Other than getting a bit of rain which caused us to pack up much earlier than expected, it was an outstanding and fun day today.
We operated two stations for 3 hours and 15 minutes and made 201 contacts using the K8ES club callsign.
Station #1 – N8QL’s FT-891 with a “tuned to the teeth” Buddipole Antenna on 20M.
Station #2 – My FT-991a with a Chamelon MPAS 2.0 in a 40M “Sloper” configuration. Antenna was suspended from a willing tree, 35 – 40 feet.
We setup two stations this time, instead of three, and operate only 40M and 20M. POTA activity has been light recently on 17M and 15M, it was getting “late” for 80M and 10M is always a crap shoot.
As before, we did find some new items to improve upon for the next time out. Towards the end of the day, interference between the two radios became more noticeable and at times became a hindrance to both radios operating concurrently with the rate of QSO’s we were getting. Next time we will look at better antenna placement along with some strategic use of Band Pass filters.
Parks on the Air has proven to be a very valuable experience for us and it is a great opportunity to operate in the outdoors, and experience amateur radio in a manner you can’t get from a book. If you are on the fence, I highly recommend activating a park or attend a future activation.
Thanks to all listed below who were in attendance!
KE8QPI – Rob
N8QL – Alex
W8CMP – Christina
KE8ULU – Denny
KE8TQP – Dave
W8OGF – Owen
AF8RJ – Russ
AE8Q – Ed
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