My First Kilo – Finally!

I made another quick run over to nearby Valley Forge National Historical Park (US-0761, KFF-0761) this morning. There were a few things I wanted to do during this activation, including finishing off my first POTA Kilo Award. My last activation left me 28 QSOs shy of 1,000 contacts at Valley Forge. 

I went with my usual setup: Penntek TR-35 and 12-ft loaded whip. I made a minor tweak to the antenna setup, which I wanted to test. (More on that in the future.)

Things got off to a brisk start this morning, so I quickly made the 28 QSOs I needed—and then some. After an hour on the air, I had 41 contacts in the log, with one park-to-park QSO and two German stations. 

Before I packed up, I hooked up a little straight key I wanted to try out. (More on that later, as well.) I made a couple of Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) contacts with the new key, including one with K3Y/1, one of the Straight Key Month special event stations. 

Earning a Kilo Award is no big deal for many activators, but I’ve been a casual activator at best. I made the first-ever POTA QSO at Valley Forge back in January 2016, so it took me nine years to get to 1,000 contacts. Actually, I wasn’t always active with the parks programs over the years; my focus shifted to other aspects of the hobby from time to time. Regardless, it’s been fun getting to this point.

My thanks to all the POTA and WWFF hunters who got me there. I appreciate each and every QSO.

72, Craig WB3GCK