Activated on October 22nd, 2025.
I was looking at the weather forecast for the past couple of days and Wednesday seemed to be promising. There was a little rain forecast for Alhambra however, Chino Hills seemed not to have any. On top of that, the temp was predicted to be 73 for the high. Done, I thought and headed out. Out to Albert’s that is, for my customary activation breakfast.
After filling up with petrol, I started my drive east into the sun, with my Ray Bans on, styling and full of anticipation. It’s been three and a half months since I visited the park. Everything seemed to line up. A few days prior I went over my equipment at home to ensure all was set, or reset, to make set up in the field smoother.
The park was exclusively using a web-based system to pay for access. It took a bit to get it right, and after getting rid of some coffee, I would wend my way through the hills to finally arrive at Horse Camp. This is the highest spot you can drive to in the park, and a customary place for like-minded hams to set up and operate. And set up I did.
The first thing was the antenna. I used the Chameleon SS25 antenna, and as the name implies, it is a telescoping antenna that reached 25 feet in length. As is my custom, I a place my American flag at the end as I love seeing Old Glory flapping in the breeze. This, however, worsened the wind load on the antenna. That antenna most certainly swayed in the breeze!
The tree under which I set up had gotten fuller in the past three years. In fact, the first time I activated Chino Hills State Park was exactly three years ago on October 22nd, 2022. Purely an unplanned coincidence, and without knowing this I just set up my gear. I pulled two bags out of the car; my backpack and the antenna bag. By 1300 I was ready to start calling CQ POTA.
There was a lot of activity on 20 meters, even a contest, so I looked for a clear spot and settled on 14.058.5. I started my activation. As is my SOP, I set the radio to repeat my CQ POTA and sat back waiting for my hunters. Except, that didn’t happen. I QSYed to 15 meters and waited again thinking the band shifted on me. Again, I had no contacts and moved to the 10-meter band with the same result.
If the hunters can’t find me, I will go to them! So, I started hunting the activators from the POTA spotting page. It seemed all of their hunters we just walking over me because I was running 5 Watts. I must have tried a dozen parks with no results. Obviously, something was wrong. I mentally went through my set up, connections, radio, antenna, and feed line. I then tried to recall my testing and set up I did in the shack a few days earlier. I slowly reached out to the Key/Power knob to check the settings. It then hit me like a freight train.
My power setting on the radio was ZERO WATTS. I evidently left the power setting in my testing mode and forgot to turn it back to 5 Watts. For about forty minutes or so I was transmitting at 0 Watts. Well, I was not transmitting at all! In the video you see the moment I realized this. No wonder no one responded to my CQs or calls! This was a perfect Stupid Human Trick (SHT), especially since I played myself. I reflected on what happened a bit. I was embarrassed, frustrated, and could not believe what happened. I decided to leave this in the video because it could help newer activators, regardless of the mode they choose. The lesson is that we all make mistakes regardless of our level of experience.
To continue my shared experience with newer Morse Code activators this time, my keying was atrocious. I kept making mistakes left and right! I know I am better than this, but that forty-minute SHT must have had an effect on me. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! Out of the ten QSOs I made, there were only three or four that went without flaws. The rest were filled with errors, missing dits, and gibberish. But this goes to show how forgiving Morse Code operators are when doing POTA, either activating or hunting. So, I activated with the patience of all with whom I made contact.
I made ten contacts with eight different operators; two from Alaska and two from Idaho. The first four contacts came in at an average of a little over two minutes. In my experience that is a little faster than normal. Don’t’ get me wrong as I am not complaining. I mention that to contrast how long it too between the fourth and fifth contacts: ten minutes. Then the waiting started. Eventually I switched to hunting activators.
During my activation I would check in on my buddies on the LICW Discord SOTA/POTA channel. I saw Jay W6JSV on the channel activating a US-0647 Golden Gate National Recreation Area just north of San Franciso. I usually don’t do well contacting the central or northern parts of California, but not today! After this contact it was only three minutes before I made contact with the next park. Then another ten-minute wait.
So, I went back to calling CQ, this time on the 15-meter band and Duff K1DLY would have his patience tested. Severely. I kept responding with KJDLY, with several repeats, still I did not get it. It wasn’t all QSB or QRM, either. I put him in the log, but it looked funny. After I sent the final dit-dit, he called me back, repeating his call three times. Man, he had the patience of Job. It dawned on me that KJDLY is not a proper callsign. I sent “?” a few times, until it finally hit me. The 1s he kept sending I was copying as Js. What a LID I was! I sent him SRI HI HI K1DLY. He ROGERed me three times as I swallowed my pride and thanked him. Send me to school…
In all, it took me 39 minutes for the “real” activation. It started and ended with the first contact I made. Paul KJ7DT was my first and tenth contact. Even after my abysmal telegraphy on our first contact, he came back for more abuse. However, my fist was now warmed up and this last contact went significantly better.
This outing for me, although embarrassing, shows that everyone makes mistakes, from my Stupid Human Trick to my terrible telegraphy. It also shows that both hunters and activators do have a lot of patience and make extreme efforts to make the contact. First time activators, especially those using Morse Code, you are not alone. We’ve all been there, and evidently, I keep going back.
By all means hunt, even from a park. Then just activate. It won’t be perfect, but then nothing really ever is!
Activation Statistics
| Location | DM13dw, 33.90359, -117.64880 |
| Activation Attempt | 103 |
| Date | October 22, 2025 |
| Park | US-1139 Chino Hills State Park |
| Park Activated? | Yes, #85 |
| First Activation | October 22, 2022 |
| Previous Attempts | 15 |
| Park to Park Contacts | 2; US-0647. US-12340 |
| Number of Contacts | 10: CW |
| DX Contacts | 2: Alaska – two different bands |
| Historical Contacts | 217 |
| Mode | CW |
| Radio | Elecraft KX3 |
| Antenna | Chameleon CHA SS25 |
| Tuner | Internal |
| Power | Internal |
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