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.

Missie, Moxie and Ollie at Ft Frederick MD

In Before The Heat

July 20, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Today is 20 July 2025, the 56th anniversary of the moon landing. I told my tale of where I was that day in a previous post, so if that holds interest you will have to scroll through my blog. Yesterday SWMBO and I bottled my IPA. It has a good taste, leaning toward being hoppy as an IPA should. The process only took 1 hour and 12 minutes which is pretty good considering that we haven’t bottled for a few years, having used kegs. There is something relaxing and zen-like in the rhythm of bottling. I was filling the bottles and SWMBO was capping. I think she likes capping as it allows her to take out aggressions on inanimate objects. 🙂 Today we set out to do an activation before the heat got oppressive. It is Support Your Parks Weekend and I wanted to get an activation in. It was hot and humid when we got to King’s Gap US_4361. This is our first time back to Kings Gap since January. The humidity climbed up to around 3500% before we left. We were set up and on the air in a short bit of time and within 40 minutes made 28 contacts (all on 40 meters). Our app recorded the following birds: Red-Eyed Vireos, Chapping Sparrows, Northern Cardinals, Eastern Towhees, Eastern Wood-Peewees, Worm-eating Warblers, Scarlet Tanagers, Tufted Titmouses, American Goldfinches and Downy Woodpeckers. We then decided that it was too uncomfortable to stay there so we packed up and left to do some shopping before having breakfast at Newville Diner. I have officially received my certificates for the SYP weekend: Hunter and Activator. I know it isn’t a great feat, but I am still happy with it. Now I am resting after putting in a new air conditioner. Kalamazoo is sitting on my lap though he is hinting that he wants food. I guess this is a good place to end this for today. Always remember that the simple things in life are the best and pleasure is all in your mind and attitude. Until next time, namaste.

The Number 13, Owls On The Hood And A Flamingo’s Day Out

July 6, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

It has been a busy week. I had to work 4 consecutive days, Monday thru Friday (12 hours at night) and that makes a person tired. This was also the week for the 13 Colonies Special Event, which is a major event in ham radio with thousands of stations vying to contact all the stations. Well, I was able to complete a clean sweep as of Friday, 4 July. I was pretty happy with that. Most of those stations I worked on CW, the rest SSB. Yesterday, 5 July 2025, SWMBO and I set out to get an activation in before it got too hot. We went to the ATV lot in Michaux State Forest US-5471. The last time we activated the lot was in March. As usual there were a few people there but not enough to make it difficult. One thing I like about the place is the fact that the people up there mind their own business and don’t worry about what other folks are doing. We made 31 contacts in an hour (9 of them park-to-park) and then the heat started building so we packed up and left. We came home and did some grocery shopping. Today, 6 July 2025, we went to the State Game Lands #169 US-8867 and spent some time there in the morning, again before the heat. We brought along Charade, the flamingo and Ptolomey, the owl. The lot we park at is on a back road so there is not a whole lot of traffic. This one we hadn’t activated since back in October of last year. Since this is a game land, I do try to avoid it during hunting seasons. It is a nice quiet area and a good place to park and play radio. Surprisingly, it has only been activated a total of 18 times. We made 14 contacts in about an hour as the bands were not that great today. We had a visit from a guy in his early 20’s who left when he discovered that I was holding an antenna rather than a fishing pole. On Friday, we brewed a batch of IPA which is currently bubbling away in the fermenter. The only other significant activity this week was we finally had the chance to cut Satan’s Putting Green. The plant growth was pretty high as this was the first chance we had to deal with it since our return from vacation. The amount of rain we had in the past 2 weeks did its work and made the place look like the pastureland it originally was. Here is the list of birds our app picked up today: Northern House Wrens, Gray Catbirds, American Robins, American Goldfinches, Northern Cardinals, Carolina Cardinals, Song Sparrows, Tufted Titmouses, Yellow Warblers, Chipping Sparrows, Common Yellowthroats, Indigo Buntings, House Finches, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers, Eastern Peewees, Cedar Waxwings, Carolina Wrens and Field Sparrows. I guess this is my latest update. I am attaching a couple of pictures and a link to a video of the IPA boiling. As always, namaste kiddos.

Moxie and Missy guard the radio as Zarathustra watches our 6

Ptolomey, Missy, and Moxie at State Game Lands 169

Charade the flamingo enjoying his day out.

Too Soon?

May 23, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

I have found that the older you get, the quicker time goes by. I just finished a 4 day break from work. Another member of the team had to swap days with me as he had an obligation out of state to attend to. This means that my work schedule is a bit skewed. I was off for the past 4 nights and now I have to work for the next 4 nights. This did allow me to do some activations. I posted in a previous entry about not being in Hawaii but I went out on the 21st, also. It was a short, spur-of-the-moment activations. The bands were bad due to solar activity and I was only able to work 15 stations in an hour at Big Spring State Park US-4355. Before we had finished it started to rain so my owl got moist. I will be adding, either tonight or tomorrow night, a video of a train I took while sitting in the Lincoln diner, to my Youtube channel. You can find it at https://www.youtube.com/@gestyrious/videos. Anyway, I am sitting here drinking coffee and considering getting ready for work. I enjoy my job so that is no big thing but the hours do get long. A 12 hour shift can be a bit endless on the 4th consecutive night. I guess we all have to make our way as best we can and take the ups with the downs. SWMBO and I got some new action cameras so I might be adding more videos soon. In any event, it is Memorial Day Weekend so let us take a moment to think of those who sacrificed their lives to ensure our rights and freedoms. Well, one of my cats, Kalamazoo, is begging me for some treats so I better comply. For now and as always, namaste kiddos.

Ptolomey in the rain at Big Spring State Park

Funny, This Doesn’t Look Like Hawaii

May 20, 2025 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

It was a beautiful day today so SWMBO and I set out this morning to do an activation and checkout a cemetery. We decided to go to Gathland State Park US-1574 which is a 2-fer as the Appalachian Trail US-4556 runs right through it next to where we were parked. We were going to park in the lower parking lot, but another ham was there, and we didn’t want to crowd or bother him. We got set up and made 25 contacts within about 40 minutes which was pretty good as the bands were pretty bad. We had 3 park-to-parks and then set out for a nearby cemetery for some video and photography. You can find some interesting things in cemeteries such as the carvings on the older stones. The cemetery we went to was Union Cemetery in Burkittsville MD. I found an interesting carving which I will include below. From there we went to Gettysburg PA US-0027 for another activation and to get lunch. We had stopped at one of our favorite spots, Culp’s Hill and making contacts was like pulling teeth. It took almost an hour to make 22 contacts, 3 of which were park-to-parks. Of the 22 contacts, 19 were on 20M (not my favorite band) and the first ones were on 40M. As I had said, conditions were bad and sometimes things got a bit lost or garbled which is what happened to my park number. One of our contacts re-spotted me on the POTA app as US-0037 (Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park) instead of US-0027 (Gettysburg National Military Park) which caused a slight bit of confusion. I was wondering why people were thinking we were in HI and not PA as I kept identifying. I hope this didn’t screw up their logs or ruin their days. I didn’t find out about the spotting error until we were sitting in the Lincoln Diner in Gettysburg and I saw the mistake on my HAM Alert app. In any event, I chalk it up to mistakes happen. At least the log I uploaded to the app is correct. We did hear a lot of birds today both in MD and PA. The list is as follows: Red-Eyed Vireos, Yellow Throated Vireos, Wood Thrushes, Blue Jays, American Goldfinches, Mourning Doves, House Sparrows, Black and White Warblers, Eastern Wood Peewees, American Robins, Scarlet Tanagers, Cedar Waxwings, Chipping Sparrows, Jack Sparrows, European Starlings, Red-Bellied Woodpeckers and Great Crested Flycatchers. I would have to classify today as a success but I really will be thankful when the bands get better. I will be uploading a few new videos to my Youtube page soon. Until next time, namaste kids.

Usually the finger on tombstones points up. Makes you wonder…

A cool stump in Union Cemetery in Burkittsville MD

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

Chilly Activation

December 3, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

It was a beautiful day today if you care to ignore the temperature. After breakfast at the Newville Diner, we drove up to the ATV lot in Michaux State Forest US-5471. When we arrived the sky was blue, there was a light breeze and the temperature was 271 K or -2 C or 29 F, whichever you prefer. I like K in the winter because it sounds so much warmer. There were no birds to be heard today and also, luckily, the lot was not filled with the vehicles of hunters taking their rifles for a walk in the forest. There were 3 pickups but it is a big lot so no problems finding parking. We started out on 40 metres and the contacts started coming in fast and furious. I did not have time to spot myself online very often. Within 26 minutes we worked 37 stations from up and down the Eastern 1/3 of the country. Towards the end of that timespan, things started to slow up. I swapped out antennae and went to 12 metres to give the Europeans a chance. We made 21 more QSO’s on 12 and then called last call. Overall 58 contacts in about 1 hour. I know that Costa Rica isn’t Europe, nor is Mexico but I was happy to put them in the logs. We even had a contact from Finland. Overall a great POTA day. Yesterday we brought Calamity to the vet for the first time. She received a clean bill-of-health and will have a follow up in a few weeks for spaying. She is a bit older than I thought she was. The vet said she is around 6 months. That doesn’t make her any less loveable. After we got her home we let her out of the carrier and she was her usual self, apparently forgiving me for subjecting her to the indignities of a vet visit. Right now she is playing fetch with me. Well enough for today. Namaste, kidlets.

Calamity at the vet waiting to be taken home.

Moxie and Tootsie enjoying a sunny December day

500 At Gettysburg

November 28, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Thanksgiving 28 Nov 24. Not a pretty day. The dismal sky was a morose shade of gray; a hue that guarantees feelings of despondency and morbidity. It is only in Autumn that such feelings can be invoked by the clouds. The forests of Southern PA were so dank that even Robert Frost could not describe them in an upbeat or pleasant manner. Light rain was attempting to fall and all the birds were in hiding. Of course, we decided to activate. We went to Gettysburg US-0027. We were surprised by the number of people that were strolling around the battlefield. We thought we would have the place to ourselves with most people being at home doing family things but there were pedestrians all over the place in the vicinity of Spanglers Spring and Culp’s Hill. We got set up and started out on 40 M. I figured that there would be a lot of hams at home waiting on their turkey to cook and sneaking away from the family to play on the radio for a brief time and I was right. We had a legitimate activation within 9 minutes which is pretty good for 40 M during daylight hours. We continued on 40 for another half hour, working stations from NH to TN and north to ON. I then made the command decision to change bands and mounted my 10 M antenna. It does not take long to swap antennae. I take the current one off, put on the one for the next band I want to work, tune the radio to an empty freq and get on the air. One thing I try to do is stay within the privilege areas for General Class Licenses. I posted our location on the POTA spotting page and also announced us on the DXSummit page. It did not take long for stations to find us. There were a lot of European stations, we even worked a park-to-park in Germany. We hung around for another half hour end finished up with 53 contacts which made my total for Gettysburg 500 … half way to my Kilo award. Now I am sitting at home letting the pellet stove remove the damp from the air and enjoying coffee as my cats snooze in the warmth. Enough for today. Namaste kidlets.

Moxie and Ptolomey enjoying a foggy and dreary morning on Culp’s Hill.

The flamingos are restless preparing to continue their northern migration.

There’s A Tower On Tower Road. Whoda Thunk It?

October 31, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

It has been 9 days since my last entry but I had to work for 7 days straight and then last night I was too knackered to do much of anything. Well here I am. We started out the day at the Newville Diner and tried to decide where to activate. We considered Michaux State Forest and changed our minds. We set out for Cowens Gap State Park US-1346 but when we got there we again changed our minds and headed up to Hogback Mountain in Buchanan State Forest US-5463. When we started down Tower Road we saw a ham set up at the first turnoff. It was Chuck, NA1CN, who I had only had online contact with before. We chatted for a few minutes and I made sure that I wasn’t going to interfere with his operation. We drove on, to the end of Tower Road where, LO! AND BEHOLD!, there was a tower. We got set up and started working hunters. 40 meters was in pretty good shape and it did not long for us to be a legit activation. After working 27 contacts . SWMBO suggested that we try another park as long as we were out and about. Buchanan’s Birthplace State Park US-1336 was not very far away so we toodled down there. I decided to start out on 10 meters and we made 9 contacts, a good number of them from Europe. I swapped antennae and gave 40 meters a chance. We only made 1 contact, though it was a park-to-park. I put on the 17 meter hamstick and worked 6 more stations before changing to 12 meters for the final 3. This finished out our activations for the day. The weather was beautiful though there was a bit of a breeze on Hogback Mtn, but it was nuce and warm and sunny. Zarathustra kept blowing off the hood of the car. We didn’t have that problem at Buchanan’s Birthplace and we had parked in the shade of a huge oak tree. The temperature got into the high 20’s Celsius so it was rather comfortable. A lot of the leaves were dropping but there are still plenty on the trees. Oh yeah, our newest kat, Calamity is a radio cat. She likes to sit on my lap or in my arms and watch me playing on the radio here at home. Well my fingers are finged from all this typing and my coffee cup is empty so I am going to close for now. All the best to whomever may read this. Namaste, kidlets.

Moxie and Zarathustra on Hogback Mountain

Moxie and Zarathustra at Buchanan’s Birthplace

A Very POTA Weekend

October 13, 2024 / KB3CVO / Leave a comment

Had a couple days of beautiful weather. The type of days that make you forget that bad weather is coming. We took advantage of the good weather by doing some activations. Yesterday, 12 Oct, we went to Little Buffalo State Park (US-1376) and set up at the boat launch area. I used my 17M hamstick and it did not take long to get enough for a full activation. In all, we worked 17 stations from there of which 1 was a park-to-park. We needed to do some errands so I did not get a chance to take pictures. Well, I have posted pictures of the place before. Today, 13 Oct, we started (at the suggestion of SWMBO) out at Three Square Hollow Vista in Tuscarora State Forest US-5479. As soon as I parked a large group of Amish in a wagon pulled by a tractor arrived. They were soon followed by some young teens who pushed their scooters up the mountain. Like I said, it was a beautiful day and they were taking advantage of the weather and having an outing. They walked by my car and I got more than a few curious looks but they went on down to the picnic table and had their gathering. I installed my 17M hamstick in my mag-mount and called CQ POTA. We worked 11 stations from the Southern part of the US and also had a call from Sweden and one from Spain. 17M was in good shape. We wanted to do another spot so we then packed up and headed down the mountain. We drove the meandering roads of Western Cumberland County to State Game Lands PA-169 US_8867 and parked in one of the more secluded parking areas. We used the app to identify Northern Cardinals, Tufted Titmouses (titmice?) and Dark-eyed Juncos. After we setup and got on the air a car containing 3 male teens parked and they set off into the woods. This time I used my 40M hamstick and was able to work PA, ON, NY, WV, KY, GA, OH and MA stations. One of the PA stations to give us a call was KB3PSN who is the president of the local ham club where I live. Not too bad. Since I had more than 10 on 40M, I decided to try 10M. I worked 3 Texas stations and 1 from Mexico. The only drawback today was that it was too windy to put my owl on the hood of my car. Moxie the gnome had to be extra vigilant. I did make a mistake that ended well. I had left my phone on the hood of my car and drove about a mile before I noticed it. I am very lucky that it didn’t fall off! Well I guess I will close for now. Namaste kidlets.