Due to one of my fellow workers taking some time off, I worked 7 days straight from the 8th to the 14th of October. This was buffered a bit by me being off the previous 7 days but it is still a strain. My shift is 12 hours at night and it does wear on a person. I have been doing this for about 21 years so I guess I should be used to it but the older I get, the more trying it gets.

Today, SWMBO and I went to King’s Gap Environmental State Park US-4361. This was the 20th time we activated this park and, as always, it was enjoyable. It was a nice day though a bit chilly. The temperature was 12.8 C when we arrived though it was nice and warm in the car. It doesn’t take long to set up my gear and with all the practice I have had it goes pretty smoothly, usually. First I got my mag-mount and antenna out of the trunk. (I keep my hamstick antennae in a 7.62 CM inside diameter PVC pipe with caps on both ends. This hangs conveniently on bunji cords wrapped around the rear seat headrests. ) Then I got my 40M hamstick out of the case and attached it to my roof. I ran the coax down the windshield and into the driver side window. Next I got my rig out of the storage box I keep it in along with my gnomes and my basic tool kit. I attached the coax to the radio and placed it up on the dashboard. I put my 20AH LiFePo battery on the armrest and attached the power cord from the radio to it. I consulted my list of known net frequencies (so that I could avoid them) and found an empty frequency. I asked if it was in use and gave my callsign, waited for a response or any indication of activity, and repeated the process. (As a side note, I keep my power level at 75 Watts) When I had determined that the freq was clear I posted a spot on the POTA app and started calling CQ POTA. That is my usual routine.

Today we started at 1225 UTC and worked a park-to-park station in NJ. From there it was pretty much solid activity until 1258 when I went hunting. Of course by we I mean SWMBO and myself. After hunting for a few minutes we decided to call it a day. In 39 minutes, we worked a total of 45 stations; not too bad if I say so myself.

So that is pretty much what I do and how I do it. In another blog I will address how we select where to activate. Enough for now. Namaste, kidlets!