First things first!! K4YGD, aka Russ, brought by some homemade pound cake that was cooked with love by Lynn, KD4POC. Nothing starts off a good POTA activation like cake made by a southern lady with expert culinary talents.
Jack, NW4TF, arrived and we set up his Pacific Dipole antenna. We’ve gotten that routine down to an exact science.
There wasn’t much breeze and it didn’t take long for the July heat to kick in. Nevertheless, there was cake and coffee on hand so we pushed on.
Jack set up his Elecraft K3 with the 100-watt amplifier and started to call CQ on 20 meters. At first, the pickings were slim. Lowell, NY4D, came by and reminded us there had recently been solar activity which has disrupted the force and our radio propagation. Graphs show us that Lowell was indeed correct and we were at the mercy of the rise and fall of noise due to the sun’s activity.
Jack later switched over to 40 meters and did just a little bit better. After it was all said and done, he was able to round up 25 contacts and 2 pieces of cake. We won’t mention how much cake Bryan and Russ had while watching Jack work.
The county employees were also on scene cutting grass and blowing off the park. The background noise didn’t help Jack in making clear contacts but those guys have a job to do and they do it well.
As usual, it was a fun morning and when it hit 90 degrees, we decided to pack it in.
Remember, all are welcome to participate. Contact any board member through the website and we’ll be happy to get you on the NWC mailing list. The more the merrier.
73’s!!