A Nice Ride
This week both the terrestrial and solar weather were in agreement that I could bike out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 for an activation. I’ve been keeping my cycling closer to home due to rain and whatnot, but with sunny skies and an ionosphere that wasn’t really unhappy with us, I thought it’d be a good time to go toss some radiowaves into the ether.
The bike trails that run from near my home out to CVNP are great. They pass through easements behind neighborhoods and in fairly wooded areas far from cars. I do watch carefully because with so many houses, you never know what kids toys or garden implements might find their way onto the path. I wasn’t exactly expecting to come across a dinosaur on the trail, but when I spotted a blob in the distance that was plopped right in the middle of things, I knew it was going to be entertaining.
This guy was not in any hurry to cross the path and was very wary of me, but clearly not afraid. My family talks a lot about things like “State Park Deer” or “State Park Javalinas” meaning animals that are aware that they are quite safe around humans in their given environment. This big guy? He seemed to be quite content with his place on the foodchain. I watched him for a couple of minutes and was on my way. The only other animals of note were the usual deer, but I didn’t snap any pictures of them.
Mixing Things Up…But Just A Little
For this trip out, like most lately, I had my IC-705 setup with me. I took the Putikeeg paddles which are doing well for me in the field and my Surface Go 2 just in case I wanted to do a little FT8. I didn’t have a lot of time and I find that when I’m in a time crunch FT8 can take a lot longer but is more reliable for contacts. It’s a weird balance. As it turned out, the tablet stayed in the bag.
The change this time out was – as is often the case – with my antenna. I grabbed the SmartAntenna out of the Jeep and took it along. I’ve not used it in a while and with conditions being what they’ve been, I wanted something that balanced efficiency with flexibility. The SmartAntenna does that very well.
I keep my RigExpert in the bag with the SmartAntenna to make things go faster on the tuning side. I was tuned up for 20-meters very quickly and jumped on the air.
This antenna performs really, really well. I’m always excited when I knock out an activation with the AX1 because of its size, but that design (as with all designs) comes with constraints. The SuperAntenna is more flexible and efficient than anything else I have. It really gets out there. The reason I shy away from it sometimes is the tuning up process and the perceived hassle of messing around to change bands. That’s really a weak excuse not to use it. In the winter in a snowstorm? Maybe not great. But every other day of the year? Yeah, it’s a great solution.
On The Air
The activation went quickly, which was good given that I had a bit of a time crunch. As I mentioned, I stayed on CW the whole time and really got consistent contacts for the 30 or so minutes I was on the air. While I generally prefer a longer time on the air with some mode switching, I will take what I can get.
QSO Map
Here’s what the activation looked like.
Final
This activation was quick and largely uneventful. But I think it’s important to log the little things like changes in antenna setup and to remind myself of what works as well as what doesn’t. With this setup, things are pretty lightweight and I think I could do a bicycle rove with it. And that is definitely on the agenda for this summer.
Oh, and it’s time for bug spray or something. The mosquitoes are definitely back.
