Us-1418

I headed back to US-1418, Sam Lewis to tried a quick activation on my way to my parents’ house, but I got sidetracked. KN3A, Scott, was already there, so I chatted with him for a few minutes, and then setup my station on the other side of the park. I used my GRA-1900T for a quick setup on 20m. I saw Scott hunting up the band with his big, very local, signal, and then set out to do some FT8. The band was busy, but then just shut off nearing 1900UTC.

I heard about a storm coming from the local repeaters. I tried a bit on 15m, but decided to pack up as I heard more thunder. I only got a few contacts, since I didn’t give myself near enough time.

At US-1418, Sam Lewis, I tried setting up down near the low playground on the corner near the road. There were no trees with good spots. All the viable branches were very high, and I couldn’t quite get a line over them.

I resorted to an inverted-v supported by fishing pole in the middle at 9ft or so. I operated mostly FT8 on 15m, 20m, and 40m, and I did a little SSB on 40m. I got Canada, Florida, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, etc.

US-1356 Pinchot

I setup at a pavillion far away from everyone else, so as not to burden anyone wondering what I was doing. Putting up the 20m-long EFHW, I got the socket and throw line stuck in a tree. I had to cut it loose.

I tried 10m for 2 FT8 contacts, but that’s all the further I could stretch that band. The rest of my contacts came on FT8 40m, and one P2P SSB contact on 40m before I packed up.

US-1418 Sam Lewis

At the second park, I operated mostly 20m with the GRA-1900 coil and whip. I was struggling to get that to the right settings, so I finally just extended it and hit the tuner on the radio.

I accidentally crossed the 0000UTC mark into the next day, which means it’s a new activation. I scrambled to try to complete the new day, but fell short.