I happened to be in the vicinity of Ridley Creek State Park (US-1414, KFF-1414) yesterday morning, so I stopped there on my way home. My short activation turned out to be an interesting one.
I pulled into one of the picnic areas and, because of the questionable weather, I operated from my truck. I was using my Penntek TR-35 (5W) and a 17-foot base-loaded whip. As soon as I got started, I was met with some horrendous intermittent interference on 40M through 17M. This area is normally dead quiet, so this was highly unusual. I initially suspected it might be coming from a hybrid car parked in the area. Despite the noise, I still managed to make CW contacts and complete my activation.
As I was making my last QSO of the morning, a fellow walked up to the truck and introduced himself. Herb K3YR had been operating from a nearby picnic pavilion and could hear my CW. He saw my POTA spot and figured I had to be somewhere nearby. As he walked around the loop, he spotted my antenna and came over for an “eyeball QSO.” Since the noise I had been hearing stopped right before Herb showed up, we both assumed it was his SSB transmissions I was hearing.
After chatting for a bit, Herb headed back to the pavilion to continue his activation, and I started packing up to leave. I stopped by the pavilion on my way out to have a look at his setup. After we took some pictures, I got on my way.
I’ve only encountered other activators in the same park a handful of times over the years, but I’ve met some really nice fellow hams that way.
73, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 