Poplar Park

R alph and I have been visiting new parks across the valley for a number of years now. We just completed all of them on the North Shore. I regularly review the list of valid parks to find our next park and I recently checked over the listed parks in Surrey and discovered a small park that we had missed. Poplar Park is a small one in north Surrey just up the northern slope above where King George and the sky train climb the slope. We decided it was time to finish off Surrey before we start on Vancouver proper and so the time had come to activate Poplar Park.

The shortest route from my place to the park would be to drive King George Boulevard but that route is clogged with traffic and lights. The navcom routed us along the highways and then back into north Surrey in a longer and very circuitous route, but it was much faster. We did make good time and soon we were driving up the slope to the park. There was ample road-side parking, and we selected one directly next to the park.

We were presented with a broad green space with a small kids play area and a number of trees. There is a walkway through the centre of the park that led down the slope on the north side. We followed it down into the ravine as the path would return to the park on the west side. I noticed that there had recently been a major effort to clear a section of blackberries and plant a variety of trees. I guess the park green space was being expanded. The trail did drop down some distance as it meandered along the slope before eventually making its way back up to the open portion of the park. It was a pleasant but short little walk.

Back on top, Ralph picked a shaded place on the western side where he would set up. I saw a shaded area on the eastern edge and after loading my cart I wandered to it. Setting up the mast and antenna went quickly. No table here to use so I had to set up my portable one and chair. Soon I was done and waiting for Ralph. Once he was ready, we quickly made our series of contacts across eleven bands. It was 1:30 and we decided to operate until 2pm. I noticed that club member Jim was activating the Stewart Farmhouse site, and I responded to his call, and we managed to complete the contact. 

The park was not a good location for radio as the radio frequence noise level was very high – S7. I decided to engage my noise cancellation unit this time and once I had it in place the noise was reduced to S5, still quite high but hopefully low enough for me to hear remote stations. I then scanned the bands for any parks, I could hear a few but they did not respond to me, so I picked a frequency and started my calling. My first response came from a couple activating a park in California who reported a decent signal. I was getting good reports from stations from South Dakota up to Alaska, but they were weak and hard to hear. Many took quite a number of tries to get the requisite information exchanged. 

By 2pm Ralph was at nine contacts beyond our mutual ones, and we decided to keep going for another 15 minutes. By the time we finished I had managed 16 remote contacts which included five park-to-parks. It had been a struggle with the noise both RF and ambient and considering our location it should not have been a surprise. Although we had taken a long route to drive here which made it seem like we were way out in the boonies, we were really right next door to the skyscraper centre of Surrey. I could see the tops of a few of them only a few blocks away from where I sat in the park. Likely a major source of the RF noise.

Once packed up we asked the navcom for the best route home. This time it took back to highway 17 on the north and along it to the east and then down 176th to home. We did a big circle around Surrey! We had one final stop top make before we got home. In Cloverdale we stopped in the Brickyard Starbucks for a coffee and a time to think over our adventure. I am happy to have completed all the parks in Surrey, and will repeat many of them, but this is one I have no interest in returning to. Next trip will see us in Vancouver where 15 parks await our visit.