w6csn’s outdoor amateur radio

This is an activation that almost didn’t happen. I was being opportunistic and grabbed my FT-818 for a little after work radio play time. I just needed to get out of the house.

Recently, I picked up one of the triple magnet antenna mounts for the purpose of operating from my vehicle on occasion. I don’t have any desire to use the radio while driving mind you, just to use the car as shelter or when other POTA setup options are severely limited. I tried a single mag-mount, but it got blown over easily by the fierce westerly winds that rush through the Golden Gate. That will not do!

We started down by the Yacht Club parking area just across from the Marina Green which happens to be inside K-0647. I set the magnetic base and topped it with the Gabil coil and 10 ft telescoping whip.

When I got the antenna tuned up on 20 meters I was greeted with S9+ noise levels. Heck, this was no better than my home QTH! There are a multitude of fancy boats with high tech electronic systems in the harbor, perhaps the noise was emanating from there.

I unscrewed the antenna and stashed it in the back seat, then drove though the Presidio down to Fort Point. Alas, the noise level was high here too as well. Was I bringing the noise with me? I don’t think there are as many radiating things down at Ft. Point, but maybe I’m wrong.

Anyway, not intending to activate the park, I thought to just make a QSO or two and call it a day. I hunted K0DME @ K-1210 Boyd Lake SP in Colorado, who was loud through the noise.

At this point I thought maybe having less antenna in the air might help. So I swapped out the 10 ft MFJ whip with shorter whip that comes stock with the Gabil GRA-3750T. With the shorter antenna, it would be less of a compromise on a higher frequency band, so I tuned it up on 15 meters.

The noise was much less on 21 Mhz, but there were also fewer signals to be heard, I thought the band might not be performing well. About this time, my companion was noting that the dinner hour was upon us and wouldn’t mind honoring that fact. I too was feeling a little peckish.

I was “this close” to switching off the radio and packing it in, but curiosity won out. I decided to just throw a spot on pota.app and make a few calls. Surely the band was dead and I would be enjoying some dinner sooner rather than later.

After a few CQ POTA calls I saw the RBN start to pick me up, then I got my first call from K4ISW in Virginia. Ok, so the band isn’t totally shut down. Then came North Carolina, Kentucky and Kansas. Apparently 15 meters was just fine and for some reason all the activity was down on 20.

I finished off the activation with 12 QSOs from all across the USA. I don’t usually do this, but when I got home I decided to log the activation as a 3-fer. Fort Point NHS (K-0819) is within the Presidio of San Francisco (K-7889) which is itself inside the boundary of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (K-0647).

Those hunters that braved the heights of 21 Mhz got rewarded with three parks to their credit for the effort of a single QSO.

As always, thanks to the hunters that put up with my occasional sloppy CW and sometimes weak QRP signal to make the activation a success.