Yeah, more activations. Yesterday, Monday May 20th, we had to go to the store to get some cat treats so we grabbed the POTA gear and stopped off at Little Buffalo SP US-1376. While I was getting my antennae out, WA3ENQ, stopped by. He had been walking his dog and saw us pull in. We chatted for a few minutes and then he went off home. Not too much later he gave me a call and just happened by luck to be my 10th contact, making the activation bona fide! Rich is a fellow member of the Perry County Amateur Radio Club (https://perrycountyarc.org) and it was nice to see him and log him. We totaled 25 contacts in less than an hour on 40M and it was so busy I only took one picture! Today, Tuesday the 21st of May we set out early. We started out with breakfast (the most important meal of the day) at the Newville Diner in Newville PA. We then drove down into Maryland into the Catoctin Mountains. We were going to try Catoctin Mountain Park but the road to it was closed due to construction. We later found out there is an alternate route which we will try another time. We ended up at Cunningham Falls State Park US-1566. This was my first chance to use my Golden Age pass which lets us into the park free. We found a nice out of the way place to park and worked 12 contacts (6 park-to-park) on 40 Meters and 1 on 17 Meters before deciding to trollop up to Gettysburg PA US-0027. Now the battlefield in Gettysburg is big … very big and there are lots of places to work from but I chose Culp’s Hill as being a shaded and less travelled hilltop. Yes it does have a tower and is a destination for bus and car tours but is less of a draw than places like the “high-water mark” or Little Roundtop (which is currently closed for cleaning). It being mid-day I started out on 17 Meters and worked 6 stations. I then changed to 40 M and worked 3 more before swapping to 20 Meters. We worked 18 overall there including 2 park-to-parks. Now when I use “we” in my blog I am actually using the first person plural, not the “royal we”. Without the help of my wonderful and long suffering wyfe, these activations would not go so smoothly and also most of the good ideas are hers. Ok, kidlets, cheers for now. Namaste.

Zarathustra on Culps Hill