something that definitely fell squarely into the Needs column of my weekly planning.
I looked at my ToDo list and saw that Tuesday was pretty light with weather that was going to be great. As a bonus, the local gas bag didn’t look like it was going to let fly with Yet Another Coronal Mass Ejection so the bands might be open. With it being a Tuesday, none of the parks would be all that busy if I got out in the morning, so I decided that I’d head out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 and set up at the Octagon for maximum quiet.
Getting Gear Outside
Taking the Hardrock-50 out to the Jamboree on the Air event the prior weekend made me think about how I haven’t really leveraged it. I’ve really enjoyed being a QRP flavored activator, but I love this little amp so much. Maybe I’d toss it in and take it along with the battery box just in case I wanted to do some Phone contacts or simply to play with it. When you have a toy, you should give it some time. Otherwise, why do you have it?
Something that I noticed was that the Hardrock actually fits in the battery box. I moved some things around and it fits very nicely. That’s going to be handy for when I take it out in the camper. It certainly takes up less space that way and makes the battery box even more useful.
Tuesday
As I expected, it was very, very quiet at the park when I arrived. The sun was brilliant and the picnic table that they have stashed off almost in the woods was, as usual, available. There was no one around. I put up the Chameleon whip with extension and got set up for CW. I figured that I would do some CW and then switch over to phone. Seemed like a good plan at the time.
I set the Hardrock up so that it was doing about 20-ish watts. For me, this is an egregious amount of power, but we only live once, right? I started to call CW and was picked up by the Reverse Beacon Network at something crazy like 16dB. For a guy who is used to seeing close spots in the range of 4dB to 6dB it did make me chuckle.
I started on 40-meters as is my custom and got answers back quickly. It didn’t take long to get to 10 contacts, but then the conditions changed and 40 got very quiet. I figured I would kick over to 20-meters and see how things were going.
Friends, I haven’t sat in a pile-up that lasted that long before. I called CQ two or three times and then it started and really didn’t stop. There were contacts from all over North America. Europe didn’t seem to be there, but that was OK. Everyone in North America seemed to be hunting my park! I see pile-ups like these on videos, but I haven’t had one like this in a while. Maybe ever. I got to the point where I was just sending a number or a letter that I thought I made out. Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn’t. But there were plenty of hunters to choose from.
I knocked out 49 contacts in about an hour and change. For me, that’s not bad at all! Four of those were Park To Park which is always nice, though only one identified as being a P2P when we were working out the QSO.
I did need to get back to the house to get some things done, so I closed it out there. My intentions to do anything other than CW were put on hold, which was fine! It was nice to get a CW activation. It gave me some thoughts for how I will do things this winter.
Tuesday QSO Map
Here’s what the QSO Map looked like for my Tuesday out and about.
Wednesday – Let’s Do That Again!
My wife had the day off and decided that it would be good to get the puppy out. The pup has been recovering from surgery and is finally ready for longer walks. They did all of the hikes in CVNP last year and the pup really misses it. She doesn’t really understand that her leg wasn’t ready and that’s why walks were not as long. I was made the offer of going along to play radio while they hike. Would I turn that down? No. I would not.
Hilarity Ensues
I used exactly the same setup from the day before. I was getting ready to start calling CQ on 40-meters when I heard a large truck. The Octagon shelter has restrooms. I never thought much about the infrastructure of such a thing as I’m not a Park Ranger or involved in the maintenance of the facilities of my favorite park. I did learn that morning that a septic truck comes out to empty the tanks every so often.
I also learned that the port used for emptying the aforementioned tanks is about 100 feet from the picnic table where I was sitting. I learned that as the truck slowly backed its way down across the meadow and stopped not all that far from me. It was certainly close enough that its idling diesel engine was going to preclude me hearing much of anything. It certainly killed any chance of doing Phone.
I guess I could have moved, but instead, I reached into my bag and pulled out my tablet. I was able to set up for FT8 in about 2 minutes and I was on the air. And again, with the extra few watts from the Hardrock, I was in the middle of an FT8 pile-up in no time. Those are a little easier to wrangle for sure, but still requires attention.
I moved from 40 to 30 to 20-meters as the activation went on. About 30 minutes in, the truck wandered off and I was left in silence again. That was great! I still had my key set up, but the contacts were coming in pretty fast and furious on FT8. Plus, I knew my companions would arrive soone enough and I was on the clock.
The activation ended with 37 contacts. Again, I was very pleased with that for the time I had available. My only regret is that I didn’t think to grab a picture of the sewage truck. It was a once in a lifetime thing, I’m sure.
Wednesday QSO Map
Here’s what the QSO Map looked like for my Wednesday at the park.
Things I Learned
Adding the Hardrock-50 and its battery into the gear list isn’t all that onerous. It’s not like I’m hiking 20 miles with this stuff. It’s more like a quarter of a mile in the longest case. The extra attention that gets me in less than stellar band conditions is worth thinking about.
As I was sitting there in my CW pile-up I couldn’t help but think a bit about what it’s like in the winter. It’s usually cold and I’m struggling to get to 10 contacts in an hour. When it’s windy and cold, it might be worth taking along a little extra power to punch through. If I’m able to get more contacts in 30 minutes to an hour, maybe my fingers won’t be as unhappy with me for putting them in thin gloves so I can still send.
Maybe?
That’s going to go into the strategy for this year. Sure, I could just go out and get a radio with more oomph, but I truly love my IC-705. Yes, the UI is just as bad as every other radio, but I can find my way around it with a level of facility that I don’t have with anything other than the Penntek TR-45L (which is, for the record, the pinnacle of radio user interface. Stunning. Really.). It’s also the most versatile radio for someone like me, so I will just plug it into the HR50 and get what I need – which is honestly only about 20 watts or so.
Final
The forecast is showing cooler and cooler temperatures coming our way. I’m not sure I’ll get another day as glorious as Wednesday was in 2024. That’s OK. With winter comes an entirely different set of challenges and fun.
Thanks for reading and 73!
