w6csn’s outdoor amateur radio

If you are a ham or SWL of a certain age, you can probably recite from subconscious memory the twice hourly message on WWV that ends with the station address of “two thousand east county road fifty eight, Fort Collins, Colorado, eight oh five two four.”

Well, here I was in Fort Collins but unfortunately didn’t have the opportunity to visit WWV. However, POTA was definitely in the cards as other members of the family were interested visiting Lory State Park (US-1228) which I intended to activate.

Just the day before, the Fort Collins area was beset with a line of thunderstorms that were the most intense that I’d ever experienced. For the locals it was probably just an ordinary Tuesday but for a Coastal Californian this storm was remarkable.

Anyway, afternoon thunderstorms were still in the forecast as I headed out on this POTA activation. And sure enough, as soon as I got out of the car I heard rumbles of thunder coming from the mountains. Being inexperienced with the local weather, I elected to not go waving long poles with wires attached when I could hear thunder in the neighborhood.

We decided to wait a while and see what happened with the weather. It wasn’t raining so we went for a short walk down the East Valley Trail, making sure to stay away from ridge lines or high points. After a half hour or so the skies brightened and it was clear the lightning activity had moved well to our east. This was the activation opportunity I was waiting for, although I was still a bit uneasy at the thought of “a bolt from the blue.”

It was perhaps in this felt sense of urgency that I failed to take a single picture of the radio or antenna setup for this activation. But you can get the idea if you just picture in your mind the KH1 being keyed with a CW Morse paddle and feeding the GRA-7350T on a car-top magnetic mount.

Thankfully this was another activation that completed in less than 20 minutes and I wasted no time taking down the antenna as the sky was beginning to darken with clouds once again.

Sure enough, just as we headed into the visitor center, fat raindrops began smacking the ground around us and thunder rumbled once again.

Upon returning home I received this Radiogram from Tim, WW8L regarding the activation. Thanks Tim!

Until the next one,

73 de W6CSN