Not Activated – April 18th, 2024
I had a burrito at Albert’s in the morning. Again. With a sudden feeling of diversity, I had them add potatoes to the burrito. The delicacy was a little plumper, hitting the spot with greater satisfaction. Before I left the house, however, I checked the Solar-Terrestrial Data site to see what the conditions were like. You see, the day before I had a heck of a time making contacts on both CW and SSB. So, just to watch marching ants go across my screen, I played FT8 and watched the ants on GridTracker. They were cute. At night.
However, I did make three nice contacts at night with Ukraine, Austria, and Italy on SSB on 20-meters. Ukraine stood out because he was working the long path. My surprise was that he gave me a 59 whilst I gave him a 57. I was jazzed, but then I started thinking. Now, somebody correct me if I am wrong, but with such a good RST from Victor I must have hit him on the long path. After doing the math, double checking it on the web, I realized I made a contact at 18,500 miles! If you see something wrong, please break it to me very, very gently.
The weirdness of the prior day led me to check the atmospheric conditions, and this is what I remember: SFI was over 200, SN was 199, A-Index was around 8, and the K-Index was 5. With that information in mind I went on my ill-fated adventure, oblivious to any possible effects it was going to have on my activation. That said, I arrived at Rio de Los Angeles State Park right around 0930. The weather was slightly cool with a thin overcast and a slight breeze. What struck me the most was the light sense of licorice. That scent was quite pleasant and reminded me of the times I had weekend duty with the National Guard just north of Paso Robles near the coast between Los Angeles and San Franciso.
I set up my kit, did a walk-around, and finished setting up HAMRS, and getting ready by sending QRL a few times. Finally, at 1030, I sent my last QRL and called CQ on 14.059 MHz to start my activation. I was calling for a few minutes, all the while checking my entries in HAMRS and the POTA spotting site to make sure I did not make another stupid human trick. And just like that, I got my first contact with K6UTY, a whopping 9.9 miles away! Needless to say, I was surprised to get a contact within my same county. That was one down and 12 to go.
A few minutes later I was contacted by a station with a callsign starting with F. I am still not used to getting DX contacts, save for the familiar J calls. This was a strong signal, though slightly scratchy. Indeed, it was from France, F4WBN. Imagine that! That was cool, although at the time I was not sure. It was later in the activation when I had long stretches of contact drought that I verified it through QRZ. Yes, I was jazzed. And then, nothing.
From that point until noon, there was nothing. Literally. Initially, after 20 minutes I QSYed to 17 meters. Nothing. Twenty minutes later I moved to 20-meters. Nothing. Ten minutes later I went back to 15 meters, 20 minutes later back to 15 meters, and finally after another 15 minutes I went back to 20 meters. Nothing, nothing, nothing. Giving up on HF I decided to go fishing for 2-meter contacts.
I initially used a couple of repeaters to try to get the word out that I was trying to make POTA contacts on 146.580 MHz. I was told that 146.580 is the watering hole for 2-meter SOTA and POTA, so I gave it a try. And I did for about fifteen minutes or so. This was my last straw at making contacts. Evidently, I did not grab it.
After I got home, I started my normal post-activation routine. I happened to glance at the Solar-Terrestrial Data display, and again saw something weird. For the first time the SFI read 0, with the SN, A and K indices reading 247, 5, and 0, respectively. An SFI and K Index of 0? Well, that was a first time for me! Considering that I got home a little after 1400, that was the second change of that value for the day. Later in the afternoon, the SFI value shot up to over 200 again. According to hsamsql.com, that value is updated once daily, yet I saw three distinct readings. In further reading (this stuff is above my head), the combination of high “K index/Low A indicates a sudden, abrupt disturbance in the geomagnetic field, which can cause an intense but brief disruption in HF propagation”. Is that what happened? I am not so sure, all I know is that after my DX contact with France around 1030, all I got was nothing, zero, zilch, nada.
So, had I not forgotten my MPAS the result would have been the same. The same thing goes for my setting the AX-1 switch to 20 the first time on 20-meters. As I was going through the contact drought, I kept wondering what stupid human trick I performed. I really could not come up with any. Something was up and at the time I did not know why.
We are our own harshest critic. Yes, we may want to excel, but this is a hobby. Be kind to yourself. Back in the 70s when I was in the Air Force, I became aware of Murphy’s Law. He was a Captain in the Air Force (urban legend?) and came up with 7 laws. The last one was “Mother Nature is a b#&$^.” So, things happen, best laid plans and all.
I had a No Joy activation, but still enjoyed being outside, the greenery, the breeze, and the birds. I am looking forward to the next time.
Activation Statistics
| Activation Number | 53 |
| Date | 18 April, 2024 |
| Park | US-3548 Rio de Los Angeles State Park |
| Number of Contacts | 2 |
| DX Contacts | 1 |
| Park Activated? | No |
| Previous Attempts | 12 |
| Park to Park Contacts | None |
| Mode | CW |
| Radio | Elecraft KX3 |
| Antenna | Elecraft AX-1 |
| Tuner | Internal |
| Power | 5W using a 3Ah Bioenno battery |
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