Or was it? You certainly couldn’t tell by the weather. It reached a balmy 71 degrees F today here in southeastern Pennsylvania. It just doesn’t seem right being outside in late December wearing a T-shirt.
Anyway, the shopping was done and the presents were wrapped, so I decided to sneak out to a local park for a little QRP-portable. I drove a couple of miles down the road to Charlestown Township Park and set up in my truck. The forecasters were predicting possible storms, so I operated in the truck today. I used my roll-on support to put my 31-foot Jackite pole up. I used one 30-foot wire as a vertical and another on the ground for a counterpoise. I fed it through a homebrew 4:1 unun. I used my YouKits HB-1B running 4 watts.
I started out on 20 meters but had no luck there. Moving down to 30 meters, I got a call from Walt WB8E near Detroit. Walt had a nice signal in Pennsylvania, despite some fading on the band. Next, I went to 40 meters and had a nice, long chat with Lou WA3MIX in Williamsport, PA. Lou grew up in my area and has some relatives in nearby towns. Finally, I went back to 20 meters and called CQ on 14.060MHz a few times. As I reached over to shut off the radio, I heard Dave KB8XG calling me from Michigan. This was Dave’s second CW contact. After wrapping up with Dave, I packed up and headed home.
Whatever your weather is like, I hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 