A Week Of Failures

Yet another slow week in my radio life. Not that I didn’t try to make it interesting.

Wednesday I attempted my first solo POTA activation. I drove over to Ft. Harrison State Park, US-2256 bright and early, when the gates were wide open and admission was free. I set up my POTA Performer, plugged in the FT-891, and was hearing signals. Promising!

The first signal I found was from Indonesia. The noise level was too high, and his signal was too weak, though, for me to attempt to call him. I’m not a bold enough DXer to call someone if I’m not certain I will hear him should he call me back. I wish I had my IC-7300 as I prefer its audio and I may have been able to dig him out of the noise better.

Still, Indonesia! I made two contacts hunting fairly quickly. I thought it was going to be easy to knock out another eight-plus and make the activation successful.

The only problem were those were the only three signals I was hearing that 1) weren’t on a net or 2) weren’t speaking Spanish. The rest of the 20 meter band was all noise. I called CQ a few times but did not any replies.

That’s when I ran into an unexpected problem. I won’t provide too many details, but some stomach distress I had been experiencing all week flared up again and I found myself scrambling to pack away my gear and find a restroom. Thankfully the main facilities at Ft. Harrison are well appointed.

If that doesn’t sum up my last couple months of radio, I don’t know what does.

I’m hoping to give it another shot this week, if weather and solar conditions allow. And my stomach, too, I guess.

A true bummer for all hams in Central Indiana was a tornado tearing through Morgan-Monroe State Forest US-4215 last week. Thankfully there were only a couple injuries to people, the rest of the damage done to trees and farmland and a few buildings. The main entrance to the park was devastated, and I believe will be shut down for some time. NW9F was able to do his normal Sunday activation just down the road from the entrance. I won’t head that way again until our IU student is back in Bloomington in the fall. I hope the park is restored enough so everyone - hams, hikers, and nature lovers - is able to enjoy it again soon.

My other radio activity of the week was attempting to raise the far end of my wire antenna at home a little higher. I indeed got the paracord higher up in the nasty old spruce I use as my far support. But once the first wind and rain came through and everything shifted a bit, my radiating line is pretty much where it was before.

A reminder I need to stop doing antenna projects without another set of hands. A buddy said he’ll bring over a 30’ extension pole at some point and we can try to place the line over a specific limb rather than rely on my throwing skills.