An Historical Comment, A Demo And An Unexpected Activation Not In Order

July 14, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

I believe there is an ancient curse that goes something like: may you live in interesting times. Yesterday in Butler, PA, while at a campaign rally, President Trump was the target of an assassination attempt. I am only recording this as an historical event and not making a political statement or assigning blame or trying to justify either side of the issue. Unlike the news outlets of our times, I am reporting facts only with no speculation or opinions. A person took some shots at Trump, apparently hitting his ear and killing 1 member of the audience and wounding 2 other members of the audience before being killed by the security forces on site.

Enough of that. On July 10th the club, Perry County Amateur Radio Club, put on a demonstration for a day camp at Little Buffalo State Park (US-1386). I worked the radio station and under bad band conditions was able to activate the park and even got a couple of the kids to say hello on the air. I even had Zarathustra with me to guard the radio. It was hot but we made it through and I hope the kids enjoyed it. On July 11th, at breakfast my long-suffering wyfe said “let’s go to Gettysburg”. We packed up and set out. Her mission was to go to the visitors center and get a map of the monuments as their online map was almost impossible to read when you embiggened it. The visitors center was crowded but I made my way to the desk to inquire about a copy of the map. The nice fellow at the info desk told me that the only map was the one online but at the gift shop I could purchase a book that had details about all the monuments with maps on how to get to them. I bought a copy and my wyfe seemed happy with it. We will be researching it and making a list of the ones we want to photograph along with their locations. We then set off to Culp’s Hill to do an activation before it got too hot. When we pulled in, SWMBO recorded only 1 species of bird: eastern wood peewee. I got set up and in about 45 minutes we worked 24 stations. We left before it got too hot. One nice thing about the location at Culp’s Hill is that it doesn’t get too crowded in the mornings during the week. I hope I didn’t jinx myself there. lol. Well, I have to get ready for work now. Work is the curse of the drinking class, I have been told. Namaste, kidlets.

Of Owls, Altos, and Scorched Crispy Yards

July 7, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Yeah, it has been eons since we have had any real appreciable amount of rain. I haven’t had to attack Satan’s Putting Green in at least 4 weeks. When I step out into the dooryard, each step crunches. I am keeping my apple tree and my tomato plant watered. It could be worse: you don’t have to shovel heat. The temperature has been in the low to mid 30s (doesn’t it sound so much cooler in Celsius?) pretty much for the last few days and not too much lower than the high 20s for the past month. I don’t expect that we will see rain on St Swithin’s Day this year. The past week has been busy. I worked 4 consecutive days which puts a cramp on my home life and hobbies. This week was the 13 Colonies Special Event on the radio where the goal is to work as many of the 13 original states as you can along with 3 bonus stations. You can get a certificate documenting the stations you had contact and you can also send for QSL cards from the individual stations. I was finally able to work the last station last night. I looked at my log and I used CW (morse code) to contact most of them. It is a lot more fun than it sounds. Anyway, We, my wyfe and myself, did two activations this weekend. Yesterday we activated Little Buffalo State Park US-1376 as a test run for a demonstration we will be doing on Wednesday for a day camp. I wanted to check out a good location and find a nice shady spot. When we pulled in, my wyfe, Glory, recorded red-eyed vireos, bluejays, red winged blackbirds, song sparrows, northern cardinals, house finches, american robins, indigo buntings, chipping sparrows, downy woodpeckers, northern flickers and mourning doves. That was quite a bunch! While we were there, one of those orange-brown horse-like critters which we don’t name came out of the tall weeds and crossed the field in front of us. She was pretty good sized. We worked 36 stations including 2 Europeans before it got too hot and we packed it in. This morning (Sunday 7 July) we discussed over breakfast at Grandpa’s Love Shack in Shermansdale, PA where we should activate. We wanted someplace shaded and not busy. The perfect place came to mind: Mt Alto State Park US-1386. It is small, only 24 acres and is very quiet. It has a very cool pavilion and is located on a back road not too far from Chambersburg, PA. While we were setting up Glory recorded red-eyed vireos, eastern wood pewees, northern cardinals, american robins, carolina wrens and acadian flycatchers. It was a nice assortment of birds. Not too many people stopped in the park while we were there. There were no curious onlookers and no one complaining. We worked 21 and once again it got too hot to sit there, even though it was shady and a bit of a breeze was blowing. Well that is my latest update. Enjoy Summer and Namaste, kiddos.

Ptolomey at Mont Alto SP (Note the pavilion in the background)

Zarathustra at Little Buffalo State Park

A Wandering Owl and Back On The Home Front

June 30, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

I have had a few days to reflect on our vacation and mourn its rapid demise. Thursday the 27th, we decided to active Franconia Notch State Park US-2653 which has only been activated 32 times. We found a good spot and quickly worked 13 contacts. My wyfe recorded red-eyed vireos, oven birds and black and white warblers. The most notable thing to happen was a pickup that had a horrible ignition noise pulled into the pull-off. Thankfully they left immediately. We then found our way into Bethlehem NH to Strawberry Hill State Forest US-4967 where we worked 11 contacts. Glory recorded red-eyed vireos and oven birds. The Forest is on the edge of town and has only been activated 5 times. It is quiet and very beautiful. This being our last day in NH, we wanted to do other things so we took off. We spent the rest of the time playing tourist and catching up on things which were on our list. Then we went back to our lodging and cleaned it up and got some sleep. At 23:45 we took off. There is no feeling like cruising down the interstates at legal speed (I had gotten pulled over earlier in the trip and was still paranoid about speeding so I kept the cruise control at 2 mph above the limit), strung out on a massive amount of caffeine flowing through my system (by 4 am I could see sound) and blasting Scandanavian Heavy Metal on the stereo. We made it home in 10.5 hours. It was nice to have a couple days to recover and let our cats re-acquaint themselves with us. Mayhem was very put out with us but finally let us back into her good graces. Marley and Kalamazoo and Foggy haven’t let me out of their sight and are competing for attention. Today, June the 30th, we went to breakfast at the Newville Diner and then went up to the 3 Square Hollow Vista in Tuscarora State Forest US-5479 where Glory recorded northern cardinals, indigo buntings, scarlet tanagers, red-eyed vireos and eastern towhees as I set up. We dived in and worked 34 contacts in an hour, watching fog move in and out of the area and squirrels playing. It finally got too hot and the humidity went over 8000% so we packed up and did some necessary shopping. When we got home we got rid of some trash and did some much needed exfoliating. Ok kidlets, ’nuff for now. Time to relax and enjoy the AC. TTFN and namaste y’all.

Ptolomey enjoying Franconia Notch State Park

Back in PA Tootsie at Tuscarora State Park

Portland Head Lighthouse Cape Elizabeth Maine

Rover But Not Red

June 24, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Hi kidlets. It has been a few days. My long suffering wyfe and I are on a long deserved vacation up in NH, cruising around. Mostly its been fun though there have been a few mishaps and an almost whoops. First, on the way up I was sorta spacing out and a NH State Trooper pulled me over after clocking me doing 57 in a 30 zone. I admitted to him It was my fault and that I was just spacing out. At this time I had been on the road for about 10 hours. I was totally amazed when he let us off with a warning. The ticket would have run $280! I cannot sing his praises long and loudly enough! Since then I have been minding the speed limits exactly. I have not been exceeding them at all which has, I am sure, pissed off some people driving behind me. At least I do exactly the limit and not 5 MPH below. Next, we met up with my brother Ted and his wife Nancy at the Mt Washington Cog Railway. We took a trip up to the summit and had a good time up there except for when my arthritis caused me to take a fall and skin both my knees, bend my arthritic toe backwards spraining it badly and hurting the hell out of my pride. I am getting better. Yesterday we drove around looking for cemeteries and also found some. Today we activated two parks. The first is the Nansen Wayside State Park US-2668 in Milan NH. It had only been activated 3 times (until today). We made 10 contacts in about 1/2 hour and moved on. We proceeded through the 13 mile woods looking for mooses and went to Errol NH to Cote’s store for an obligatory slice of pizza. We then set out for Forest Lake State Park US-2652 in Whitefield NH which had only been activated 6 times (until today). We made 16 contacts spanning from New Mexico to Sweden! The European stations were coming in good today on 17M. SWMBO is getting some good practice in listening to heavy accents and copying callsigns. She was enjoying herself. I am trying to find places that haven’t been activated often to give people a chance to get them in their logs. Well enough for now. Time to say namaste, kidlets.

Mice, Men, Plans … Whatevah!

June 13, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Yesterday, June 12th, we went to Little Buffalo and activated US-1376. We had a good time and enjoyed the nice weather. My long-suffering wyfe logged and her app heard some red-eyed vireos, northern cardinals, american robins, orchard oreoles and house sparrows. In less than 45 minutes we logged 32 contacts with several park-to-parks. We got to enjoy a nice breeze coming off the lake and all was well.

Today we set out early to beat traffic. We wanted to go to Jayne Mansfield’s grave in Penn Argyl, PA. It is in a nice quiet cemetery on the outskirts of town. We took some pics and then we set out to active a park or 2. Simple, right? Well we first went to Beltsville State Park US-1330. The drive there was on mostly back roads and very scenic. When we got to the beach/picnic area of the park, there was a sign with the usual prohibitions but they also forbid “radios and speakers”. I found a ranger and introduced us and informed him of our intentions. He assured us that the forbidden radios only applied to “boombox” type radios as loud music has a tendency to be upsetting to some people. He had no problems with us sitting in our car and playing radio. While I was setting up, my wyfe used her app and heard some american gold finches, blue jays, red-eyed vireos, grey catbirds, tufted titmouses (titmice?), and yellow warblers. I got set up and in about 1/2 hours worked 13 stations with 4 park-to-parks. We packed up and set out for another park and that is where the real adventure began. First off, Lehigh Gorge has no internet access. We did not want to hang around and do a lengthy stay, waiting to get spotted. We will try again and pre-schedule an activation there. The same goes with Locust Lake. Then we left Locust lake seeking Tuscarora State Park. Our GPS lead us on a very merry chase around in circles which brought us back to Locust Lake. I don’t often swear at inanimate objects (yes I do) but this time I let out a torrent that would have made my father proud. At this point we gathered what was left of our dignity and set out for Memorial Lake. We stopped off for lunch at Snitz Creek Brewery and had a great meal. I had the chicken fried steak and Glory had the stuffed meatloaf. We then drove the mile down to the lake and activated. Memorial Lake State Park US-1384 is nice and peaceful. We worked 10 contacts on 40M, 1 on 17 M and 1 on 20M and then called it a day. Well that is all for now, kidlets. Namaste and sweet dreams.

A Bit of Service, A Chance Meeting and A Couple Activations

June 9, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

It has been an interesting weekend. I am sitting here gathering my thoughts as one of my pocket panthers, Kalamazoo, is wandering across my lap and up and down from my shoulders. Yesterday morning I helped out at a VE session, grading tests for aspiring hams. I have been a VE (volunteer examiner) for several years and do it as a way of paying back the radio service. Basically it involves proctoring the exams and grading them. You have to know the paperwork involved and it helps to be part of a well coordinated team. Anyway, I assisted with a test session yesterday morning and then we, my long suffering wyfe and myself set out for the ATV lot above Pine Grove Furnace in Michaux State Forest. I pulled the car into the lot and saw a mini van sitting near where I usually park with a familiar person sitting behind it. W3AND, Andrew, was there working on rounding out his activation. He was using FT8 and was only needing a couple contacts, He invited me to park next to him and get set up. Since I was working SSB, there would be no interference issues. I got set up and he finished with 13 contacts. We spoke for a couple minutes and he departed. I started calling CQ on 40M and made 10 contacts within 32 minutes. I switched antennae and worked 7 more on 20M for a total of 17 in less than an hour. We called that a success and went on to other things. Today, June 9th, we set out for breakfast at the Newville Diner (notice a re-occurring theme here?) and drove to Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park US-1336. It has been years since I have set foot in this park, decades actually. It is a very beautiful little park. It was my first time activating here and I had good results. In less than an hour we logged 19 stations, mostly on 40M but some on 17M. I am really impressed with the results we are having with the “Hamstick” style antennae. A friendly Park Ranger stopped by and said hello. We also spent a bit of time wandering around and exploring the park. My wyfe uses an app on her phone to identify bird songs and she “heard” American Robins, Red-Eyed Vireos and Acadian Flycatchers. All in all it was a good time. Namaste until next time, kiddos.

Looking straight up from where I was parked

And It Rains as a Memorial

May 27, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Today is Pseudo-Memorial Day. I call it that as the real day of memorial was declared to be May 31st but politicians wanted to have a 3 day weekend so they changed tradition and changed the holiday into a meaningless day of sloth and bar-be-ques rather than remembering those who gave their lives for the service of this country. Okay, off of the soapbox lol. By now no one is reading this. lol. We had a bit of a scary and stressful time. Our oldest cat, Mote (age 10) has been losing weight and not acting himself. We feared the worst. We took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with a kidney infection and possible bad kidneys. We have now put him on a diet. This is much better than the cancer which we had feared. I was fully expecting to have to hold him as he crossed over, which I have done in the past for other furbabies. We are so happy that we have more time with him. Now on to more stuff. It is raining today. Very fitting. Friday we went to lunch at the Newville Diner and then activated King’s Gap SP. We made 15 contacts of which 3 were park-to-parks in about 45 minutes. Some people walked past us but no one stopped and asked us anything. Next we stopped off at State Game Lands 169. This is a nice quiet place and we worked 11 of which 6 were park-to-parks. Some of those I went hunting for as the propagation was not the best. We did not do any activations on Saturday but yesterday, Sunday, we went to the ATV lot in Michaux State Forest. We worked a total of 28 contacts and 8 of these were park-to-parks. I have decided that we need to get a sunscreen for the car. I covered the windshield part way with a shirt to screen the radio but my wyfe had to move her cell phone (which she uses to keep time) as it was getting very hot. I also need to keep a pair of gloves in the car as my mag-mount gets very hot. We were discussing on the way home where I could keep these gloves. If only the car manufacturers had designed some compartment in the cars to hold gloves. Maybe someone should suggest it to them. Well enough for now. I am going to stare at the rain and the go ride my stationary bike. Namaste kidlets.

Mayapples and Roadapples

May 16, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

So the solar storm abated and we went out the other day. That was on Sunday the 12th. We set up in Big Spring State Park US-4355 and in about half an hour we worked 17 stations including 2 park-to-park contacts. The rain held off and I got a few pictures of the area and we got to enjoy the outdoors. A good day overall. Yesterday was a bit different. Sort of. Kind of. We had lunch and then decided on the spur of the moment to do an activation. We needed a few things from the big store so we decided to load up the gear and stop off at a game land that we have been wanting to activate for a while. That is how we found ourselves at PA State Game Land 169 US-8867 on a Wednesday afternoon. The parking lot where we parked was off of a not so busy road and that suited me. I like it quiet. It being early afternoon, I did not have high expectations for 40 M but started there anyway. I made 1 contact and then nothing for a few. I changed antennas and tried 6 meters. Now the solar prediction software may tell you that 6 Meters is open but that doesn’t mean that anyone is listening there. I called for a while on 50.130MHz, just above the SSB calling freq and got no response so I went back to 40 Meters where I had much better luck. I checked the spots and hunted up a couple of other activators who had come on in the past few minutes and that changed my luck. Within half an hour we logged a total of 14 and that made it a bonafide activation and made me happy. We tore down and, as always, made sure we left no trace of our being there. Well enough for now kids. Namaste and happy owls to all.

Out on a whim

May 2, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

So yesterday, the 1th of May, we , my wyfe and I, activated 2 parks on a whim. We are getting some practice in setting up with “Hamstick” antennas and keeping a low profile. We started out at the ATV lot above Pine Grove Furnace in Michaux State Forest US-5471. In a short spell we worked 12 stations and moved on to Kings Gap US-4361. I had an online Elmer of mine, WV1W , remind me that I was on 7.175 and that this was excluding General class ops. As an Extra, I sort of forgot about that border. I thanked him and moved up a bit. After a few more minutes of making contacts, another op worked me and then asked me for a favor. He politely asked me to move as an established net was soon going to start about 1K above where I was parked. He was very gracious about it. I gladly QSY’d. Overall it was a positive experience and we made a total of 22 contacts at Kings Gap. For both park activations we totaled 14 park-to-park contacts.

Today, 2st May, we did another activation on a whim. On the way to supper we stopped off at State Game Land 230 on top of Waggoners Gap US-8927. This was a new entity for me. It was also practice in a hit-and-run type of activation. Propagation was in the dumps but it took about 35 minutes to work 10 stations including 4 park-to-parks. We have no pictures from here as it was windy and Zarathustra kept blowing off my car. All in all a good time was had by all. We are getting better at the quick set up and take downs and by the time we are on vacation I feel we will have it mastered. Of course it isn’t all about the radio. You can expect more and more pictures of nature and our surroundings. well, namaste for now, kidlets.

The mansion garden at Kings Gap … a magical place!

The Flamingo Has Landed!

March 3, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

A great day, today. We set out to activate 2 parks and met our goal. After a great breakfast at Newville Diner we drove down to Mont Alto State Park (K-1386). Initially I did not have high hopes for this park. It is a tiny park located along a somewhat busy road and is down between some hills. I didn’t think the radio signals would get out, combined with the contesting going on this weekend. I was wrong! We made 33 contacts including 5 park-to-parks , all on 40 meters during the morning! The only negative was that I had unintentionally started out too close to a net which I did not hear. I had asked if the frequency was open, heard no reply and listened for 2 minutes before asking again. I worked a few stations and then got asked to move. I apologized and found another frequency. Stuff happens. We spent about an hour there and it was very fruitful.

After picking up our gear, SWMBO and I went to Caledonia State Park, K-1337 where we worked a total of 28 contacts of which 9 were park-to-parks. There were a lot of people out and about in the park, biking, walking, and enjoying the day in general. We had one man approach us and ask questions about what we were doing and regale us with stories about his father having a Zenith short wave receiver which he used to listen to the world broadcasts on. A couple of pickup trucks pulled up next to us and we met face to face with W3TWB and N3AIR who were also out activating. We chatted for a few minutes before they took off and went to set up their operation. I was very pleased with how the morning went and SWMBO seemed to enjoy herself. She even got to see a very cool pavilion at Mont Alto next to Antietam Creek and she took a video of a waterfall at Caledonia. As has been said many times, many ways, a good time was had by all. Namaste Kidlets!

Charade the flamingo feeding off of stray rf at the foot of the antenna as Tootsie watches our 6

Nature, Radio, and Me

A POTA Explorer's Diary

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