I'm back! Took July off!

KB9BVN at US-4183 

Well I took July off from POTA, we just had too many things going on and did not have time to get out and activate any at all. So I have been looking forward to hitting the trail again and getting outdoors with my portable station and making some contacts. Besides, it was pushing 100F most of the month. 

Today I went back to US-4183 Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area in southern Johnson County between the city of Franklin and Edinburgh.  This was my 49th time to activate from this location.  I can't help it, it's less than 30 minutes from home, so why not? 

I drove around a bit looking for a site with some appreciable shade, I found a nice parking area and setup my station in the shade of a giant Walnut tree.  The temperature was a balmy 83F and the horse flies were thick as peanut butter on a popsicle.  Once setup I decided I would do some hunting before I went to the POTA website and spotted myself.  It took me almost an hour to contact six other parks on 20m, the bands were very muffled, and the speaker in the KX-2 is not super loud.  Next time I will bring headphones, but I hate using them when it is so hot. 

I spotted myself on 10110 Khz at first, this is the 30m band, and when it's good, it's real good.  Today that was not the case.  The column marked SNR is basically a indication of my signal strength being heard in various locations on the map. Usually for me, anything under 11 or 12 db is not going to get me any contacts. I ended up with ONE.  That was it. 

See below: 

Then I decided to give 40m a try, I spotted myself on 7063 Khz and started calling CQ.  This went on for about 15 minutes with no takers then it was like someone turned on a switch in North Carolina.  I got four more contacts in about 5 minutes all from North Carolina!  My SNR rating never did get much above 10-12db.  After I logged contact number 11, I had been at it for almost 90 minutes. I have usually gotten my minimum of 10 contacts in less than 15-20 minutes.  Not today.  

You can see my 40m map below:

I was using the Eagle One telescoping vertical mounted to my hitch on the beloved POTAmobile, which is old enough to vote.  The old 2006 Trailblazer cracked 200,000 miles last month...I think I need to start looking for a replacement soon. I buy used, then drive the wheels off. I have owned this one for the last 12 years. 

One last photo...here's the logbook and my KX-2 in action! 

Until next time, have a great summer, what's left of it.  Only 49 days of summer left...USE THEM WELL!! 

73 de KB9BVN
Brian