I had another rare opportunity to activate a park on a weekday. After all the solar wackiness over the weekend, I checked the band conditions before I got started. The numbers looked better, but I still expected to encounter some flakey band conditions.
I rolled into Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414) and started setting up. Once again, I used my 17-foot MFJ-1979 whip and homebrew loading coil. Thinking I would need all the help I could get, I went with the longer whip. The rig was my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW).
About a minute after spotting myself, I received a call on 40M from another activator. Another hunter called about a minute later. I was off to a good start, right? Not so fast! After those two calls, things really slowed down.
I split my time between 40M, 30M, and 20M, and it took me about 45 minutes to make my first 10 contacts. In fact, I thought number 10 would never happen.
An hour’s effort produced 15 contacts with 3 park-to-park contacts. Sadly, there were no DX contacts to be had. Happy to have salvaged the activation, I packed up and headed home.
Hopefully, the bands will get back in shape soon.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 