No Park Pics But You’ve Seen It Before

October 26, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Howdy kidlets. Another blog installment. A few things have happened since my last entry and there are some terms I would like to cover.

Ham radio operators like their jargon and technical terms. Signal reports are an integral part of operating whether they really mean anything or not. Some folks just give lip service to the reality of the report whereas others treat them as sacrosanct. They are used to give the station you are talking with an idea of how well their signal is being heard. The system of reporting is the R-S-T system where R stands for “readability” , S stands for “Strength” and T stands for “Tone”. When using voice the T is omitted. R is a number from 1 (unreadable) to 5 (perfectly readable). S is for the strength of the signal and runs from 1 (very faint or “in the noise”) to 9 which is extremely strong (booming in there). T is used for Morse Code transmissions and does not apply to voice communications. It runs from 1 (very rough) to 9 (perfect tone). Tone is sort of outdated with solid state radios and Software-Defined radios. Using the older tube rigs, tone could be effected by a number of things such as tubes going bad or other circuit issues. Rarely today do you hear anything other than a 9 for Tone. Most contesters just give a 59 or 599 as a means of being expeditious as they are trying to make as many contacts in the allotted time as possible. Most operators give the R by ear and the S by watching their built in meter in the rig. Ok enough knowledge for tonight. 🙂

Today I went to Little Buffalo State Park us-1376. If you want pictures of the park you will have to look through some of my previous posts. It was a beautiful day, for October. The sky was sunny and the temperature was reasonable, almost pleasant. There were several people in the park walking and dog-walking and picnicking in an attempt to make the most out or the fair weather before it becomes unpleasant to go outside. Prior to the activation I was at a VE session. (VE is volunteer examiner which I will elaborate about in another entry). I wanted to do a quick activation as I had something to do at home. Without SWMBO to log, activations can be a juggling act. Sometimes it can get confusing switching from logbook to mic and back. I managed to keep up, though. In less than 1/2 hour I was able to add 15 contacts to the log, with 5 park-to park QSOs. A pretty good activation.

Now as for yesterday, we were driving home from a town in the next valley (Newville, if you must know) and we turned onto a back road as we usually do to take a bit of a shortcut. LO! and behold!, in the middle of the road ahead of us was a small figure which we both took for a squirrel sitting up. That wasn’t the case. As we got close the figure resolved itself to be a kitten. I stopped the car, intending to shoo it out of the road but when I got close, I saw that his eyes were gummed shut and his nose was caked over. There is no way we could have left him there as it would be a certain and probably slow death. I picked him up and we set off to continue our trip home. We stopped in at SWMBO’s mother’s place and I called the vet as this little critter needed some doctoring. Amazingly they took us right in. The vet checked him over and sprayed him for fleas and gave us medicine for his cold and his eyes. We took him home and he is now my little buddy as he likes to sit on me and to sleep. We named him “Scout” as he is fond of nosing around and checking out his surroundings.

Well, that is it for now. Next time I will talk about the VE system and maybe another topic or two. As always, namaste kiddos.

Petting A Possum And Other Madness On A Week Off

October 7, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

We took a week off from work. I had to burn some PTO so off we went to Virginia for a couple of days. On the way down we stopped at Buc-ee’s, probably the greatest truck stop/convenience store I have ever been in. SWMBO was impressed, too. The place is huge and they have everything you might want on the road. We had heard about the pulled brisket sandwiches and gave them a try along with “Beaver Chips” which are really good potato chips. Their Halloween t-shirts were in so we each got one. We proceeded to Newport News, VA and once we got settled into the motel we found the smallest Walmart I have ever been in. We were both pretty tired after a 6 hour drive so we then settled in.

On Thursday morning we went to Fort Monroe and did an activation. In about 15 minutes we worked 25 stations including 9 park-to-parks. Things seemed to be picking up and we really didn’t want to get in the way of the workers there so we took a drive on a bunch of back roads. SWMBO suggested that we check out the Virginia Living Museum. This is listed as a “childrens museum” but we found that there is something there for everyone. We wandered through the exhibits, learning about native critters and enjoying a very nice day. I would suggest it as a great activity to do in the Newport News area. Their webpage can be found at: https://thevlm.org

The journey back home was both interesting and stressful. We drove to Fredericksburg and arrived at Possum-bilities, a unique gift shop/experience that I had found online. The store has some creatures to interact with and, of course a possum “ambassador” which I got to pet. They are surprisingly soft. We wandered through the shop and found some cool items. I am not going to detail what we got; you will have to go there and experience it yourself.

The drive home took a bit of a turn for the worse. Wanting to avoid the DC Beltway, we got onto RTE 17 and headed for RTE 15 which would be a good straight shot home. Mistake. We got caught in a beep-and-creep traffic backlog and it took us over 45 minutes to go 8 miles. Once it thinned out, the traffic was running much better. We continued up through Maryland and stopped at the Sheetz in Thurmont for gas and something to eat.

Friday and Saturday we stayed pretty much around the home area and did some chores, etc. We did take a drive on Friday through some back roads but that was pretty much uneventful. We visited the Moonshine Church Cemetery just off of Ft Indiantown Gap. One notable buried here is Joseph Raber who was the victim of the Blue-eyed Six. Contrary to local legend, the Blue-eyed Six did not ride thru the county terrorizing folk, instead they conspired to kill an old man and collect his life insurance. Sunday we cleared up some clutter in my ham-shack area and moved my desk.

Yesterday, Monday, we took a drive to Monocacy National Battlefield in Maryland. In 18 minutes we worked 34 stations. The Visitor Center was closed due to the government shutdown but the gates were open along with the parking lots. Propagation was good and the weather was pleasant. We also picked up a lot of birds such as: Northern Cardinals, Northern Mockingbirds, Carolina Wrens, American Robins, Eastern Bluebirds, Cedar Waxwings, Red-winged Blackbirds, Red-eyed Vireos and Hermit Thrushes. They were quite noisy and active.

Overall we had a good mini-vacation/staycation. Periods of intense activity and periods of total sloth. Well enough for now. From SWMBO and I, namaste kidlets.

Missie and Moxie and Ollie at Monocacy National Battlefield

A raptor and me at the Virginia Living Museum

One of the many animals at the Living Museum

A Nice Late Summer Day And A Park Redux

September 14, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

This weekend’s weather was awesome for late summer. Warm days, no humidity and mild nights. On Friday we took a drive on Hemlock Road looking for animals. We saw 5 ruminants, 6 turkeys 5 squirrels and a whistlepig. Not too bad for late afternoon. Not much to say about yesterday. We mainly hung around and did groceries.

Today, Sunday the 14th of September, we went on an activation to King’s Gap State Park US-4361. This was my 19th activation at this park. It was a nice drive up the hill through a bit of morning mist. We got to the vista parking lot and set up. I got out my net directory and looked for frequencies to avoid. I picked a clear spot and started in. Within 7 minutes we had made 10 contacts, making us bonafide. We ended up with a total of 28 contacts in 36 minutes. I had to move from my first frequency as a net came on about 3 K down from us and some of the people had wide signals. Rather than complain I did some hunting for park-to-park contacts and then found another clear frequency. As I said, we finished out with 28 contacts.

After we tore down we decided to take a walk. There are a lot of trails to take up there and we chose one that went up at a slight incline. Out walk totaled about a mile. The Bluejays were scolding us most of the way. On the way out the sun was in our eyes, making it a bit difficult to see the rocks sticking up in the trail but on the way back it was behind us which made it nice. We took some pictures along the way, including fallen trees that were great studies in texture.

All in all it was a great morning topped off by breakfast at the Newville Diner. We managed to avoid sad hams and Karens. We also avoided the yoga class which was about to start after we left.

It is still pretty fine outside with a temp of 31C under partly cloudy skies. I am hoping this weather continues. It is about 1 week until autumn. Well ’nuff for now. Namaste kidlets.

Full Corn Moon And 3 Activations

September 9, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

The last full moon of summer came a bit early this year. Typically, the Full Corn Moon happens after the Autumnal Equinox but this year it came on September 7th, 2 days ago. I saw it on the way home from work and it was huge, hanging in the sky like a bright que ball. It is called the Corn Moon as it usually happens around the time corn is harvested. The next moon is the Harvest Moon which will occur on October 6th. Okay, enough mooning around.

Today was a beautiful day. We had planned on activating 2 parks and then doing some other stuff but we ended up activating 3. We arrived at Catoctin Mountain Park US-0666 just before 12:00 UTC (0800 EDT) and got on the air by 5 after. In 18 minutes, we made 18 contacts and since we seemed to be on a roll with weather and band conditions, we decided to go to another nearby park.

Our second park was Cunningham Falls State Park US-1566. We arrived around 0845 EDT and got on the air soon after. We can get set up relatively quickly as we keep things simple, using a “Hamstick” on the car and an FT891 with a lifepo battery. Anyway, it took us 19 minutes to make 29 contacts. Again, conditions were good. The main thing that caused us to move to another park was the 3 busloads of kids which invaded the park. I have nothing against kids but they can get a bit distracting in large numbers and we were parked near a restroom so there would have been a lot of foot traffic.

So, we moved back North of the Mason Dixon Line into Pennsylvania and stopped at Gettysburg National Battlefield US-0027. Per usual, we parked on Culp’s Hill where we worked 12 contacts. The 40 meter band changed on us and the contacts sorta dried up. We figured it was time to pack up and do some other stuff like looking at Halloween things in a couple stores, get some vittles at the Newville Diner and do our grocery shopping. It was definitely a full day.

Now a word. I am not using the “royal” we, nor am I speaking in the second person plural as a single person. SWMBO was with me as she usually is. She does my logging and keeps me sane. I did make a mistake at Cunningham Falls: I had asked a ham to stand by and worked 2 other stations which had called me at the same time. By the time I got back to him he had gone. SWMBO had logged his callsign and when I uploaded my logs I gave him credit for working us. I have had similar things happen to me so I didn’t want to leave him hanging. SWMBO saved the day, again. 🙂

Ok kids, I am gonna close this now. Feel free, as always to leave comments. I love feedback. Namaste

Missie, Moxie and Zarathustra at Catoctim Mountain Park

Missie and Moxie at Cunningham Falls SP. Zarathustra is hidden by the sunshine

Missie Moxie and Zarathustra at Culp’s Hill in Gettysburg

At Home With The Gnomes

September 4, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Hi kidlets. Here we are again with another blog entry for your entertainment or for you to ignore.

It is September 4th 2025 and once again the days are just whizzing by. I believe that time actually gets faster as you get older as if you are accelerating towards the inevitable conclusion. I think it behooves us to grab each day by the throat and shake the shit out of it, picking up the treasures it drops.

I mention SWMBO a lot and to give her credit, she is my enabler and my muse, inspiring me to be active and strive for betterness.(it is my blog, I can make up words if I want) Today for instance, we set out for Maryland, initially planning on 1 activation before we went in search of Walgreens. We stopped in at the parking lot for the Visitors Center in Antietam National Battlefield US-0700. It took us about 15 minutes to make 25 contacts whereupon SWMBO said “What other parks are around here?”. I made a few suggestions and she seemed to like Gathland State Park US-1574 which is crossed by the Appalachian Trail US-4556. It was a short drive to get there.

At Gathland we parked in the upper lot as it is nice and shady and right on the AT. We watched some hikers come and go as I set up. We made 32 contacts in 31 minutes. At both parks the contacts were coming in at a rate that it was hard to post spots! I looked at the Solar Data and the A index was 12 and the K index was 1 … great band conditions. We even had a contact with a ham in Burkittsville MD, about 3 miles away at the bottom of the mountain. We did receive several curious looks but no one came by and made any inquiries as to what we were doing.

When we finished with the activations we went to Hagerstown and visited a couple of Walgreens. Finally we went to the Blain Hotel in Blain PA for lunch. Now I am relaxing before I do my stretching exercises. I have to do them daily as I am in physical therapy for some muscular issues.

As for birds we heard Chipping Sparrows, Mourning Doves, Carolina Wrens, Eastern Wood Peewees, and Yellow Throated Vireos.

The weather was nice and sunny without being too hot. You couldn’t ask for better conditions. Overall, it was a great way to spend a day off. I guess this is enough for now. Namaste y’all.

Missie, Moxie and Ollie enjoying Gathland State Park

The Violent Births Of Road Gators

August 31, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Howdy campers. Another blog entry here for you to ignore or enjoy, your choice.

Friday afternoon we went to Little Buffalo State Park US-1376 for an activation before going for groceries. The bands were not good and we were only able to work 14 stations using 40, 20 and 15 meters. They were hard to come by; I guess you have days like this. We gave up after 40 minutes. From the looks of the fishermen at the lake, the fish weren’t biting well, either. One person who was fishing there reported to me that all she caught was weeds.

Today, 31 August, SWMBO and I went to Warrior’s Path State Park US-1432 in Huntingdon County PA. I chose this park to try as it has had few activations (10), the last being in November of 2023. I figured that people would want to work a sort of rare park. We did well there. Propagation was good and 40 Meters was jumping. Within 3 minutes we had logged the requisite 10 contacts and they were coming in at a good rate. I barely had time to enter spots on spotting pages. After about 15 minutes we had to move due to a nearby net which was QRMing the hell out of us. Now when I started I did my usual routine of listening for at least a minute, asking if the freq was in use, listening again then asking again. I had received no responses and started calling CQ. The net started up not long after (or became hearable) and it got bad as they were only down 1 from us. No biggie. We had more than enough for a valid activation and I turned the dial and started hunting. This netted us 6 Park-to-Park contacts so we decided to pack it up and continue onto our other destination.

We proceeded to the Captain Phillip’s Rangers Memorial monument in Saxton PA. This marks the burial site of 10 militia members who were massacred during the French-and-Indian War. The bodies were re-interred here by the American Legion and the memorial was built. It is in a nice location on a hillside. All in all a pleasant photo experience.

As for birds, between Friday and today we heard: American Goldfinches, Killdeer, Chipping Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Gray Catbirds, Eastern Towhees, Cedar Waxwings, Red-eyed Vireos, Yellow-throated Vireos, Black-capped Chickadees, American Crows, Northern House Wrens and Tufted Titmouses. It is pretty cool, in my opinion, to use an app to hear and identify birds.

The title of this entry has nothing whatsoever to do with the text. All I can say is that if you have ever witnessed a truck sloughing off a retread, you would be impressed and over-awed.

Well, kidlets, enough for now. Below you will find some pictures for your entertainment. Namaste until we meet again.

The names of those interred at the monument

Tootsie Missy and Moxie at Warrior’s Path State Park

Missy Moxie and Ptolomey at Little Buffalo State Park

The Rain Didn’t Dampen Our Spirits

August 21, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Hi kidlets. This morning (August 21st 2025) SWMBO and I had some shopping to do so we decided to activate Kings Gap Environmental Education Center US-4361. The sky was threatening to drop rain on us the whole drive down there but held out until we got set up. We got on the air at 0854 and were almost immediately swamped. The calls were coming in at a fast and furious rate; this makes SWMBO happy. In 4 minutes, we worked 10 stations which, of course, made us bonafide. The pace of calls was such that I hadn’t the time to spot myself on the usual POTA spotting sites. By the time we were finished, we had worked 53 stations. We shut down as 0944 as we did have some stuff to do in Carlisle. 6 of the stations we worked were Park-to-Parks; 4 of which were either double parks or 2-op stations. In the pictures I am attaching below you can see that it was definitely moist out there. We even had an op “slip in under the wire” when I had called “last call”. I was just about to press the power button as he came booming in from Reading PA. We did not hear any birds, however so it was a quiet rainy morning.

Kings Gap is a nice place to activate from. The few people that are there are doing their own things whether they are hiking, sight-seeing or rangering. There is a mansion up here (which I have posted pictures of before) that was built by a rich man about 100 or so years ago. They use the mansion now for educational programs, other activities and you can rent a room there and spend the night It is supposed to be haunted! There are several hiking trails and a picnic area along with a nice garden which is maintained by a local gardening club. Along the access road there are pull-offs with picnic tables and at the bottom of the mountain is a pine plantation in which it is very nice to walk around.

Once again to all my readers (both of them) I say Namaste!

The parking area/trailhead information sign

Either I am talking to a contact, or I am singing opera.

A Good Weekend To Not Work

August 3, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Nice weekend, overall. Yesterday, Saturday the 2nd of August, SWMBO and I took a ride to Towson MD to the Prospect Hill Cemetery. It is located in the middle of the town and easy to find though there are buildings all around it in close proximity. We went there looking for the grave of an actor. SWMBO likes to photograph celebrity graves and she has a web page devoted to the photos. We then took the scenic route home and enjoyed rural Maryland and Pennsylvania. We did stop off at a pet store and picked up a couple of hermit crabs for a tank on her desk. We have a large tank with a crab colony but she wanted some small ones for her desk. When they get big enough they will go into the larger colony and we will get some more small ones. After getting settled we went to Big Spring State Park us-4355. We were last there back in May. It took us about an hour to make 22 contacts on 40, 20 and 15 meters. What matters is that we made the requisite 10, I guess. After we got home and took care of a few chores, I got on the radio and was surprised that the bands had opened up since we left the park. I made several contacts in a short period. I heard other operators talking about it, too. We did not hear any birds while we were out yesterday. Now today, Sunday 3 August was a great day also. The weather was a bit warmer than yesterday and sunny for the most part. We set out early. SWMBO wanted to check out a couple of cemeteries in Sharpsburg, MD which happens to be right near Antietam National Battlefield us-0700. We got set up just after 8AM at the visitor center at the end of the parking lot away from anybody else who might pull in. The contacts were coming in at a fast rate at first and it did not take long to get the required 10 for a bonafide activation. In fact, it only took 5 minutes to get 10 in the log. After that it slowed a bit and we worked a total of 19 on 40 meters before changing bands to 20 meters. We ended up working 33 contacts total in less than an hour and went to the visitor center to check things out. After that we set out to the Antietam National Cemetery and the Mountain View Cemetery which sits across the street. The National Cemetery is a nice, peaceful place and is well laid out. The Mountain View Cemetery is the typical mixture of old and new stones with some interesting art work. After this we took a drive to the Newville Diner for lunch and then came home. Today in the Sharpsburg area we heard the following birds: Chipping Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats, Field Sparrows, Northern Mockingbirds, Northern Cardinals, Scarlet Tanagers, American Robins, Grasshopper Sparrows, Song Sparrows, Blue Jays, House Finches, Carolina Wrens, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Cedar Waxwings, Least Flycatchers, Barn Swallows, Mourning Doves, American Goldfinches, Eastern Bluebirds, Tufted Titmouses and Indigo Buntings. Quite a list. Now I am at home drinking coffee and trying to entertain my pocket panthers, Kalamazoo and Dipper. Ok, that is enough for now. Have a great week and namaste, y’all.

Missy, Moxie and Tootsie at Big Spring SP

That’s Another Fine Activation You’ve Got Me Into

July 29, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Last night, SWMBO and I were talking about what we could/would do today. She said “I suppose you will want to do an activation”. Sure, my arm was twisted. We went to Gettysburg and got the activation in before it got too hot. Today is supposed to be the last hot and humid day for about a week but I was off today and not tomorrow. We set up and it was bordering on uncomfortable already. It only took us about 4 minutes to get the necessary 10 contacts for a legitimate activation, and we stayed on the air for about 35 minutes. Between the heat/humidity and the constant adjacent QRM we decided to call it a day at 35 contacts. I was happy. As I was tearing down, SWMBO got a chance to walk around and take pics. I had my app on my phone going to record birds and we heard the following: Eastern Wood Pewees, Red-eyed Vireos, Chipping Sparrows, House Finches, American Robins, Mourning Doves, Tufted Titmouses and an Eastern Screech Owl. I think the owl was screeching about the weather. I just saw the forecast for tomorrow and they are calling for a heat index of 104. I thought it was supposed to cool off. No matter, I will be inside in the AC. I was surprised and pleased that there were no negative folks around. The ones who drove up to the hill and walked around pretty much ignored us. Activating during the week has its advantages. So I am going to go take care of some home issues now and say Namaste kids!

Missy, Ptolomey and Moxie at Culp’s Hill

Who Turned The Heat Up?

July 24, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

This is typical. We decided to go camping ( I admit it was my idea) and it turned out to be bloody hot! It is like a sauna out there. No matter, SWMBO and I still had a good time. We left home yesterday (only had to turn back about 5 minutes into the journey due to me forgetting my meds; after all what adventure starts off without a mishap?) and drove down to Caledonia State Park US-1337 where we quickly set up camp. We made a quick trip to the store and then semi-settled in. I got on the air with SWMBO logging and we worked 30 contacts in about 30 minutes. We had a visitor to the campsite which I will post a link to the video I made. We then took a ride to cool off in the AC and to recharge our fones. During our drive we saw 5 ruminants and several bunnies along with a whistle pig who appeared to be praying. By the time we got back and got the fire lit, it was after 20:00 local which made it the 24th for logging purposes. I got back on the air and worked 29 more stations before I shut down to honor the park’s noise policy. We spent some quiet time reading and relaxing and watching the fire burn. This morning, we got up and were on the road before 7 AM. We drove down to Mont Alto State Park US-1386 and worked 12 contacts. Mont Alto can be difficult to work from as it is down in a low spot and the whole area is infested with iron ore, diminishing all radio signals. We made it and headed on. The heat index was predicted to be upwards of the rectal temperature of Satan. Actually they were calling for a heat index of 103 to 105 F but close enough. We travelled down to Fort Frederick MD US-1570 which borders on US -0015 C&O Canal National Historic Park, making this activation a 2 fer. We made 11 contacts and once again set out in the AC coolness to our last park for the day. I stopped in at the Visitors center at Antietam National Battlefield Park and obtained a life-time National Park Pass which entitles myself and 3 others access to all National Parks, Historic Sites, National Forests and other National sites. At Antietam we worked 13 contacts. I know these numbers seem low but consider we were only working 40 M and the band conditions were not that conducive to portable operating. Anyway, we had a good adventure and topped it off with a great lunch at Lincoln Diner in Gettysburg PA. Did I mention that it was very hot out there? We then tore down our campsite and came home, tired, hot and happy with our POTA success. Before I got home the P2P contacts had all uploaded their logs so when I uploaded mine I got the P2P credit. I even got another Warthog Rover certificate: my 3rd. For birds, last night we were serenaded for a few hours by a Yellow-Throated Vireo. Today we heard a lot of birds in all our locations: Red-eyed Vireos, Eastern Wood Pewees, Chipping Sparrows, Great Blue Herons, Common Mergansers, American Robins, American Goldfinches. Eastern Meadowlarks, American Crows and Eastern Phoebes. Quite a bunch. This was a good couple of days and we had a lot of fun. Well, namaste for now, kidlets.