Activated on June 1st, 2024
After setting up, I started recording my video intro at high noon. Five hours later, while recording my outro I bid good Zulu morning to my viewers. That’s a five-hour stretch with only 11 contacts. What? Lemme back up.
I left the house under gloomy skies with evidence that it was spittin’, as there were very small water droplets on my windshield. I visited Albert’s again and had their huevos rancheros. You see, instead of fried tortillas under the eggs, they have chopped beef under the eggs giving the plate a different Mexican twist. With a full belly, I got some gas (for the car), and took off for US-1139 Chino Hills State Park for the eighth time in my POTA career.
My drive to Chino hills was without incident and I arrived under the same overcast sky under which I left the house. This time, however, there were a couple of cars parked in Horse Camp. Their owners were apparently on a hike. I set up operations under a different tree this time as I wanted to deploy my Chameleon LEFS antenna. The Light End-Fed Sloper is a 40-10-meter wire antenna meant to be hoisted 25 feet into the air the wire end secured near the ground. It only took me three tries to get a line over the branches I wanted.
So now, I was set to actually start. Still, I made some quick checks. I have Telegram, Discord, HAMRS, and my log to synchronize. Ever since I forgot to update HAMRS during changes of frequencies, and having a hard time post-activation, I make sure to triple-check the frequency on all programs and logs at the start and after each change. So it was that I called CQ POTA on 20 meters around 1230.
As is my habit, I think I wait too long when the band dries up or shifts on me. After 25 minutes calling CQ without ant takers, I finally switched over to the 15-meter band. You see, I did not hear a thing, and my strength meter never moved from zero. There weren’t even any faders. The band was as quiet as a mouse pissing on a cotton ball!
There was another fifteen minutes of radio rebuff as, again, no fish took the bait. Not to be deterred I switched over to 12 meters and continued for another 20 minutes. Yep, nothing here either. Now that I’ve been calling CQ for an hour I came to a decision. Either I pack up and go home, or chill and eat lunch, maybe take a nap, and start again later in the afternoon.
I called QRT.
During the previous hour I saw hikers and cyclists. The cyclists came in a group of about fifteen, evidently from the bottom of the park, and were going on a trail off to the north. Ah! To be that young again. The shadow of the tree under which I was under had crept slowly, but enough to start revealing the corner of my bench to the sun.
I grabbed my lunch, ate my tuna fish sandwich and drank from my hazelnut coffee, and just relaxed. I relaxed so much that I leaned back on the bench seat and closed my eyes. Not as comfortable as I’d like to be, I went to the car, leaned the seat back, and left the door open. Now, this is a proper rest. I did not drool (I checked).
I woke up as the breeze caressed my face. I decided then that I would go to Plan B.
I recovered the wire antenna as I was going to deploy my MPAS 2.0 vertical. This is when I found a problem possibly causing me an hour’s worth of unheard CQs. As I disconnected the feedline from the antenna, part of the elbow connector came off with the PL-259 I was disconnecting. Hmmm.
My KX3 matched the antenna on all the bands I tried. The SWR was between 1.1:1 and 1:1. Nothing I saw, or did, led me to believe I made another stupid human trick. I just thought the rivers ran dry. However, that flew in the face of the POTA Spotting Page as I saw numerous activators on all the bands I was trying to use. I will check the antenna and connector another time.
I respotted myself on the POTA Spotting Page again on 20 meters, this time three hours after I did it the first time. That was a long nap! No wonder it felt so good afterwards. Six minutes in, I got my first hunter, KG5ES from New Mexico. However, flashes from earlier in the day came back as he seemed to be the only hunter. Fifteen minutes after I started again I QSYed to the 17-meter band. Here we go again!
Seventeen meters was the location of my mother lode. In the span of thirteen minutes, I made six contacts! An average of a little over 2 minutes per contact. I was thrilled with the pace of the contacts coming in. The band was hopping as four of them received an RST of 599, one was 229, and the last of the six was 119. That should have been my clue maybe. In all I stayed on the band for twenty minutes before it ran dry. I now have seven contacts and hoping for thirteen. Just six more.
In a repetition of the earlier pattern, I moved to 30 meters. After seven minutes I moved to 15 meters. There were no hits on either. Now, I was becoming quite aware of my remaining time. I now had seven contacts and still wanted six more, after all I wanted some safeties because of a doubt I had with one of the contacts. I had 35 minutes before the end of the day.
I moved to the 20-meter band again. My determination was to get at least four as I was not yet beaten, tired to be sure, but not beaten. Twenty meters would be the hill I die on.
Six minutes after occupying my hill, I made my eighth contact. I sent the operator a 559. Six minutes later a buddy of mine from LICW reached out, Andrew K7HSH, and I gave him a 559 with 17 minutes to go. Four minutes after that I activated as I logged a QSO with Dennis N5OBY from Texas. Although activating the park, I was still looking for safeties because of a lingering doubt of one of my contacts.
Three minutes later, Andrew the Idahoan (K7HSH) came to the rescue with another QSO. But…wait, you say. I already had contact with him, and I told you about it in the paragraph above. Yes, he did. But Andrew was taking part in the Museum Ships on The Air Special Event, and he was operating under the callsign N7F! That was my one safety, and I took it! Wait…naval ships in Idaho? What? Ten minutes to go.
By this time, over five hours after arrival, an hour’s worth of calling CQ with no responses, thirteen minutes or so of adrenaline, I was spent. I was a little nervous because I did not want to bolo my activation. On the other hand, since this was the 20-meter hill I was going to die on, it was going to be what it was going to be. That, I think, mitigated my adrenaline.
My outro to the video crossed Zulu midnight into June 2nd. Wow, that was a long time at the park.
All my activations with the KX3 were done with one antenna, obviously, but with two spares. Generally, I switch between the MPAS 2.0 and the AX-1. This time I wanted to try the sloper, but the system failed, and I need to find out why. However, this brings up a point, and as the military says: two is one, and one is none. Although I had three antennae, the point is still valid. If there is one thing that, if broken or malfunctioning, will absolutely break your operation, think about a spare. Depending on your operating style, you could even have a backup for your radio.
The activation was enjoyable, what with the shade of the tree and a nice breeze. Yes, it took a long time, but my calendar was clear and it’s sure nice to have a backup.
Ciao for niao…
Activation Statistics
| Activation Number | 65 |
| Date | 1 June, 2024 |
| Park | K-1139 Chino Hills State Park |
| Number of Contacts | 11 |
| DX Contacts | None |
| Park Activated? | Yes |
| Previous Attempts | 7 |
| Park to Park Contacts | 1 |
| Mode | CW |
| Radio | Elecraft KX3 |
| Antenna | MPAS 2.0 in the vertical configutaion staked to the ground |
| Tuner | Internal |
| Power | 5W using a 3Ah Bioenno battery |
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