Lake Sammamish and Palouse to Cascades Trail
On 12/15, decent weather tempted me out to try for two activations - Lake Sammamish SP (US-3216), followed by Palouse to Cascades Trail (US-3203).
One activation was straightforward, and the other one was a bit bumpy.
Lake Sammamish Setup
Once again, I set up in the picnic shelter near the playground. It’s a lovely spot but I set the antenna up in a spot where from my operating position, it was hidden by a concrete pillar. I won’t do that again, as it made it nearly impossible to keep an eye on it and ensure that the kids (who are fascinated by it) don’t touch it while I’m transmitting.
The picnic tables at this shelter are usually clean, but on this particular day, the table I wanted to use was not tidy, so it made a great opportunity to deploy my new silicone rubber mat. (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MTLVKXS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1) This thing rolls up into a easily stuffed into the pack size, and it’s large enough that it gives me a decently clean spot to set the laptop and radio. I got it as an experiment, and I’m totally sold on it.
SSB
No SSB in either activation.
CW
I started on 10m, and worked my way through the bands to 30m.
10m: 5 QSOs in ~8 minutes
12m: 3 QSOs in ~3 minutes
15m: 11 QSOs in ~17 minutes
17m: 5 QSOs in ~10 minutes
20m: 4 QSOs in ~4 minutes
30m: 1 QSO
Those times are from the logged time of the first QSO on a band to the last, so that time it takes me to switch bands and then call CQ long enough to get that first call is not captured in those figures.
The 30m trial was with the loading coil on the Chelegance MC-750, and I had no trouble getting the antenna set for 30m and tuned. To my great delight, the caller on 30m was my friend Dan Pflugrath, KA7GPP ; Dan had also been a contact on 15m. Dan was a member of SNOVARC and has moved north, and he and I have several times made contacts CW when one or the other is activating somewhere. It’s always a delight to hear his callsign, because he’s one of folks who encouraged me to learn CW.
I could easily have gotten more QSO on each band, but I was working through the bands with an eye on the time, because I wanted to head over to Rattlesnake Lake to activate there. In particular, 20m was hopping.
Based on this activation, I was expecting the next activation to be pretty easy. I was wrong.
One note: it will be quite some time before all the windstorm damage at Lake Sammamish SP is cleared away. Here’s an example:
Palouse to Cascades Trail (US-3203)
After the Lake Sammamish SP activation, I piled back in the car and headed off to activate the Palouse to Cascades State Trail (US-3203). My plan was to find a spot to operate right at the westernmost trailhead for the trail, which is where the POTA page offers lat/long, and also the spot closest to my home. Because my previous experience was that there was no cell service at that spot, I scheduled an activation on pota.app before heading up to the trailhead at Rattlesnake Lake.
When I arrived, I had a vague idea of setting up beside the trail, using a portable table and chair. When I arrived I found a picnic table right at the trailhead, and I decided to use that spot. In the interests of speed I set up the Chelegance MC-750 and got right to work.
It was definitely slower going than my activation at Lake Sammamish SP, and for a while I had some fears that I’d not get 10 QSOs to validate the activation. Eventually, though, the calls started coming. I worked 15m first and got 10 QSOs in roughly 40 minutes, then I moved to 17m and got another 3, including one where I had a devil of a time copying the ham’s straight key sending and perhaps bobbled his callsign, as it doesn’t appear on QRZ, although it was accepted as a valid call when I uploaded the logs.
Box Score
Total QSOs: 42
Total CW QSOs: 42
Time spent operating: 1.5 hours
Solo CW bonus points: 42
Pleasant weather bonus: 0
Favorite Picnic Table points: 2
Things lost: 0
Things broken: 0
Equipment frustration time: 10 minutes
Vital gear not included in loadout: 0
Final Fun-O-Meter(tm) reading: 9.0
