I was out in central Pennsylvania over the past weekend for our family’s belated Thanksgiving get-together. Before we left for home on Sunday, I squeezed in a quick early-morning POTA activation. This time, I drove down to Falmouth Boat Launch to activate the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail (US-4567).
The Falmouth launch is about two miles downstream from the infamous Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station. I was here once before back in 2018. However, I had forgotten that this water trail includes the entire length of the Susquehanna River. (I have since uploaded that log to the POTA website.)
It was about 20F (-7C) when I headed out for the 15-minute drive to the site. The parking lot was nearly empty, so I was able to park in a spot that fell within the 100 feet guideline. I had previously used Google Earth to measure the distance to the river.
I quickly put up my 12-foot loaded whip (before my fingers got numb) and set up my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts CW). Thankfully, the sun and my body heat brought the cab of the truck up to 40F (4C) in short order.
The conditions on 40M were amazing. The first two stations answered my CQs before I had even spotted myself. When I finally posted my spot, I had a huge pile-up. There were a lot of early risers out there, so Craig was a very busy boy for the first 15 minutes or so.
I gave the cheap QU-21C paddles a real workout this morning. My quick and dirty magnetic mount held perfectly, and the paddles worked great. They’ll be seeing a lot more use in the future.
After 33 minutes on the air, I had worked 32 stations, all of them on 40M. I had one known park-to-park.
Then, it was time to head back to my daughter’s house for breakfast. On the way, I pulled over to take some pictures of Three Mile Island. I also saw another boat launch that I’ll have to check out further.
Happy belated Thanksgiving to all who celebrated.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 