I’ve been slowly sneaking up on a POTA Repeat Offender Activator award for Valley Forge National Historical Park (K-0761), so I headed over there this morning for another activation. Now that the picnic areas and restrooms are open for the season, I drove to Varnum’s Picnic Area, one of my usual spots.
I was originally thinking of operating from a picnic table today, but the wind changed my mind. Instead, I parked in a remote corner of the parking lot and operated from the truck. My rig today was my trusty Penntek TR-35, along with my homebrew vertical.
I started on 40M and quickly made my first 10 contacts. I operated for about an hour, ending up with 28 QSOs in the log. Among those were four park-to-park contacts.
As I got out of the truck to change bands on the antenna one last time, I heard a loud creaking noise coming from the wooded area behind me. It was a large, dead tree (aka a “widow maker”) swaying in the wind. Although it wasn’t directly behind me, I was certainly within striking distance if it fell to the side. Yep, it was time to take the antenna down and head home.
As I write this, we have some severe thunderstorms headed our way later. Time to batten down the hatches.
73, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 