We’re in the middle of our first heatwave of the year here in southeastern Pennsylvania. This isn’t my favorite kind of weather, but I wanted to get in a POTA/WWFF activation today. To avoid the forecasted heat, I made an early-morning trip to Valley Forge National Historical Park (US-0761, KFF-0761), hoping for some early-rising hunters.
When I got to the park, I headed to a picnic area where I knew there would be several hours of shade. I parked my truck in the shade and set up a chair and table nearby under some large trees.
I took a quick look at the band conditions before I left the house. The geomagnetic field was active, and the band conditions were predicted to be “fair” at best. I figured the higher bands would be tough today, so I planned to focus on 40M, 30M, and 20M. So, antenna-wise, I went with a 17-foot whip and my homebrew loading coil on the back of my truck. I ran some coax over to my table, where I had set up my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW).
I started out on 40M around 0800 local time. As soon as I turned on the rig, I heard some ear-shattering signals. That was certainly a good sign. There were plenty of early morning hunters out there, so it only took about 6 minutes to make my first 10 contacts. The hunters kept me busy on 40M for about 40 minutes until the activity slowed down.
I spent the rest of my time on 30M and 20M. The activity there, although not as brisk as on 40M, produced a fair number of contacts. After about an hour and 40 minutes, I had 53 contacts in my log.
One of my contacts was with a fellow Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) member. Fortunately, I had a straight key hooked up and ready to go to complete the standard SKCC exchange.
Some highlights:
- Working Jess W6LEN out in California on both 30M and 20M
- A park-to-park contact with Jim N4JAW, aka Ham on a Bike
- Working on-the-air friends I hadn’t heard in a while: AB4PP, W1PID, and KK4Z
As I was operating, two park vehicles came by and parked a couple of spaces away from my truck. At first, I thought it was a National Park SWAT team coming to check on my suspicious activity. Instead, two rangers and a maintence worker donned backpacks and headed down one of the trails. Apparently, there are more important things in the park than some old ham radio operator.
Despite the hot weather and mediocre propagation forecasts, today’s activation was a lot of fun. Except for a few pesky ants, my shady spot under the trees was magnificent.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 