The day was just too nice. It was in the mid-50s and the skies were clear. There was a lot of wind, which isn’t always great, but staying inside simply wasn’t an option. Originally, I wasn’t going to play radio. This was going to be a day on the bike. But at the last minute,…
Category: Field Work
Just Operating
Sunday afternoon it got up into the mid-40sF and was bright and sunny. It’s the kind of sunlight that warms a person who is sitting in it. One might even be able to ditch the coat for a little while, if the breeze doesn’t pick up too much. Looking outside to The Big Blue Room,…
Fighting Off The Geese
Right after I finished posting my last entry, I learned that my family was essentially going off in different directions. It was sunny out and the temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 40sF and there was only a touch of wind. Why not grab another activation? Why not, indeed! My gear was still packed up and…
More. Missing. Pavilions.
With a long holiday weekend, I thought I would get to the park more than I did. The weather was not at all interested in cooperating. It was sitting in the 20s with some significant wind on Friday and Saturday. But when Sunday rolled around, the temperatures hit the mid-40s and the wind relaxed a…
Freeze Your Acorns Off 2023
Every year, PCARS hosts a club contest for QRP operations in February. Astute readers of the blog will note that the last one was in…November? Of 2022? Well, things happened back in February of 2022 and the club wasn’t ready, so it was delayed until winter set in. Which, traditionally, in NE Ohio is pretty…
What Bad Weather?
Northeast Ohio has always been grey and nasty through the winter. At least that’s been the case as long as I’ve been here. There’s not really any point in being down about it. It’s the state of things. When the weekend rolls around, sitting in the house feels like the opposite of what I want…
A Weekend of Winter Activations
In NE Ohio, real winter is in January and February. The world gets cold. The skies are grey. That giant orb of light in the sky that we see all summer? It fades into memory. The stuff of stories for small children. When the wind is cold and it keeps people locked into the house…
West Branch SP on Phone with the X6100
Monday was MLK Day. There was, surprisingly, nothing on the calendar for the household. No service projects. No Scouting events. Nothing. Just a cold, clear day in January. Without much thought, I decided to head out to West Branch SP – K-1999. This was the first park I tried to activate and the site of…
Cuyahoga Valley National Park with Snow – 07-08-Jan-2023
The grey of the week was oppressive. People may not know it, but for Seattle’s reputation for grey skies, NE Ohio beats it for cloud cover over the course of a year. Honestly? It can get heavy after a few weeks. Especially when there’s no snow. All of that white brightens things up. It might…
The Last Field Operations of 2022 and the First of 2023
It was a long bit of time off for me this holiday. I grabbed what amounted to about two weeks of time off and spent most of it with my family around the house. It was a wonderfully low-key holiday season for us. That meant that there was time to head out to the park…