One of the first ham radio specific kits that I built was a dummy load from QRP Guys. I keep it on my desk. It’s two PCBs with a shedload of resistors sandwiched between. It is simple. It is brutally effective. And the other day, it was invisible. I have no idea how it wound…
My last couple of activations have been at West Branch State Park – K-1999. I mentioned back in January of this year that one week there were restrooms and picnic shelters and the next weekend they were all gone. As someone who frequents a park, it began to kind of eat at me. There had…
Bachelor Weekend! This past weekend was one where my son and I were living the bachelor life as the ladies were off camping. Given that my son is a big time sleep in kind of guy, I took the opportunity to go to West Branch State Park – K-1999 for an activation. Why West Branch?…
A Perfect Day To Activate The First of October was a truly beautiful Sunday. The sky was clear and it was in the mid-60dF range. There was a light breeze and I didn’t care what the solar weather was looking like because it was a day I had to be outside. My family was running…
The Park Cuyahoga Valley National Park has always been a special place. I spent a good amount of time in my youth at Camp Manatoc which is inside of the park borders. I also hiked and hung around in Virginia Kendall Park which contains The Octagon and Ledges areas where I did most of my…
We had a chance to make a quick ride out to the park, so we took it. Here in NE Ohio, we’re going to be running short on nice days for good cycling, so we’re going to grab all of them that we can. This was a nice one because the weather was cooler. A…
Ohio State Parks On The Air was 09-Sep this year as it always falls on the first Saturday after Labor Day. It’s a contest whose primary purpose is to get operators out into the State Parks of Ohio and enjoy the outdoor spaces the state has to offer. Last year was the first time that…
Monday, 04-Sep-2023 Labor Day weekend had some really nice weather this time around, if a bit muggy. We decided to take Monday and ride out to the park. I took along my gear to sneak in an activation. Lately, I get to 10 contacts pretty quickly, but on this activation it took almost an hour….
Cycled out to The Cuyahoga Valley National Park on Saturday to get in a quick activation before we were sucked into a whirlwind of family activities. It was a great day for a ride and the park was empty. In the coming weeks, I’m sure there will be more people out to see the colors…
In the past, I’ve used posts here to motivate myself to get outside and enjoy my hobby in the parks. The blog acts as a journal of sorts to capture things like weather, general conditions, and anything else that was going on at the park when I was activating. The best entries for me are…