I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as I did! I was able to get out to Lake Lowndes, get set up, and get on the air—and that made the weekend that much sweeter!
Paul, W4TBH, came through again, and we had a great time discussing antennas, FT8, and all things ham radio. I was able to activate the park twice on 20 meters, which was a little challenging with all the noise I was dealing with. There were several stations I worked that were WAY down in the weeds, but I was still able to pull them out and make some solid QSOs.
Between the two activations, I ended up with a combined 25 QSOs, so I was pretty happy with the results considering the conditions.
40 meters was so covered up that I didn’t even attempt to find an open frequency. I did, however, make a few Park-to-Park contacts while scrolling through the frequencies. 15 meters was on my list to try, but I never got around to it. Maybe next time!
Now, KF5WZD, you said in your last post that you were going to try FT8… How’d that go???
NOT WELL! 😂
I’m still learning the FT8 game, along with WSJT-X, GridTracker, and all the other pieces that go along with it. I made several attempts to get some contacts going, but I believe the computer just wasn’t happy with some of my settings. I could hear several local operators on the air, but I just couldn’t get the computer to talk to them.
Not to worry, though—I plan to get this figured out! Hopefully before I head back out for another POTA activation. 😎
While I was set up, several disc golfers came through and were curious about what I was doing. I explained Amateur Radio to them and talked about some of the things we can use it for. Several seemed pretty interested.
One guy even asked if I worked for a three-letter agency… LOL!
I told him, “Ha! No, no three-letter agencies working out of a state park right now!” 😂
We had a good conversation about ham radio, what we do, and how useful the hobby can be. After they left, I got back on the radio and made a few more contacts before the gnats and mosquitoes decided it was time for me to pack it up and head home!
I sincerely hope everyone is doing well and managing to stay cool during this heat wave. Hopefully, we’ll get some cooler weather soon!
I hope to hear you on the radio or see you at the next POTA site!
And if you have a particular POTA park you need for your Hunters Log, let me know which one. Within reason… 😁 I’ll try to get out there, set up, and activate it!
I’ll also attach a map of my contacts from the other program so you can see where some of those QSOs were coming from.
Stay safe, everyone, and 73! 📻
KF5WZD
Hams Eating Chicken 