March 10, 2022 - Oyama, BC
Sunny skies and near 0 C (32 F) temps greeted our Parks On The Air team on Thursday morning. We had chosen to activate Kaloya Regional Park VE-5330 in the Central Okanagan of British Columbia, Canada.
Jane VE7WWJ and Mike VE7KPZ quickly put up a HyEndFed Portable Mini 10/20/40m EFHW between a tree branch (far end) at around 8m/26' and a SOTABEAMS Tactical Mini pole (match end) at around 5m/17' for a perfect sloper. The far end pointed due North. A 2.1 meter length of counterpoise coax, 1:1 un:un common mode choke and then approx 20' of feedline tied into the radio, an IC-705, inside the vehicle.
Ironically, we didn't really need to be inside the vehicle as the sun was perfectly warm and lovely. The coax was run via the skylight, but the driver's window was kept open for the duration of the 2 hour activation. Amazingly nice weather.
Within about an hour we had 18 contacts in the log on 20m calling. Then we did some search and attempted-pounce, but only barely broke into a pileup for K8MRD (but unfortunately could just not complete the QSO - 10 watts is tough going park to park). We called a bit more and managed to get another 2 QSOs in the log. In total, 20 QSOs made within about an hour and a half. The best part: we didn't have to resort to FT8 to complete the QRP activation - LOL!
It was amazing to see who we spoke with on the air with just 10 watts of RF. From Alaska to Nova Scotia, New York and the Carolinas... and everything in between. Check out our QSO map:
It was also fun to introduce many of the park's visitors to the hobby of Amateur Radio and POTA.
Big thanks to all the hunters,
Mike VE7KPZ (operator) with Jane VE7WWJ (logger)
Ps: here are some pics from the activation:
