Friends and Campbell Valley

I visit Campbell Valley often though lately it has been much less. Most trips were with my dog but with two of them it was no longer practical. That left visits for either photography or radio. Radio trips were the most common and such is what brought be back today. This week I actually operated on two days. The first, on Tuesday Nov 12, I met with club member Jim and together we set up my antenna and his radio and we operated in the POTA program. On this trip I let Jim take the lead calling out and I operated as a second operator. It was good experience for him as he was quickly learning some of the techniques I use to operate. The band was in great shape and we made 15 contacts in around 25 minutes. Having some pile-ups was fun and kept the momentum going. Things slowed down at that point and we would need to repost ourselves but as we had more than enough, we decided to pack up and go get lunch. It was a very good session and we both quite enjoyed our time.

Come Friday, Nov 15, the weather was even nicer and the bands were good though they didn’t show as well on the charts. I set out for the park at 11am and soon was at the parking lot. Club members Joe and Bob were joining me but they were not here yet and as I had my new Z8 camera with me I wandered slowly to the picnic area taking photos of some of the late fall scenes. I do find bare tree branches to be very interesting. The shapes and twists of the branches make for some very pretty sights. I eventually got to the table I normally use and started to deploy my mast. Joe arrived as I was setting it up.

We then completed the set up of my gear but still no Bob. Fellow club member Ken was waiting to hear from me so I called him on my 2m handheld and he came back to me. That became my first contact for the day. I then scanned the 10m bad for other activators. I found a chap in Wisconsin doing a dual park and I called him. I asked about the band conditions; he said that the charts looked much worse than the actual conditions and that he was having a great time on 10m. That was encouraging. I called a couple more activators. Joe decided to go look for Bob in case he got lost in the park.

Meanwhile I started calling on my frequency and soon had a station from New South Wales in Australia come by. The band was working well. Next came a California station followed by a chap in Brazil. Over the next 15 minutes I managed about one contact a minute. It was a good time on the air and dealing with small pile-ups. Meanwhile Bob was found and the two came back to my area. Bob was mostly interested in seeing the set up and how I operate. I ended up calling for only around 20 minutes and filled up my log page. We noticed that the band noise had picked up at the end of my last contact. We could repost my self and continue for a while or since my log book page was now full we could stop and go get lunch. As with Jim, lunch won out and so I packed away my gear.

Though the operating time was short, I had lots of contacts and they were fast which makes the time more enjoyable. My goal currently is to reach the next repeat-offender level at the park. That is 60 activations. This would be my 46th so I was well on my way. Done with the activation we gave some thought to where to eat lunch.  Hazelmere Golf club is on the way home and so it is often our spot to eat at after the park and it became so again today. They do provide a good meal which makes it an easy decision.  We had a nice visit around the table solving a few more world crises in between discussions on radio topics. Now to plan the next outing.