A Visit to Golden Ears Park

I Have been eyeing Golden Ears Park for a while now. It is on my Parks-on-the-air list and I wanted to activate it in the program. It has been activated by others already but another new park for me will move me closer to the next achievement. There are two problems with operating in the park – at least at the main parking lot and beach area. The first is the day pass requirement due to the numbers wanting to visit and then there is the lack of cell coverage. The good thing about going in February is that the day passes are not required, so one can visit as they please. Cell coverage though was still an issue.

In planning for the trip Ralph and I waited for a day with decent weather and mild conditions. That day arrived and we set out from my place at 11am for the 45-minute drive to the park. The drive went smoothly and we were soon driving in along the long tree lined roadway deeper and deeper into the park. Eventually we arrived at the parking area and found only 7 other cars in there, a large area virtually empty. I saw a few groups of visitors, some walking dogs, others exploring the shoreline and lake. The water level was low and so one had to walk out a way to reach the water.

Ralph and I walked through the main picnic table area looking for locations to operate. I noticed that my 00 to spot oneself on the POTA site. I had brought along the cell repeater system I was given and planned to set it up and try it once I had selected a table. Having completed our reconnoitrer, Ralph and I returned to the car to load our equipment onto the cart. We then made our way to where Ralph would set up and then I continued to the far side to another table I had chosen to use.

Once at my location I set up the Cell repeater. It was getting some signal and was locking on for brief periods but not consistently. I left it operating but moved on to setting up my radio station. I soon had it in operation. The cell repeater still was not successful at locking onto a tower. Not waiting, I dialed across the 10m band but heard only one non-Pota station on it. I moved to 15m and dialed down to the start of the band with a plan to move up looking for activators. I found one chap right at the start who announced he was doing his last contact. I quickly called out park-to-park and he graciously stopped shutting down to finish with a final park to park contact. As he was quitting, I told him I would take over his frequency and asked if he would spot me. He agreed to and now I had the listing I wanted but couldn’t place myself.

A couple minutes after the first contact I started having hunters respond to my calls. In very short order I had my 10 needed contacts but they kept coming and before long I was up to 20 and then 30. Around that point Ralph called via our 2m handhelds to see how I was doing. He was not fairing well on 17m – only 4 contacts. I said 15m was good and so he moved to that band. I logged his call as a contact which gave me me another park-to-park! About this time, I noticed I had some cell coverage, the repeater was working, I managed to display a few web pages but then it was gone again. I think I need to invest in a yagi for the receiver side of the unit and a short mast. It may then work for me.

While I was operating, a few people wandered by and asked about my set up. They were surprised to learn that people were doing this still but found it quite amazing at where one can reach. I wish there were more ways to pique their interest and get more people involved.

After Ralph’s call, things slowed down but I still managed a few more including a regular from Nova Scotia. By the time we quit we had been operating for almost an hour. I had completed 38 contacts and Ralph 21. I managed 6 park-to-park contacts, and had made contact with stations from Nova Scotia down to New York and South Carolina across to California and many in between. No exotics today but considering I had no internet to manage my posting, I think I did very well. It helps to have a resourceful and supportive ham community who will help one when conditions are difficult.

Well, done with radio, we packed up and loaded the equipment into the car. Our next stop was for a Starbucks coffee. Asking the navcom in the car proved futile as it also was without cell coverage. We drove back out of the park and as we neared the entrance, we reached the ubiquitous, well almost, cell coverage life depends upon. It seems a bit funny that the guy who makes my car and who also runs the most extensive satellite system for cell coverage in operation, makes a car that can’t use it! Perhaps one day I will pick up a satellite system, only the high monthly fees hold me back.

With cell coverage restored, we asked the navcom for the nearest Starbucks, it gave us a choice of 10! We picked the closest and followed the map to the location which we have visited on previous trips to the area. The rest of the drive home went smoothly and we had a pleasant drive chatting up our experience. Now to plan our next new park adventure. There are still many in the valley I haven’t been to yet though I have activated over half of the ones on the list. I may need to start going to northern BC before long if I want new ones!