Riley Park

Ralph joined me for another adventure to a new park for us. This one was in Vancouver on the east side of Queen Elizabeth Park. It is a smallish green space with some playing fields, lots of green grass to enjoy, some kids’ playground features and even some garden spaces. It seemed quite popular to the locals and was being used by a few sunbathers who were determined to rapid age their skin in the hot sun. But I get ahead of my self.

Ralph arrived at my place a bit before 10am He was expecting to load up my car and set out for the park. Well, my car’s trunk wouldn’t latch and is waiting for a service call. Instead of the car I had him load his gear into my back-country truck, a bit over-kill for a drive to Vancouver but it was secure and would carry our gear with little effort. After loading both of our radio equipment we set out for Starbucks and then the highway. I was fighting with the navigation system on the truck as it used the CarPlay method where my iPhone provided the maps and routing, the built-in system leaves much to be desired.

Once the route was finalized and our coffees in hand we set out for the park, ignoring the first routings the computer suggested, I was aware of construction on its proposed route. The drive went well and I enjoyed the taller vantage point of the truck though I didn’t like the greater bulk and lack of sophisticated driving aids that my car has. Arriving at the park presented a new challenge – pay parking. I thought to myself, no problem I already have pay-by-phone set up. Well, the Vancouver park didn’t support that method, it listed 5 other applications! I downloaded the first on the list and proceeded to register. It sent me the security code but on entry it kept rejecting it. After a few tries, I gave up on the app, Easy Park – not so easy, and tried a second choice. This time the application completed the setup and successfully added its fee to my visa card. Automation wasted 10 minutes of my day.

Finally paid-up, Ralph and I set out to explore the park. It is nestled between city streets and has a series of well-maintained pathways throughout the area. We followed the route around the outer edge. Ralph spotted a shaded spot in the middle of the park area where he could set up his station. Once back to the truck I spotted an area next to the parking lot where the grass was shaded yet had enough open space for the antenna. I returned to the truck to load up my cart and discovered that my portable table and chair were back at home in my car! Well, I guess I would be operating out of my truck for the first time.

I repositioned the truck so I could raise the antenna in the clear, quite close to my originally intended location. Ralph meanwhile set out with his gear to his chosen location. I inserted my mast holder into the trailer hitch and soon was raising my antenna into the sky. It was working quite nicely. Inside the back seats of the truck, I positioned the board I bought for a table and proceeded to set up the radio. It worked out very nicely. I was soon scanning the bands for some other park activators. I managed to work a couple before Ralph finished his set up. Once Ralph was ready, we proceeded to make some mutual contacts across eleven bands. Then we both started calling for others. It was a slow process today but we both managed seven beyond those between us. We could have garnered more but our paid parking period was almost over and so we decided to pack up and eat lunch.

It had been a pleasant adventure, seeing a new park, enjoying some conversation and even making some radio contacts. I managed to reach stations in New York, Alaska, California and Ontario amongst others. A decent spread but no exotics today. We set out for home before the Friday crowd but it was still busier than hoped as people we leaving for the week-end early. The truck set up worked out very nicely for me and will do well for activations where the parking lot is inside the park boundaries. It is not only faster to set up but being in the cab offers more comfort and heat/cooling/rain shelter as required. I am looking forward to getting it into the hills to activate a park.