Oil and Water

 Oil:Water::Radio:Vacation

A story of activation failure and lessons learnt....

I usually don't do a lot of travelling. Recently, I had an opportunity to travel with my wife and my son to Yellow Stone National Park and Grand Teton National Park. We had a full week dedicated for both the parks and I thought I will have enough time to play radio. My primary interest was in hiking and photography during the trip. [Note: some pictures I took are available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/YvDrqbnbXy4YaxW6A]. I wanted to try and get a few POTA activations under my belt as well. 

If you have been reading my posts, you would know that my KH-1 was exhibiting issues with the ATU. I had sent it into Elecraft for diagnosis and repair. They returned the unit back to me after finding that an inductor on the tuner was interfering with the metal case in the back. They put a insulating layer between them. I was glad to have gotten the radio back in time for my trip; I tested it and it seemed to be fine. Satisfied, I put the radio into our travel case. I was eagerly anticipating my first activation of a national park.

I misjudged the time we would be spending hiking and taking in the sights at the parks. I hardly had time for any radio play. On one of the days, we tried hiking the Jenny Lake loop at Grand Tetons, but hit patches with thigh high snow (no snow shoes unfortunately). So we retreated after a little way into the trail. This gave me some time to get an activation in. It started off well and I managed to nab first 7 contacts with relative ease. When I was thinking the activation was in within my grasp, the bands died under me. I was getting no responses; 

I thought my best bet would be to try and work other activators as P2P; but my calls could not get through to them especially with a bunch of stronger base stations trying to work them as well. In the end I managed to net 9 contacts; one shy of a successful activation. My family was eager to move as my activation kept dragging on, but I kept saying I just needed one more. In the end the KH-1 decided it for me by starting to exhibiting symptoms and stopped putting out any power. Alas,  that was it for me and my radio during the trip. 

This left me in a bitter mood; failed activation and a rig failure was something that I could not take in stride easily. Unfortunately, my sombre mood was projected onto my family. After a little while, I realized the effect I was having on the vacation and managed to overcome the bitterness of the failure and started enjoying the glorious views around me. I'm glad to say I never once again thought about the radio until I came back home from a fantastic trip. 

I have resolved not to take my radio with me unless I'm travelling alone or have planned alone time carved out during the trip. POTA can wait (gasp!)