w6csn’s outdoor amateur radio

With the autumn days getting shorter and shorter the amount of time available for an “after work” Parks On The Air activation is shrinking, at least if daylight operations are desired.

Adapting to this seasonal change, I’ve started doing more midday operating from K-7889. It’s nice to break up the work day with a little bit of exercise and some CW.

I mention exercise because for these midday activations, my best option is to walk to the south entrance to the Presidio and set up the station at Inspiration Point. This particular location is about a mile from my home QTH with a small hill to climb to get into the park. So, for the whole outing I can also get at least two miles of walking done, which is better than no miles of walking.

Usually a park bench is available for the operating position and even if the benches are in use you typically don’t have to wait long before somebody clears out. I try to confine myself to half of a bench should someone want to take a seat on the other half.

The GRA-3750 antenna is deployed on the short rock wall, in the corner which is out of the way of people coming to see the excellent San Francisco Bay views available from this lookout point.

For security, I unclip the shoulder straps of my pack and reattach them through an iron armrest of the park bench. Hopefully this will discourage any thief from a quick snatch attempt while my back is turned or if I am focused on my operation. I’ve never had any issue here but it is an urban location and it’s wise to keep your awareness up.

The downside of a midday, midweek activation is that I have a hard stop so that I can walk home and resume work on time. Today, my stop time was 20:00 UTC and I was still three contacts shy of a complete activation. Nevertheless, it was still satisfying to work some new stations, some regular hunters, and even some substantial DX.

73 de W6CSN