I drove down to Delaware this morning to do a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation of a new (to me) park. Fox Point State Park (K-1738, KFF-1738) is located along the Delaware River near Wilmington. The park is in an industrial area, with busy railroad tracks on one side and cargo ships navigating the river on the other side.
I parked my truck near a picnic pavilion and a large playground. The park was mostly empty today. At times, I was the only one in the park.
I went with my go-to setup: my Elecraft KX3 (5 watts) and my homebrew 19-foot vertical. The hunters showed up en masse on 40M a minute or two after posting a spot. The activity was steady for about thirty minutes, netting me twenty-five contacts..
The higher bands weren’t quite as productive. I only picked up three on 30M and one on 20M. The 17M band yielded another four contacts. I headed back to 40M for another thirty minutes before packing up.
I finished up with forty-eight contacts today, including seven park-to-park (P2P) contacts. The park-to-park contacts included QSOs with KØBWR in Kansas on three bands. I also had a P2P contact with K3RTA, who was at another Delaware Park down the river from me. The best DX of the day was EC1R in Spain on 17M. Alfonso gave me a 339 report. I’ll take it!
It was another good day in the state of Delaware. I always enjoy operating from the “First State.”
73, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 