Capturing the Art of Nature
Bonnie Schrenk Park
A short visit to try to make some radio contacts
Category
Parks on the Air
2021
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The previous week Ralph and I enjoyed a lovely trip to the beach with our radios and we made contacts across North America. This week Ralph was working but Nick was free and so since Wednesday looked to be a decent weather day, I decided to set out with Nick to try activating a park on my own. It was not far from home and so we left after a quick lunch as I thought the weather would be best in the early afternoon, at least it will have warmed up a bit.
We loaded up the car and set out along 168th for the park. Well, we thought we would enjoy a quick drive the few miles to the site but as we approached highway 10 there was a several light line-up of cars waiting to cross! After waiting somewhat patiently for our turn to cross we continued on our way north. Soon we passed the Cloverdale area and were back in the lowlands of the Serpentine River. Here we were stopped by Hydro construction. This time we had a much longer wait as they were adding a new power line along the road and had 4 separate crews working 4 spots along the road. The traffic was being controlled by the chap at the far end and it took 20 minutes to get past this. We will be returning another way.
Once past the last crew, we were almost to the park, a quick left on Fraser Highway and we were at the entrance to the Leisure Centre which is next to the park. We turned into the parking area and started scouting out a suitable spot to set up. I eventually settled on an area to the west of the building where there is some open ground. I parked furthest from the main entrance which was the closest point to where I was headed and we loaded the wagon with my gear. A short walk to the field and I was ready to set up.
This time I brought my antenna tripod with a 4-foot section of mast. I thought it would be a good support for my fishing rod antenna mast. I set it up and dropped my rod into the tube. It worked well and helped keep the rod vertical. After stretching out the two wire parts of the antenna I set up my radio and put out my first call. The band had a few load stations and I picked an open spot just up from another Parks-on-the-air station. I then notified the parks site I was here and soon I had a number of people trying to reach me.
It was quite enjoyable picking out stations from the pile-up of people calling me. Quite a difference from being the one trying to get heard. My first contact was with a station in Idaho followed by Texas. This went on for thirty minutes by which time I had 20 logged contacts and I felt it was time to head home. I had reached stations in Halifax to California including one other park activator in Nevada. So, it was a very successful time out. The park looked to be interesting with trails through the woods, but with snow piles along the parking lot I wasn’t in a mood to explore it further, perhaps next time.
Done with radio, we loaded up the wagon and and walked back to the car where we transferred it into the back and we set out for home. This time we went via 176th street. Though a bit further, it went quickly as we were still ahead of rush-hour traffic, Nick wanted a warm drink at Starbucks so we took a brief stop there get take the bite out of the air. And then we were driving the last bit to home. It was a fun adventure and I hope to do many more. In the coming weeks.