I made some contacts in the monthly Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) Weekend Sprintathon (WES) this morning and completed a POTA activation while I was at it. My operating site today was Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414).
I rolled into one of my favorite spots and set up my table and chair in the grass behind my truck. From previous activations, I knew this spot always has lots of shade. Of course, with the heavily overcast skies this morning, sun exposure wasn’t much of an issue.
I mounted a 17-foot whip and my homebrew loading coil on my truck and ran some coax back to my operating position. Rig-wise, I used my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW), Elecraft T1 tuner and my little American Morse MS2 straight key.
My strategy today was to operate in the WES for an hour. If I hadn’t reached 10 contacts by then, I planned to break out the paddles and finish up as a POTA activator.
It was a good thing I had a “Plan B.” After an hour, I had only scratched together six WES contacts. I don’t know if it was the unsettled geomagnetic conditions or just a lack of early morning participants, but I didn’t hear much WES activity on 40M and 20M.
After spotting myself on the POTA and WWFF websites, I easily made the requisite 10 contacts on 20M plus three more for good measure. One of those contacts was a park-to-park.
It wasn’t my best outing, but far from my worst. Even with the humid weather and the occasional mosquito, it was nice to do a little outdoor operating and log some familiar SKCC and POTA callsigns.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 
But you made the effort, that’s what counts.
And you made contacts, that’s what counts.
Next time, you might forego the mobile whip and put up something more
efficient.
Like 17′ vertical on a tripod with loading coil (e.g., Wolf River Coil)
and 24 evenly-spaced radials.
I won last year’s Skeeter Hunt with just such an antenna. The 24
radials is the secret.
72,
Kent
K9ZTV
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