John Lawson Park

Last week we visited Ambleside Park in West Vancouver, today it is the smaller park next door – John Lawson Park. This park sports a community arts program and a fancy kids play area built around a pirate ship and a train station.  Our adventure would take advantage of the picnic tables and open grassy areas not currently occupied by Canada Geese.

Ralph and I left my house at 10:30 stopping for coffee and then a quick drive to West Vancouver. The drive went smoothly and soon we were descending 15 Ave to the waterfront in West Vancouver. The park has limited parking, a short strip of stalls alongside the north border of the park. It was full but a car was just pulling out as we came by and we were able to secure the spot for ourselves. It was fortunate timing.

Once parked we set out on foot to explore the area and gather a few photos. The park isn’t overly big but it shares the beach front Seawalk with Ambleside Park to the east and another small park further west. Together they give a nice 3km walking trail. There is a small pier jutting out into the inlet which we wandered onto to get a panoramic view of the park and city beyond it. Done walking around we had both seen places for us to set up in and so we returned to the car to get our gear.

I made my way to the covered picnic tables; they have a wide grassy area next to them and together they are an ideal location for my station. The end table was open and I dumped my cases on it and began setting up. On the next table there was a pre-schooler that was quite fascinated by my activity. I soon had the mast raised and radio ready. I then called Ralph but had no response. I figured he was still setting up. After a few more minutes of trying Ralph with no response. I scanned the 20m band and worked a pair of operators activating a triple park in Nebraska. By now I was wondering what was up with Ralph. I called him on my phone to then learn I was calling him on the wrong frequency! Not sure why I was doing that, it’s not like it’s the first time we have done this. Frequency corrected we soon had our contacts across 11 bands completed.

I then scanned the 20m band for further activators but could only hear a few faint ones and so I selected a frequency and started my own calling.  I soon had Paul from Alaska in the log  followed by stations in California, Arizona, and Colorado. Stations were coming in fine but I soon was crowded out by another operator just down the band from me. He was causing enough interference I felt that I was losing contacts, so I moved my frequency to a clear one and continued calling.  I chatted with Ralph and he was having a tough go of it today. He wanted to give it a few more minutes, so I continued my own calling. By the end of my operation I had managed 31 contacts for the log. It was a successful day for me, less so for Ralph.

I quickly packed up my station and waited for Ralph to meet me at the car. We both enjoyed the time in the park and felt it was a nice location to operate out of. Perhaps not convenient for us living near White Rock but for closer operators it makes for a nice location. The drive home today went smoothly, no major accident to get in the way. There remain two parks in West Vancouver to do. We will likely do both on one trip as they are very close together.