A Beautiful Day At The Park

On Friday, May 10, 2024 I had the afternoon off and decided to head out to Cuyahog Valley National Park – US-0020 to enjoy a quiet afternoon of radio in the park. The sun was shining. The sky was blue. There was a gentle breeze and the temperature was in the low 60s. It was perfect weather.

And yet…

Hours earlier, the local star had belched out multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that were going to cause no end of trouble for the HF bands. It was such a powerful storm that the aurora could be seen in Florida and Texas. That’s some stuff! I knew about the storm and I saw that we were looking at a K index of 9! (or heading in that direction) as I was going to the park. I was not hopeful for activating the park, but why let something like science drag me down?

Setting Up Some Different Gear

Earlier in the week, I decided to get out the SuperAntenna MP1 and set it up. I’d forgotten how great this antenna is. I was looking at it to use with my Penntek rigs in the event that a resonant wire antenna wasn’t something that I could deploy. I pulled together the tripod and various pieces for it and tossed it in the bag.

I also was thinking that it’d been a while since I took out the X6100. Why not throw that in as well along with a CWMorse paddle? Why not, indeed! With the gear in the bag, I headed out to the park.

Up And Running

My picnic table of choice near The Octogon was, as one would expect, available. The antenna was up and tuned in no time. I jumped on the air. I called and called and called. And called and called and called. Wow it was a long time before anyone came back. I did get some spots from the Reverse Beacon Network, but it wasn’t looking great.

Then 20-meters sort of opened up and I was getting some contacts in the log. Looking at the QSO map after the activation, it looked like any other day on 20-meters. But it was slow going, noisy, and full of opening and closing during that whole time as the ionosphere did its thing with all of that energy.

I did nab a park to park in there and got up as far as Maine and out as far as Arizona. Not too bad for 5 watts under those conditions.

A Note Or Two

The X6100 is a good rig. I can’t say anything against it. It has a ton of great features and is quite a platform for hacking. There are a few different images out there that allow for loading different interfaces and operating systems. It’s just cool. Well, it’s not cool when it’s operating. In fact, it’s HOT. I have all kinds of heat sinks on the back of mine and it still gets hot to the touch. And this is just running CW, not digital modes. Still a great rig and given that it has an internal ATU that will match any load I’ve put on it, it’s a great package. wfview integration is just gravy.

My CW Morse paddle (the aluminum one) is a great key to have around. It’s portable and of solid construction. I haven’t used it in a while so it took a minute to get my fingers attuned to it. It’s on that I keep handy when we’re camping.

The MP1 is a fantastic antenna. Any issues I had with it in the past were definitely operator error. It doesn’t take long to tune and it is very versatile. Also takes up very little space both horizontally and vertically. No wires in trees and the radials can be kept out of the way. The tripod mount is pretty neat too. Though, after having a telescoping whip break on me when it fell over, I do prefer to use the all metal, solid whip. Weirder to pack, but more rugged for sure.

The QSO Map

Here’s what it looked like on the QSO Map:

Final

Looking at the solar weather is fun. It definitely gives a perspective on what is happening with our local star and what that might do to our attempts to operate. But it’s really good to get out in the field and see it in action. We were in a really wild solar storm and there was a lot of energy inbound. I still managed to make QRP contacts. I also had a fantastic time being outside and playing radio. So I would not advise using the solar weather as the source of truth for whether or not it’s a good day to turn on the radio. Get out and listen to the bands. See what happens. Worst case scenario is you get a little time outside and a little time messing around with your gear.

Thanks for reading and 72!