w6csn’s outdoor amateur radio

It is pretty common for the new POTA activator to start with nearby parks that are easy to access. Doing so gives you an opportunity to develop kit and techniques that work best for your style of POTA and to get some successful activations under your belt.

Such was the case for me in February of 2023, I had picked most of the low hanging fruit, in terms of unique parks, when my friend W7DUP expressed interest in trying an activation. Side note: there is nothing wrong with operating from the same park multiple times. You can even earn “repeat offender” awards for multiple activations of the same unit.

I was one park shy of the ten unique parks needed for the Bronze Activator award, an entry level achievement for POTA activators. So when OM W7DUP suggested we get out for a little field work, I began to consider where we might go that was fairly close by and also gave me that 10th park I was after.

At the southeast corner of San Francisco sits the Hunters Point neighborhood, which until 2015 was also the location of Candlestick Park. “The Stick” had been home to both the SF Giants as well as the 49ers and was also the venue to host some legendary rock concerts over the years. Surrounding the land where the stadium once stood and hugging the shores of San Francisco Bay is Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, a place where locals come to fish, picnic, and stretch their legs. In late February 2023, K-7493 was nearby enough, although not that easy to access it turns out.

A bit of internet reconnaissance showed the park offering several attractive operating sites, however the reality on the ground was very different. The road leading to the main entrance of the SRA was blocked by flooding from recent rains and most of the rest of park appeared to be fenced off and generally inaccessible. Ultimately we settled on a location at the southern end of the park with some parking close to the road.

The winds and fog at Candlestick Point can be brutal much of the time so the picnic tables here are situated behind L-shaped post and timber windbreaks. We found the shelter to be unnecessary on this day, but the shade was nice and the vertical posts offered at convenient spot to tie down the Spiderbeam fiberglass mast, with a 20M EFHW hung as a sloper from the top.

I brought both the Yaesu FT-818, into which I recently fitted a narrow CW ceramic filter, as well as the QRP Labs QDX digital transceiver. In just under an hour with 5 watts of CW we had worked the 10 stations needed for a valid POTA. This total included two park-to-park contacts and conditions being what they were, the QSOs were confined to the western US. After securing the activation on CW we tried a little FT8 on the QDX, but with lunch of pizza and beer as a more appealing option, we only logged six digital QSOs before throwing in the towel.

It was great to get outdoors and do some POTA with a fellow ham, and nice to finally achieve the Bronze Activator certificate I was seeking. That said, I will probably not include K-7493 in any regular park rotation given the fact that access is limited and I have nicer park options only a short walk from my home QTH.