It’s Like a Heatwave

My apologies to Martha and the Vandellas for misappropriating the hook from their iconic hit song. Here in Pennsylvania, yesterday was Day 1 of a heat wave that’s projected to be around for the next 5 or 6 days. With that in mind, I headed out yesterday morning to get some QRP-portable time in before it got too hot.

I made a quick trip over to nearby Valley Forge National Historical Park and found a picnic table under a shady tree. I set up my Alexloop, KX3 and a straight key to see if I could conjure up some SKCC contacts.

I called CQ once on 40 meters and a very loud KG4W immediately came back to me from Virginia. I like when that happens! We chatted for a bit and, after we signed, I tried to make a few more contacts. It seemed like 40M dried up after that.

I moved up to 20M and tuned around. I didn’t hear much activity but I called CQ a few times. K4BXR, another Virginia station, gave me another SKCC contact. (Afterward, Ted emailed me a recording of me calling CQ on 20M. Pretty cool!) That was it for 20M, so I headed back to 40M for a last check. No takers there, either.

After an hour or so, the bugs had gotten the best of me. After something tried to take a chunk out of my ankle, I decided to pack up. I also noticed that the tree I was under was dripping sap on me and the KX3.

Boy, Mother Nature must have really had it in for me. At least I came away with a couple of contacts.

This morning, I gave it another try. I drove out to Towpath Park, which is a small community park a few miles away. There’s a nice little pavilion there that is one of my favorite spots. I got out there a little earlier this morning since the forecast high for today was 98°F  (36.6°C) with a heat index of 105°F.

I used the same setup as yesterday but the bands didn’t seem so hot this morning. I checked into the SKCC Sked Page to let folks know I was on the air. I called CQ for a while with no takers and didn’t hear any other activity around the SKCC 40M calling frequency. I moved up to 20M but the band didn’t seem quite open yet. KB2XX in Virginia contacted me via the sked page asking if I wanted to try a contact. We met on 40M and successfully exchanged our SKCC numbers. Another SKCC member in Missouri wanted to try 30M but, sadly, we couldn’t hear each other. I ended up my brief session with just one contact in the log. Oh well, at least I didn’t get skunked.

So for now, that’s enough of this hot weather for this old guy.  I think I had more bug bites than contacts this weekend.

Stay cool!

72, Craig WB3GCK