20 CW Hunters: Thanks to you all!
It's been a while since RV the Radio Van and I headed to the local WMA for some POTA fun. It felt good to get out and operate after a winter of other activities. These otherwise good activities just got in the way and prevented any POTA fun...until today. I could tell I was rusty doing POTA. It took me a while to get in the groove with CW momentum. I started on 40 and made 4 contacts in 5 minutes before the band seemed to dry up suddenly. I had gotten a late start for that band, so I wasn't surprised. I quickly swapped my 40 meter hamstick for the 20 meter version. The night before I implemented an idea a fellow ham and blogger suggested for quickly lowering the stinger into the middle of the helically wound base coil for storage and transport. Replace the tiny allen screws with thumbscrews that can be loosened just enough to pull the stinger out, or to push it back in for storage. I'm here to report this little trick worked very well. I need to order 1 more set for my 17 meter hamstick. Normally, I use a 17 foot Wolf River Coils vertical on top of my 9 foot tall van. This time I wanted to see how the hamsticks worked with my IC-705 barefoot. Sometimes when operating portable, such as in a Cracker Barrel parking lot, using a shorter hamstick is more appropriate. Today's test was to see if they would get the job done with only 10 watts.
Getting back to the activation, once I twisted the quick connect on the hamstick and swapped 40 for 20, I was back on the air calling CQ POTA. I also tried swapping the straight key for my CW Morse keyer paddles, but the keyer started went rogue and sent a few too many unwanted dahs without permission. So, I quickly moved right back to the straight key and made a mental note to clean the keyer contacts when I got home. First, I grabbed an activator for a Park-to-Park contact. Then, during the next 22 minutes I made 10 more contacts on 20 meters for a total of 11 on that band. My run rate was slower than on 40, but the results were better overall. Now that US-6291 was activated I ran out of hunters once again. Next band, new hamstick, and now I'm on 17 meters. This is my favorite band, especially for CW ragchewing. I thought to myself, let's see if anyone's interested in a quick POTA exchange. During the next 17 minutes I snagged 5 more contacts including one Park-to-Park to round out the activation. All in all, I was happy with my 20 contacts and I'm grateful for my 20 hunters.
Jim, K9WA reported snow in Illinois
I spent a few more minutes calling CQ SKCC and nabbed 3 more contacts in 26 minutes. These chats were more relaxed than a POTA exchange. I was able to lure all three of my code buddies into a few back and forth exchanges before moving on, including weather, rig, and even a little bit of rubbing it in with my 82 degree Florida temperatures. That's the joy of operating in sunny Florida in the middle of winter! Two of my SKCC buddies were from "up north", and Bert called in from France. He took me by surprise, as I mostly have contacts with hams from North America. I enjoyed these more casual contacts with Bert and my two other SKCC callers before signing off to call CQ SKCC again. Then, just like during the POTA activation, my replies dried up. So, I called QRT and started packing up.
Just as predicted, I was on my way home before lunchtime. After using the iPhone's "share my ETA" function with my wife I received a request for "DD, please". That's spouse-speak for "will you stop on the way home and bring me a Dunkin Donut iced coffee, please?" I was happy to oblige, and my caramel iced coffee tasted pretty good after drinking a whole Stanley thermos full of hot coffee during my morning of CW therapy in the park.
My shack away from home
The rig for this excursion consisted of 3 Shark Hamsticks for 40, 20, and 17. I ran 10w from an IC-705 and used my 20 Ah Bioenno battery to sneak past the 5w limit when only using the internal battery. I did that mainly because of the hamsticks, reasoning that I needed a bit more power to make any headway. Next time, I'll try it fully barefoot and QRP. My straight key was a tiny Putikeeg purchased from Amazon. It's so tiny I can use it when operating ROTA -- Recliners on the Air with a small lap desk. My log for the POTA activation was hand-written on a 3x5 card transferred to Hamrs when I got home. I used the SKCC logger to log my SKCC contacts which meant a little bit more wire on the RV table than I had started with when doing the POTA activation. I'm still working on my Century with that organization. I'm finally ready to send my logs in to get that "C" after my SKCC number.
All in all, it was a great morning. I spent a little over 2 hours in the park and about 45 minutes of round-trip driving plus that 15 minute detour to "DD". I can't wait until the next trip. Now, where to go next time?
