I had earlier written about how I take the opportunity to activate parks that are close to my work. [ Click here for that post ]. During those activations, I would head out during my lunch break or other break and squeeze in a quick activation.
Trying to squeeze such activations came with a few problems: The traffic during lunch hours is heavier. Even though the park is about a mile away, it is in downtown with multiple stop lights making the commute slower. Second, the parking lot at work is overbooked and it would be very difficult to find parking when I got back. Third, meetings and other work compulsions meant that I could not get away on a few occasions,
So I decided to change my tack and tried to get an activation before I get to work. I found that his has none of the disadvantages mentioned above. This means I would start my activations around 7:30am local time (1230 UTC). I was concerned that there may not be that many hams active early in the morning and was worried that an activation would take too long. I was surprised to note that on the two occasions I have done this, I got my ten contacts within as many minutes. So, the entire activation amounts to about 20-25 minutes.
Another great advantage is that I found that there is an entirely different set of operators active during that time of the day allowing me to establish contacts with new hams.
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| Pre-dawn POTA near downtown Detroit. |
The sky in the above image actually seems brighter due to longer exposure
I find that starting the day of with some CW also dusts of the cobwebs and I feel energized for work.
Are you an early bird or a night owl? What do you think are the benefits of either one? Let me know in your comments.
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