Activated on April 9th, 2024
Once again, I went out on a whim to activate my closest park, Rio de Los Angeles State Park. As a creature of habit, I stopped at Albert’s for breakfast and made my 20-minute trek to the park. To find different spots in the park, I once more checked out the area behind the park office, as there are benches, trees, and a playground nearby. There were three standard cement benches, however they were not under any trees or cover, so there was no joy there.
In the early dawn I had a sweatshirt and a medium jacket as I drank my espresso on my porch. I love the promise of a new day. By the time I got to the park a bit before noon, I was in a t-shirt only that read “When all else fails ham radio works.” I was comfortable, there was a slight breeze, and knew that the meager shade I was under would leave me later. It did.
The antenna of choice today was, again, my MPAS 2.0 in its vertical configuration. This time the coax I used was the RG-316 of 25 feet, allowing me to erect the antenna about six or so feet behind me and, to my left. The counterpoise was laid on vegetation about 3-4 inches tall, stretched to the south some thirty-odd feet. I saw a video by a ham radio personality that did several tests about directionality using a single counterpoise on a vertical antenna. The basic premise was that if you place the counterpoise in the opposite direction of your intended direction, you will get better results. I’ve done it in many directions and see no difference in results. Maybe…I could spread the entrails of a sacrificial offering at the base of the antenna! Yeah, that’s the ticket.
There were a few things that were not up to par on this activation. To start, my key really provides issues for me, especially with Rs, Ls, and now Fs. As the activation progresses, especially sitting in the sun, my keying accuracy drops. Yes, I was hydrated, but sitting in direct sunlight drains me. Poor guy you say? Worry not! I have a rescue plan in place, and it’s currently in route from Italy. You see, Bruna Begali is sending me a protective case for my Traveler! Now I will be able to send with less stress once I have a better way to protect it in my backpack. As for the sun, a bigger hat.
I did get a call from an N9 station, but in the end did not pan out. Again, on this outing, I had a wrong call sign verified causing issues when I got home. Eventually, I figured out the problem, and thanks to the videos, I was able to correct the log. In fact, I am finding that the microphone is more discerning than my MK 1 Auditory Units. I simply hear better on the videos, plus I can scan back and forth to verify what I hear. In the field, if I miss something it is just simply gone.
A little later I got a call from a station whose call I could not understand. The format was that of a one-by-four call. Several times I sent a question mark receiving the same call in return. I was confused. Mother Nature, however, resolved my issue by shifting the band. Still, the call sign left me puzzled. I then got my friend, Kelly, on seventeen meters. In fact, she was the only one I got on that band. After getting another contact, and a long spell of CQs, I finally went to the 20-meter band.
When Kelly called me a second time, the battery in my tablet was dead. The remaining calls were all logged by hand. And, wouldn’t you know it, I was an hour off on the times I wrote down. Boy, I was doing great today. As is my norm, I never upload logs from the field, so I found the problems and corrected them before I uploaded the logs. The other problem was that I hand-entered the last five contacts later in the day, and because they were in Zulu time, I missed the change of date. Uploading my log to the POTA site revealed my error. The POTA staff was kind and took it down right away for me.
And then my camera died—battery.
All my equipment was much warmer than usual, and I wonder if that had an effect on battery life. I suspect so because they’ve held out for longer in previous activations. Now that summer spring is here, I can only guess as to the temperatures in August and September. That is a question for another quarter.
I forgot my tripod for the camera, but as it turned out, it was of no consequence. As soon as my protective case arrives, I will use my Traveler and finally put aside that Putikeeg. Once I made the first contact logged on paper, I misread my watch and only updated the minutes of the other four contacts. I gotta remember the thing about the big and little hands. You know the drill.
It’s the little things that count.
Activation Statistics
| Activation Number | 51 |
| Date | 9 April, 2024 |
| Park | US-3548 Rio de Los Angeles State Park |
| Number of Contacts | 12 |
| DX Contacts | None |
| Park Activated? | Yes |
| Previous Attempts | 11 |
| Park to Park Contacts | None |
| 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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