A Sunny Day, 3 Parks And A Walk

May 2, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Yesterday, 1 May 25, was a really nice day. The sun was shining and the temps were in the upper 20’s C. SWMBO suggested we go activate 3 parks and then have lunch. I grabbed some coffee from the local store, PDS, and we drove down to Cunningham Falls State Park US-1566 in Maryland. I have a park pass so I do not have to pay admission to the parks in Maryland, which is handy. We got set up and on the air by 0840. We were the only people in the park aside from the rangers. Band conditions were bad, it was almost like pulling teeth to get contacts but we made 11 contacts in about 20 minutes. We decided to move on and go to Catoctin Mountain Park US-0666. We stopped at the visitors center to make sure it was ok to operate. Camp David is close to the park and you need to check with the rangers before you play radio. It was a good idea to check with them as I was informed by the ranger on duty that the Chestnut Picnic Area was being used by school groups. He suggested we go to Thurmont Vista parking area and it turns that it was a good suggestion. There were very few people around, mostly folks out for a walk. We got set up and on the air by 0940 and made 16 contacts by 1001. It was such a nice day that we decided to take a walk on the Charcoal Trail. This is a loop through the woods where they used to make charcoal for the local furnaces. There are displays along the trail which showcase the activities and process in making charcoal. It was just nice to get out and about in the forest. There were mosquitos buzzing around but we survived them. I will post my videos of the walk on my YouTube channel. Just do a search for Planet Gestyrious in the next few days. Anyway, we made it back to the car and went to Gettysburg US-0027. As usual, we set up on Culp’s Hill and made 12 contacts in 23 minutes before we called it a day. I was putting away my antenna when a man walked up and asked if I was fishing. I told him it was ham radio. He seemed to lose interest. As I had stated earlier, bands were not in good shape. Between the three parks we heard the following birds: Carolina Wrens, Red-Eyed Vireos, Tufted Titmouses, Louisiana Waterthrushes, Wood Thrushes, American Robins, American Redstarts, Eastern Wood-Peewees, Oven Birds, Northern Parulas and Great-Crested Flycatchers. We drove from Culp’s Hill to downtown Gettysburg and ate at the Lincoln Diner which is located by the railroad station. We highly recommend it though the seating is old and uncomfortable. The food there is very good and the staff friendly and courteous. Well I guess that is my update for today. Namaste and stay cool.

A hut used by colliers during charcoal making season. Catoctin Mountain Park

A view of the forest at Catoctin Mountain Park.

Moxie, Missy and Zarathustra at Cunningham Falls SP

Missy, Zarathustra and Moxie guarding my radio and the car at Catoctin Mountain Park.

Again In A Repetitious Manner

April 27, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Wow, what can I say about today. The weather was beyond awesome. The temperature was mild, there was a bit of a breeze and there were birds everywhere. SWMBO and I had breakfast at Grandpa’s Love Shack in Shermansdale PA. They put on a good breakfast buffet on Sundays. When we finished eating, SWMBO said “Why don’t we go to Gettysburg?”. I had my radio equipment in the car so we headed out to Culp’s Hill, one of my favorite places to activate. Surprisingly the place wasn’t busy. I got set up and on the air in a short time and within half an hour we logged 32 contacts. After this we took a bit of a drive around the park gawking at stuff. We heard a bunch of birds today: Tufted Titmouses, Northern Parulas, Yellow-Rumped Warblers, White-Breasted Nuthatches, White-Throated Sparrows, Black-adn White Warblers, European Starlings, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, American Goldfinches, Yellow-Throated Vireos, Chipping Sparrows, Eastern Towhees, Northern Cardinals, Indigo Buntings, Blue-Headed Vireos, Gray Catbirds, Field Sparrows and Carolina Chickadees. Quite an impressive selection. It is Spring here I guess. Well I am going to close for now. Namaste, kidlets.

Moxie, Tootsie and Moxie’s new friend, Missy at Culp’s Hill

The Mayapples are emerging in profusion.

Two Days Out And About

April 22, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Avail yourselves of refreshing beverages and hearken to my tale of two very active days and two activations. Yesterday April 21st, a Monday, SWMBO and I had a busy day after I awoke from my sleep. We did some errands then we tackled Satan’s Putting Green for the first time this year. She used the lawnmower and I got all cave-man with the industrial weed wacker. This thing is made for heavy grass and light brush and uses 1/4 inch strings. It does the job and gets results. Once this herculean task was finished, we went for groceries. This brings us to the point where we decided to activate. SWMBO wanted to go to the Pioneer Cemetery in Tuscarora State Forest US-5479. The cemetery is located in an area known as Pandemonium. The road going up there is mostly gravel after the pavement ends. I was surprised that there were no birds to be heard there nor did we see any wildlife apart from squirrels. While she was going around taking pictures and shooting videos, I set up. I started operating on 40M and it did not take long to rack up 22 contacts (less than half an hour) and we packed it in. SWMBO did the logging, as usual. I did make a screw up by asking one ham to stand by because I wanted to work a weaker signal station and I didn’t get back to him. Next time I hear him on the air I will apologize. This brings us to today. This morning we went to some cemeteries in the Mechanicsburg area. You might notice a theme. We like taking pictures and photos in cemeteries. In one of the cemeteries we visited is buried a woman whose cause of death was spontaneous combustion! We then trolloped off to Gettysburg for a quick activation and a lunch at the Lincoln Diner. Through the course of the day our phone app heard: American Robins, Fish Crows, Northern Flickers, American Pipits, Chipping Sparrows, Blue Jays, American Crows, Northern Cardinals, White-Breasted Nuthatches and Red-Winged Blackbirds. I guess they were all out enjoying a nice day. Instead of going to Culp’s Hill where we usually go, we went to Barlow Ridge, near the Peace Light on Mummasburg Road. The contacts were slow to come today. I tried 40M and worked 5 before getting a bit frustrated. I went to 17 M and worked 7 more before we called it a day and went to lunch. If you are ever in Gettysburg, check out the Lincoln Diner. You won’t be disappointed. Well kidlets, here ends my tale for now. Below are some pics. I will be uploading at least 1 video to https://www.youtube.com/@gestyrious/featured in the next few days. Enjoy life and, as always, namaste!

A Beautiful Day In Gettysburg And Elsewhere

April 17, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

This morning SWMBO and I decided to go out and about. It was around 3C (37F) when we left and we were hoping for the best weatherwise. We decided on Gettysburg PA as a destination and we made our way to Culps Hill. While we were there the temp rose from 6C (43F) to 11C (52F) and there was not a cloud in the sky. The wind was calm, also. On the radio side of things, the A index was 84 and the K index was 7; a true solar storm! I didn’t know this until after I finished with the activation. We were only on the air from 12:47 UTC until 13:17 UTC and worked a total of 30 contacts of which 4 were Park-to-Park contacts. Very nice for a day when the propagation should have prevented us from talking across the street. 🙂 As per usual, I used my app to listen for birds and heard: Tufted Titmouses, White-throated Sparrows, Red-bellied Woodpeckers and Brown-headed Cowbirds; a virtual symphony of tweets. After we picked up we decided to head to the Evergreen Cemetery in Gettysburg. As I have mentioned before, we both like to take pictures in cemeteries as some of the carvings on the stones are very beautiful. We go to the cemetery and I again started my app hearing: Chipping Sparrows, Blue Jays, American Goldfinches, Tufted Titmice and Dark-eyed Juncos. The cemetery was also alive with a plethora (butt-load) of squirrels. The day continued to be gorgeous. One grave in particular that we visited was that of Jennie Wade, the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. There is a statue of her there and a flagpole where people leave pennies to signify they visited the grave. In a day or so I will be uploading a video of her grave site to my YouTube channel : www.youtube.com/@gestyrious After we left the cemetery we headed over the mountain to Bunker Hill Farm in Michaux State Forest. Aside from once being a farm it was also a CCC Camp, a camp where the Army interrogated WWII prisoners of war, and a church camp (in that order). There are only foundations left now and the crumbling walls of the old barn. It is a cool place to walk around. Anyway, that sums up how we spent a beautiful morning. That is it for now. As always, Namaste kids.

Moxie and Zarathustra at Culp’s Hill maintaining the accuracy of our logs.

The remains of the barn at Bunker Hill Farm

2 Weeks And I Am Back

April 13, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

On 31 March, I took my car to the body shop due to damage from a ruminant running into my door. I finally got it back on Wednesday, 9 April . The rental I had was really bad. I didn’t like it at all nor did my wyfe. We are thrilled to have our Scoobydoo back. We went out yesterday driving around and looking for places to take pictures and videos. We ended up on the back roads around Gettysburg. One place we stopped was at Sachs Bridge. The bridge was used by the Confederate Army during their withdrawal from Gettysburg after the battle. It is a “Town” Truss type covered bridge and the area is a great spot to fish or just watch the creek roll by. Today we set out to do an activation and play with the cameras again. I asked SWMBO to pick a direction and she had said south. We took off directed south and made our way to Fort Frederick in Maryland which is a park I hadn’t activated before. Where we parked was next to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal which is a historic trail and on the list of places you can activate. It is officially a National Park and runs from Washington DC to Cumberland MD along the Potomac River. This made our activation a 2 fer.I used my app to listen for birds and we heard Northern Cardinals, White-Throated Sparrows, American Goldfinches, Tufted Titmouses, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Carolina Chickadees, Downy Woodpeckers, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Ruby-Crowned Kinglets, Hermit Thrushes and Blue-Gray Gnatcatchers. We started operating and within a half hour we worked 41 contacts. We then played tourist in the park and did some photography and videos. It was a good weekend and it is good to be back in my car where I can work POTA stations. Thanks for being there. Namaste.

A ruminant track next to my car. Quarter is for scale.

3 Great Days At The End Of March

March 30, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Well here we are, at the end of March. Spring has sprung and what a spring it has. The Daffodils are blooming across the road, both yellow and white. Friday the 28th was nice temperature-wise and we took a drive down to Boiling Springs, PA, where we used to live long ago. It is a nice quiet little town with a man-made lake in the middle of it. SWMBO wanted to try out her new camera and I took some pictures of the wildlife there along with a video I will link to at the end of this entry. The lake had lots of geese and was just stocked with trout as Saturday the 29th was the first day of trout season here in PA. One cool thing about this lake is that at the lower end where we were it is restricted to youth fishing only. This gives kids a chance to catch some and makes for some nice parent-child time. As we walked around the area I had my app open to hear the birds. We heard Northern Cardinals, American Goldfinches, Song Sparrows, Gloden Crowned Kinglets and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. A rather nice assortment. We then trolloped home. Yesterday, March 29th, was a very nice day with temps up near 28C. It started clouding up in the afternoon but stayed warm. SWMBO wanted to check out this one cemetery and we went there. After we were done there we went to Mont Alto State Park US-1386. Conditions were a bit rough on the bands but we made 13 contacts with several being Park-to-Park contacts. We then had a nice lunch at Newville Diner and went home. Today has been cloudy but warm. Temperature os 20C and the sky is overcast. We went to another cemetery today after doing our grocery shopping. This cemetery is located in Middletown PA and buried there is Helen Twelvetrees, a famous actress from the early days of silent and talking films. While SWMBO did her filming, I walked around and checked out the gravestones. I also had my app open and heard American Crows, Northern Cardinals, American Robins, House Finches and European Starlings. Well that is how we spent the final weekend of March. Namaste for now, kidlets.

Moxie and Ptolomey at Mont Alto State Park

Not A Hog But I Feel Warty

March 25, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

I got my second “Rover Warthog” award and I blame SWMBO. 🙂 We left early today and went to Sweet Run State Park US-9936 in Virginia; located about 4 km from Harpers Ferry. It is a nice little park and easy to find. There is an entrance fee but I guess VA charges for all their parks. The weather was awesome for a day in March. The birds were out in full force. We heard Field Sparrows, Eastern Bluebirds, Tufted Titmice, American Crows, Fish Crows, House Finches, Northern Cardinals and Red-Bellied Woodpeckers. We had a very successful activation and decided to activate another park. SWMBO asked what was around and we decided on Gathland State Park US-1574 and we parked where the Appalachian Trail US-4556 crossed the park. The scenery is nice in the park and the weather was really great except for a bit of a wind. Zarathustra kept falling off of the car hood. We heard the following birds there: Brown-Headed Cowbirds, Northern Cardinals, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Song Sparrows and Tufted Titmouses. Anyway, after this park we decided to do an activation at Mont Alto State Park US-1386 in PA. Propagation on 40M was bad so we used 17M. We made 10 contacts and moved on to Caladonia State Park US-1337. Again, we went with 17M and made 10 contacts of which one was a 3-fer park-to-park, giving us a total of 12 contacts. We then called it a day for activating and went for lunch. This was a total of 5 parks in 3 different states. Again I thank SWMBO for her suggestions and her mad logging skills. Also she got to wander around a bit and use her new video camera. I will have to view her work. Well enough for now. Namaste and keep your stick on the ice!

War Correspondents Memorial in Gathland State Park

Set up and ready to operate at Sweet Run SP

Lichen growth on a stone wall at Gathland SP

Heard From A Sad Ham

March 20, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Today we went down to Gettysburg US-0027. We parked on the ridge next to the Peace Light so that SWMBO could try out her new camera. We started calling on 40M and worked 7 stations before moving to 17M We changed bands because propagation on 40 was declining as it does during the day. As folks in a nearby car were staring at me, I changed antennae and set up for 17 M. Immediately we got results. The first was a ham from the Netherlands. After that the contacts came in at a decent pace. We worked as far west at California and South to Puerto Rico. SWMBO was a bit taken aback when the Sad Ham came on. He (without id’ing you can guess the reason) started berating me for doing POTA on a WARC band. I ignored him and kept working contacts. He then said he would complain to W1AW about me. This got me to laughing. I am not sure what he would expect W1AW (the ARRL) to do about me. In any event, he went away after being ignored. Maybe he is missing something in his life. Maybe he should take up knitting or get a gerbil. Anyway, the incident did not detract from my enjoyment. We were a bit hungry so we packed up and called it a day. As we were packing up I used my phone app to listen for birds. It identified American Robins and Song Sparrows. One of the forementioned sparrows landed on the fence in front of our car and watched us for a bit. Overall it was a good day topped off by a great lunch at the Lincoln Diner in downtown Gettysburg. The service was fast and good and the food was great. Well kiddos, I think I am going to relax and interact with my cats. Namaste, y’all.

Moxie and Tootsie watching our operation.

Looking back up the ridge to where we had been.

Not Idle On The Ides

March 15, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Hi kidlets. Had a bit of a busy day. SWMBO wanted to do some videoing down in Gettysburg so we set out early to get there before too many people were moving around. Even in Winter and Spring, Gettysburg PA can get quite busy. The weather was dreary with mist and chilly temps so we didn’t take the radio with us. We drove down and drove around the battlefield, stopping now and then to do some videos. As SWMBO was doing her videos, I used my app to see what we could hear for birds. We heard: Northern Cardinals, American Robins, Red-Winged Blackbirds, Tufted Titmouses (titmice?), European Starlings, Song Sparrows, Common Grackles (as opposed to uncommon ones I guess), Cedar Waxwings and Brown-Headed Cowbirds. Quite an assortment. When we were finished, we trolloped back home. I fully intended to do some POTA hunting but then I looked at the forecast for tomorrow. The weather-guessers are calling for rain and winds. Well, we decided to do a quick activation today to get in the logs. It didn’t take us long to grab the gear and drive to Little Buffalo State Park US-1376. We started on 40M. It was a bit hard to find an empty frequency as the VA QSO Party is going on. I found an open spot and we worked 9 stations before we had to surrender the frequency to a rude individual who started calling CQ on top of me without even checking to see if the freq was clear. He wouldn’t leave even after being informed the freq was in use and had been for several minutes. Oh well, it takes all kinds. Rather than put up with this I changed bands to 17M, a WARC band where contesting isn’t allowed. As I was changing antennas, WA3ENQ, Rich, came by and we chatted for a minute. He was in the park de-watering his little doggie. Well I got back on the air and we made a bunch more contacts (17 to be exact) before we packed up and called it a day. At one point a Park Ranger did a slow drive-by but he didn’t stop. I think he was on a routine patrol of the park rather than checking out two weirdos in a car talking on a radio. Overall the day went well and now here I am, sipping coffee. I think I will sign off for today. Namaste kidlets.

Ptolomey, Moxie and the ranger driving past

A Little Adventure On A Sunny Day

March 11, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

We set out at 0630 this morning looking for parks to activate. We ended up driving around Mifflin and Huntingdon Counties before deciding to activate Big Spring SP in Perry County. Like I had stated, it was/is a beautiful day. Sunny and the temp around 23C with a light wind. It was enjoyable to drive around the countryside on some back roads. We found ourselves (SWMBO and I) on a dirt road that went up a mountain and got narrower as it went on. We came down the other side of the mountain and turned onto another dirt road which was narrow and cratered with holes. After a few miles of this, we emerged from the wilderness. We actually saw electric lines and poles, a sure sign on “civilization”. The only thing that was slightly troublesome was the lack of cell phone service on the dirt roads. It was not much longer that we found ourselves at East Broadtop RR, though they are not open until May. After another half hour of driving around we pulled into Big Spring State Park US-4355 and started calling CQ. We worked 24 stations in about 50 minutes which included a conversation with a guy who parked next to us. He was going on a hike and was being sociable. We had 4 park-to-park contacts and had qso’s with England, Germany and Sweden. We used 40M, 12M and 17M, in that order. The DX was on 17M and we reached Colorado as our furthest point west. It was a great day to be out and about. Well, namaste kidlets. Stay sane inside of insanity.