I had some spare time this morning, so I made a trip to Evansburg State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351) for some radio time. Before I left, I took a quick peek at the band conditions and saw that we had some unsettled geomagnetic conditions. Despite the less-than-optimal conditions, I had a pretty good morning.
When I rolled into the parking lot, I was the only one there. That’s not too surprising for early in the day on a Wednesday, I suppose. I kept things simple and operated from the truck with my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW) and a 12-foot base loaded whip. I was also using a set of paddles I purchased recently. (More about those in a future post.)
As is my usual practice, I started out on 40M. As I was tuning across the band, I heard N1BS in Rhode Island and had a quick park-to-park QSO with him. After that, I found a clear frequency and started calling CQ. Even though the band conditions app showed poor daytime conditions on 40M, I had my first ten contacts in about 15 minutes. Not too bad, actually.
After logging 20 contacts on 40M, I gave 20M a go. That band was good for another 22 contacts, including three European hunters. I moved up to 17M and made six more contacts, five of which were European stations. I seemed to have a pipeline into Poland this morning on 17M.
After 90 minutes of operating, I had 48 in the log. The DX stations included:
- 20M: Sweden, Belgium, and Denmark
- 17M: Finland, Poland (3), and Switzerland
Even with an unsettled geomagnetic field, I was pleased with my results. Of course, a QRP-portable outing with questionable band conditions is better than not getting out at all.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 