Today's #HamRadio #POTA (Parks On The Air) adventure. Absolutely gorgeous, couldn't-be-better fall weather on a Saturday, so that it was a little surprising that we found parking space and that all the picnic tables were empty. Used my spiderbeam push-up mast to hold my inverted-v linked dipole up, tied the ends out to some trees, and got on the air on 20 meters, using CW (morse code) as usual. I first hunted operators in other parks and got 4 QSOs, but the pileups were deep, so I found a quiet frequency and called CQ. I didn't have to wait for responses, either! Some pileups were so deep they sounded like modem noise (showing my age here). A little intimidating for the new CW operator, but the other operators were patient with me.

AZ is one of the states I haven't gotten in my hunter logs yet, so I was happy to see AZ pop up for one call sign. However, that operator reported IL, so I still don't have AZ. I'll have to keep hunting!

By the end, I was getting a lot of QRM (interference from human sources). That's the curse of operating QRP (low power) — I'm sure they couldn't hear my measly 5W and weren't intentionally operating on top of me. That was OK, though; I had 31 QSOs and I was ready to QRT (quit) for the day.

Today’s #pota was the good old #DE0261 Thörls Park + trails E1 and E9 #DE0558 and #DE0622.
The seasons are noticeably changing and it’s getting colder. 🍂🍁

@dj4ram convinced me to take out and use the #cw key instead of just leaving it in the backpack. 😅

I've been listening to #CW trying to recover my chops after years of inactivity. Listening to #POTA activations is helping. For whatever reason, I seem to have lost the ability to use paddles very well. It's probably the operator, but it may be the keyer. I still am fine with a straight key, enough that I think I am more aligned with #SKCC right now.
Hams, any thoughts? POTA will start for me next spring.

#hamradio #qrp

With the low Solar Flux and an active Earth magnetic field I switched to the dipole for the third #POTA activation on #Madeira #Portugal. More work, but awarded with 113 contacts across 10/15/20/40m. 70% DX to USA and Canada, more Europe than the last two times on the island. Surprisingly many DX contacts on 20m today.

I've never made it that deep into the USA before, 30 US states in a single activation. 14 Park-to-Park contacts to North America too. Very nice.

#hamradio #ParksOnTheAir