Activated on July 22nd, 2024
I am jazzed! I am driving home with a big smile on my face, listening to my new favorite band, The Warning, blasting from the speakers of my car. These three sisters are from Monterey, Mexico, the oldest of which is barely 25 years old. Automatic Sun was musically filling my ears. As I said, I was jazzed. I just activated US-3548 Rio de Los Angeles State Park.
Lemme back up a couple of hours.
I always keep an eye out for the weather, especially the heat during summer. I wanted to activate so badly, I considered doing it earlier than normal. My plan was to be at the park at 0800 when the park opens. That meant that if I wanted to eat breakfast, it would have to be at IHOP because Albert was closed. Albert does not open until 0800, you see. So, I had my 2+2+2 breakfast and left, making it to the park precisely at 0800!
Arriving at the park, with “my” girls blasting from the radio, I made a bee-line for my normal spot. That spot is the bench under the curved-roof shelter on the south side of the park. I never made it. I was stopped, and rather abruptly I would say, by temporary chain link fencing prominently telling me that it was a hard hat area. The whole south end of the park is now being renovated! I took a picture of the area and had a longing, last look at my favorite spot in the park. Who knows, maybe in six months I will return.
Plan B at once came to mind. That one bench on the northside that is graced by the shade of a nearby tree. As I headed there and got close, my hopes were dashed once again as the bench was in use by someone who spent the night there. I was not going to disturb him, so I set out to formulate my Plan C.
There I was, cart in tow, looking around aimlessly for a spot to set up. I slowly came to the realization that if I wanted to activate, I was going to have to get down. And I did! I ended up on the ground in the shade of a large tree. I really mean on the ground, just like the SOTA guys do. You SOTA guys rock! The hardest part for me was going over the speed bumps in the parking lot. In my car. Driving. With air-conditioning.
All of this planning, A-B-C, took the better part of an hour, leaving me 15 minutes to finish setting up HAMRS, notify my buds on Discord, spot myself, and QRL. At 0900 I was calling CQ on 14.065 MHz on the 20-meter band. Hells bell, my first contact came in immediately after I started calling CQ. The hunter caught me by surprise; excellent, I thought. Two-and-a-half minutes later, reinforcements arrived.
The group that hangs out on the LICW SOTA-POTA channel on Discord, is a very tight community. Some are instructors that hang out there for portions of the day. Others check the channel and jump in with comments. Some have a squad of hams ready to aid others in “need”. Today I was one of those “others”.
Liz W8ERR, is a mother of hams. Literally. She and her husband have 5 kids that all hold general licenses or above. Her extended family is made up of hams; father, siblings, nieces and nephews, and so on. So, when I posted that I was going to activate, she offered some help. Evidently, besides herself, she gathered two sons and two daughters and had them each contact me while I was activating. How cool is that! Just like that I had five contacts in under six minutes! I swear, the minute I sent a dit-dit to one, another would start to send their call. It was awesome.
After the ham squad did their thing, three minutes later I got a call from Texas, with which I had some problems. QSB reared its ugly head, causing me to lose confidence in the contact. I logged it knowing I had to follow up in post. However, I had time to enjoy my surroundings as the next three contacts came five minutes apart.
During the last three contacts I was really enjoying the view. It was not as hot as I expected. There was also no breeze. It was just a beautiful summer day under the shade of a tree. I was so wrapped up in the experience that I only noticed the Metro once, I think. It was relaxing.
At this point I had ten contacts, and 20 meters was drying up. I really needed one more contact, for eleven total, because that one would cover the suspect Q, and/or be the safety. I did a brief stint on the 17-meter band with no results. I did not wait as long as earlier times before moving on to the 15-meter band. And guess who was there following me through the bands? Yep, the mother of Hams! She was my last contact for the activation and the one safety I needed. Wow, she came through for me giving me over 50% of the Qs on this activation. Awesome.
I usually carry lots of “stuff” in the car for the “in cases”. Since I just had the car detailed, I decided to take the minimum because the spot I was going to would be accommodating enough. That did not work out. Spot number two was not available. So, the ground was it. Is there a lesson here? I could have taken my camping, chair, camping table, small pop-up, but didn’t. I assumed. That is easy to do with your local park. The one you frequent most. This could have been a lot more consequential had I driven an hour or more to get to the park.
Yes, I lucked out. But next time? Researching the park is always a good idea before you spend the time and energy to get there, and then realize there is a show-stopper. That military saying comes to mind—two is one, and one is none. Be prepared.
For the first time I finished an activation in under an hour. I am jazzed. I am driving home with a big smile on my face, listening to my new favorite band, The Warning, blasting from the speakers of my car. These three sisters are from Monterey, Mexico, the oldest of which is barely 25 years old. Automatic Sun was musically filling my ears.
Activation Statistics
| Activation Number | 71 |
| Date | 22 July, 2024 |
| Park | US-3548 Rio de Los Angeles State Park |
| Number of Contacts | 11 |
| Historical Contacts | 217 |
| DX Contacts | None |
| Park Activated? | Yes |
| Previous Attempts | 16 |
| Park to Park Contacts | None |
| Mode | CW |
| Radio | Elecraft KX3 |
| Antenna | MPAS 2.0 in the vertical configuration |
| Tuner | Internal |
| Power | 5W using a 3Ah Bioenno battery |
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