POTA 30
Hot, hot, hot. Luckily, our San Jacinto enclave is shaded with picnic tables where David KG5URA and Joe K5KUA setup up for their station ops. I elected to drive up a few hundred yards and setup on a picnic table under a tree. This location allowed me to operate without any nearfied RFI from the other guys.
David KG5URA got a head start and entered the park before 0900- the “advertised open” time. This gave him a good opportunity to setup his new Retevis multiband vertical under a sheet of conductive mat. His operated with his IC705 and Hardrock amp.
Joe K5KUA kindly let David and me operate on 20m while he sought contacts on the other non-interfering bands 40m/17m/15m. In 1.5 hours, Joe was only able to score 2 FT8 Qs on 40m. After we departed, he hung around and moved to 20m to bag 20 CW and SSB contacts in about 45min before noon. Joe used his trusty FT-991A and a simple Ham Stik mounted on a tiny metal tripod.
Using my Elecraft KX-2, I first tried out my AX1 Multiband whip antenna. It’s a comprise antenna, but I wanted to give it another opportunity before selling it. Not knowing how lousy the band conditions were, I tried for about 15minutes with not a single response (running 5W). I then erected my go-to Sotabeams Bandhopper dipole linked to 20m and hoisted up with a 20′ carbon mast. Only 2 QSOs within 10 minutes- a lousy performance. so, I jacked up my RF power from 5W to 10W and *barely* got 10 QSOs over the next hour to qualify for an official POTA activation. That was the most difficult 10 QSOs I’ve ever done.
Super odd how uncooperative 20m was- usually a completely reliable band despite lousy conditions. The heat was typical Texas, so at least we were glad it was burning up the mosquitos; we departed by noon. Hopefully, we’ll have better luck in future activations but it’s always a great day to activate a park.
73 Dave W5OC