Activated on September 28th, 2025
The day before I cancelled going to this park because of a 50% chance of rain. It was supposed to be a ceremonious day as the newly renovated southern end of the park was going to open. Or so I thought. So, today under gloomy skies and only a three to five percent chance of rain I went adventuring in the park. I am glad I did.
I almost got into an accident backing into my parking spot. A woman was stopped beyond the spot. I was not sure what she was doing. So, I passed her and drove around for about two or three minutes looking for another spot. Now I’m going in the opposite direction, I still see her stopped in the same spot I saw her last. I maneuvered so I may back up into the spot. As I am passed the bumper of the car on my left, I see her car backing up into the same spot! There was nothing I could do. Fortunately, she saw the error of her ways and stopped. She then drove off.
When I got out of the car, I at once felt the mugginess. It rained two nights prior, and the ground smelled of wet earth. We so need that here in SoCal. I did a quick recon to see where I was going to set up. Almost two months ago I went on a scouting trip to the park to see how far along they were on the renovation. That is when I put up a YouTube short noting it as a future activation spot. That was on August 7th. Today I ended up in that same spot, under a surprisingly shady tree.
Setting up was surprisingly easy, especially with the lighter table and sturdier chair. What was also a surprise, was the hardness of the ground. The ground, which is under the open sky was very hard. Without other plants to keep the ground moist, this should not be a surprise. There were four main objects that made up my gear: an antenna bag, table, chair, and my backpack with all the radio gear. All these things came in my foldable cart which also held a small popup and a small cooler.
Once I had the antenna erected, along with the counterpoise, feed line, and the safety cones, the rest of the set up was sitting down under the shade of the tree. Yes, the soft breeze was nice, and I made short work of that task. Until, that is, I could not find my notebook. I had at least three writing utensils with me, yet nothing upon which to write! My stupid human trick this time was to leave my notebook at home.
My only concern was my battery situation. I have good batteries, and my KX3 sips power so, I was not concerned. Really. Well, there was the slightest sliver of a doubt. However, I was confident. Which reminds me of some of my instructors telling me that I could be confidently wrong.
Once all the connections were made between the computer and the radio, I fired it up and checked for reception. At first, I did not hear much at all. Concerned, I checked the connections along with the radio settings. All seemed well, so I quickly turned the VFO to hear any bleeps. Confidence returned once I picked up activity on the air. Using HAMRS, I hunted activators as it is the quickest way to find people with a kindred spirit. Not wanting to pass up an opportunity, I hunted and made my first contact. I did that again before I realized I needed to record my intro.
The video catches me on my third contact which was Paul K7SHR. I made two more contacts before I switched to calling CQ POTA. I did that for two Qs, the last of which is a buddy of mine from LICW, Eric K9VIC, and then went back hunting again. I did not want to fight the interference from what I thought was an RTTY QSO, nor did I want to hunt for another clear frequency. I took the easy route and hunted from the spotting page conveniently from the HAMRS app.
The first spot that really drew my attention was a CE3 station. I knew it was DX, but not its origin. The signal was crystal clear, but not full strength. He received a 559 from me and I received a 549. Pretty darn good. Not bad from Central Chile, in the RM region…like our states. RM stands for Región Metropolitana (like Washington D.C.), their capitol city of Santiago, just under 5,400 miles away. By the way, we both were running 5W, Elecraft radios, he a KX2 with an AX1 antenna, and me a KX3 with an SS25.
I continued hunting four more parks with me ending up with a total of twelve contacts. Afterwards I relaxed smoking a celebratory cigar whilst recording the video outro. I was pleased to activate again, two in a row, after a five-outing failure rate. To put that string of five into perspective, I keep in mind that I was outside enjoying the fresh air, greenery, sun, shade, clouds, and a cool breeze, be it in a city park or a coastal reserve.
I think I was fairly decent in my activation today. My only blatant error was leaving my notebook at home. A true Stupid Human Trick, which is now fixed as I placed a spare notebook in my backpack.
‘Til the next time…ciao for niao…
Activation Statistics
| Location | DM04vc13, 34.09716, -118.23382 |
| Activation Attempt | 101 |
| Date | September 28, 2025 |
| Park | US-3548 Rio de Los Angeles State Park |
| Park Activated? | Yes, #83 |
| First Activation | June 11, 2022 |
| Previous Attempts | 26 |
| Park to Park Contacts | 10: US-9787, US-0647, US-10524, US-2909, US-0508, CL-0266, US-6327, Us-3202, US-4500, US-9436 |
| Number of Contacts | 12: CW |
| DX Contacts | 1: Chile |
| Historical Contacts | 323 |
| Mode | CW |
| Radio | Elecraft KX3 |
| Antenna | CHA SS25 Vertical |
| Tuner | Internal |
| Power | 5W using a 3Ah Bioenno battery |
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