I really enjoy activating parks when I need some time to myself. I tend to not ask people to go with me but instead just go alone and I think I know why now.
Today was a perfect example is why I figured I would write about it. Today wasn’t particularly stressful but rather just really busy with lots of little tasks needing to be completed all day long. This slowly took its toll on me and I really needed some down time to get myself back in alignment.
A park activation was just the ticket. I find activating a park to be very soothing whether I have a huge pileup or no one answers me for minutes at a time. I also like to go by myself as well as I have concluded that direct human interaction is stressful for me and I don’t want that when activating a park. The radio contacts for POTA are rhythmic in nature and give me something to focus on that is low stress. Especially with CW since using CW for me still requires me to think about what I am hearing for now.
Take this operating position above for instance, it is simple yet functional and it is fully immersed in nature. I think this is another reason I like activating parks, it gets to a quiet place away from the busy world around us.
Another thing that is magical about it for me is how I can transmit a simple signal with just a few watts of energy and someone listening on the other side of the continent (and sometimes even other continents) can hear that signal and reply to it. Today was a hamstick kind of day as it is quick to deploy as I only had 45 minutes before the UTC day ended and I needed my “ten QSOs” before that happened.
This 2” pvc pipe makes the perfect hamstick storage tube and holds 5 hamsticks with qd mounts installed just fine. It is actually too long but not by much. It fits in my truck bed…exactly… with no wiggle room so I just use it. Today I simply strung the counterpoise for 20&40 meters and just used those bands since I can usually get an activation pretty quickly with those two bands. So to change from 20 meters to 40 meters I simply unplug one antenna and snap on the other. No tuners needed or anything, just a band change and we are off to the races.
Another thing I like here is the simplicity of the TR-35 radio and how it literally has zero menus. It has everything I need and nothing I don’t. Pure CW goodness at it’s finest… well, it could use 15 meters. Lol.
As can be seen above, the bands were fairly alive today and I was easily able to seal the activation before the UTC day flipped over. Signal reports varied as the bands would fade in and out but were favorable for the most part. It was nice to work so many familiar call signs such as KN1R and WD4DAN and even a few Canadians to boot!
Thanks for following along today and I hope to work you on the air soon. Until then 72
WK4DS