Monday and Tuesday of this week were extremely windy and, given my experience at Neosho State Fishing lake, I decided to not go out for Parks On The Air activations. Today was another story. It was sunny, light breeze and 65+ degrees. So I headed to Hillsdale State Park (US-2340) for an activation.
As is customary during this time of year the park was pretty quiet. I pulled into my normal area of operation and set up my 20′ mast with an 40 meter End Fed Have Wave antenna along with my LNR Precision Mountain Topper MTR3B v4 radio. I had decided earlier in the morning that I would not operate on multiple bands and, instead, focus on 20 meters with the goal of getting 25+ QSOs (contacts).
I started the activation at 11:56a (17:56 UTC) and spent the next hour getting 37 contacts. It was a little strange because for the first 33 minutes I only had 15 QSOs. Then I had a non-stop pile up getting the remaining 22 contacts in a somewhat steady fashion. Needless to say it was a lot of fun!
There was a lull in the action and I decided to call it good. I sent QRT (I am done) and got one last hunter from South Carolina, so I logged him and then turn the radio off. I turned around to look and my mast was still standing and everything was as it should be! Ha!
I proceeded to pack up and head home
Number of contacts – 37, level of fun – 10+
