Activated on March 20th, 2025
It’s been a couple of days, hasn’t it. Let’s just say that I had to take a time-out, but, having the equivalent of cabin fever, I needed to get out. So, I decided to activate an ATNO, only to find out it had already been done. So, I turned out to be the first runner up.
My day started out like any other when I activated, only a little later. Still, I went to Albert’s for breakfast, enjoying their Huevos Rancheros. Before setting out on my adventure. I tell you, that plate is a treat.
The path ahead of me was 90 minutes long, 76 miles distant. It is a fact of life that in SoCal, when you are driving somewhere, you want to go the wrong way, against traffic. So, while everybody is driving towards Los Angeles, you are driving away. You will still hit some traffic, but it is not the wall-to-wall metallic river moving at 20 miles per hour!
I made it to the reserve at 1100, just like Google predicted, and went in to talk to the park staff as is customary for me on my first visit to a park, reserve, etc. This was an awkward situation for me as I started to explain the POTA program. The volunteer mentioned to me that it was a county park. What? I did not think our California coordinator, Tracy Lenocker, would make that mistake. So, I explained that only state and federal entities can be in the program, and he once again mentioned it was a county park. Not wanting to argue, I moved on to check out the center.
The pavilion and surrounding area would have been a wonderful place to activate, so I asked and went to the bathroom. By this time the supervisor was back, and I asked her, and she could not decide how to answer. She called the ranger, but the ranger had not yet answered. She did verify that it was a state reserve for me, however, it was taking too long for the answer, so I went to a trailhead they mentioned instead. Evidently, they had never had someone trying to activate there and were not prepared as to how to answer.
California state parks, reserves, preserves, beaches, etc. can be co-operated by a county level park. Even if the name of the park has one of those words listed, always take the time to check with the visitor center the first time you activate the park. You will want to make sure to stay on the state side of the park and not on the county side. The entrance to the park will sometimes give it away by a county seal on the main entrance. The boundaries can be confusing, so take the time to check.
The park is a plateau with an average elevation of 2,000 feet. Standing at the trailhead I could see rolling hills with beautiful fields of green, thanks to the rains we had last week. Finally, at the trailhead I set up my station. I decided not to set-up in the car, opting for my small pop-up. I did use my Chameleon 40-10 EFHW wire antenna, however. My station was ready around 1230 and started recording my intro. Right at 1250 I started calling CQ POTA on 21.035 MHz. That is when I realized I made my first, and only, Stupid Human Trick.
While I was checking all the programs on my Surface Go, I set my power to 0W so as to not transmit a thing during testing. Not checking for this while setting up, I spent 10 minutes on 15 meters calling CQ POTA in a way that no one could possibly hear me! It’s on camera too! You can’t teach that.
I QSYed to 20 meters when I heard Paul W4LOO calling CQ POTA. This was when I realized my zero-Watt mistake and corrected it. Hells bells, I thought, it was a gimmie, so I hunted him. I would figure out the park later. Moving to a clear frequency, I settled on 14.059 MHz where I stayed for the next nine contacts. Although all but one contact out of the thirteen were 559 or above, I had a tremendously hard time with QRM and some QSB. Every car or truck that drove in the vicinity must have known I was activating because the interference was savage. The QRM drowned out those strong signals.
For twenty-seven minutes I struggled through the QRM when eventually the band shut down on me. I moved on to the 15-meter band, after activating on 20 meters, for my Safety Qs. I got three, the last of which was DX from Japan! So, after some QSB I managed to copy JH1MXV and sent him my side of the Q. Then nothing. I waited as the fuzz showed up. I raised my index finger asking for a little time and re-sent my side of the Q to my Japanese contact. He responded. I pumped my fist, both fists actually, and went to talk to the heat. I heard other stations calling, but you do not make “the man” wait.
The full-blown park ranger was very nice as he informed me of all the ways I was breaking the rules. Mitigating my violations, he acknowledged that I took care of setting up a safety area with my orange cones. However, my misdemeanors included the following blatant violations: I had a pop-up set up in other than a designated campground spot, I had the end of the antenna tied to a steel t-post, and was in a position to prevent use of the trailhead to other reserve users. There was a total of 4-5 cars/trucks in a spot that could manage about 15-20. Although ignorance of the law is no excuse, I did claim it as nothing of the sort was explained to me when I was at the visitor center.
I will stress that he was quite nice and tolerant of my violations, but I did have to correct them. He mentioned that in the reserve there are archaeological sites, sacred areas, and as such nothing could be staked into the ground or hung on anything, including metal t-posts. Since I already made my activation, it was a simple matter to just pack up and call it a day. Tripods, he said, tripods are good.
In the end my activation was quite nice. The wind did make itself known, but it was a minor thing. The skies were clear, and my illegal pop-up provided nice, cool shade from the sun. I wish the interaction with the park staff at the Discovery Center had not been so awkward. I do not know if I will return to the park in the future as my experience there was nice, though extralegal. The main thing is that I enjoyed being out at a park again. It’s been almost three full months. It was time.
Activation Statistics
| Location | DM13im56 |
| Activation Attempt | 87 |
| Date | March 20, 2025 |
| Park | US-12216 Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve |
| Park Activated? | Yes, #75 |
| First Activation | March 20, 2025 |
| Previous Attempts | None |
| Park to Park Contacts | 1 – US-3088 Rockport State Park |
| Number of Contacts | 13 |
| DX Contacts | 1 – Japan |
| Historical Contacts | 13 |
| Mode | CW |
| Radio | Elecraft KX3 |
| Antenna | Chameleon Lightweight Enf Fed Sloper |
| Tuner | Internal |
| Power | 5W using a 3Ah Bioenno battery |
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