Yeah, I know. That title sounds bad. What I’m talking about is finally making one thousand contacts at French Creek State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351). I’ve activated this park a bunch of times over the years, but I have yet to get that POTA Kilo Award. I was bound and determined to wrap it up this morning.
I started off this morning 36 contacts shy of the one thousand mark. Since we’re gearing up for a bit of a heatwave here in southeastern Pennsylvania, I headed out early to beat the heat. I was hoping for good band conditions and lots of early-rising hunters.
My setup today was my usual Penntek TR-35 (5W, CW) and my 12-foot base-loaded whip. I normally use my Elecraft T1 tuner to touch up the SWR on the lower bands. This morning, though, the T1 refused to find a match. It took me a few seconds to realize that I forgot to set the tap on the coil. So the antenna had a bit more inductance than it needed. Doh! Once I corrected that faux pas, all was right with the world.
Given the early hour, I started out on 40M. It didn’t take long for the hunters to show up. After 12 minutes, I had my first 10 contacts logged. Although not at a breakneck pace, I had a steady stream of callers. When I hit 20 contacts, I was feeling like I had a shot at getting the 36 I needed.
The activity eventually dried up on 40M, so I moved up to 30M. After an hour on the air, I had 33 contacts logged. And then it slowed way down. After an hour and 15 minutes, I finally had the 36 contacts I was looking for. Thanks to W8AJF in Ohio for being number one thousand from this park.
I made a couple more on 30M before dropping back down to 40M for a few minutes before shutting down. After 90 minutes on the air, I had 43 contacts—seven more than I needed. The temperature was warming up, so I packed up and headed off to run a few errands.
I don’t normally get too wound up about POTA or WWFF awards, but I do love a challenge now and then. Thanks to all the hunters who came out to play this morning.
72, Craig WB3GCK
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 