Maybury Century

Most of the readers of my blog would know that Maybury State Park (US-1518) figures prominently in my blog posts frequently. This was the site of my first POTA activation and thus has a special place in my heart. In my last post I had expressed my disappointment where my attempt to activate this park for the 100th time did not go well. I had forgotten to take the power cord. When I mentioned this in one of our local repeater round tables, one of my fellow hams told me that he would like to join me on my next attempt to make the 100th activation. 

Mike (W8ZFM) lives quite a ways away from Maybury. So we had to coordinate a time and date that would be mutually convenient for both of us. Well that turned out to be Saturday Oct 12 at around 1800UTC. Mike turned up with his ICOM 718 and a 20m tuned dipole. I rode my motorcycle to the park with my KX-3 and long wire as usual. 

Mike usually works 20m only on FT8 and SSB. Today he chose to work only FT8. I was planning CW only. The early afternoon conditions were not conducive for QRP SSB work. We tried to keep our antennae away from each other as much as possible; however we both settled on the same picnic table. 

I started on 20m and did not find much takers that day. The slow pace even had me worried if I would have a successful activation that day. Once Mike started his FT8 activation on 20M I had to move away and went to the 30m band. The fish were biting there! I quickly racked up many contacts from near and far.

Midway through the activation, Mike had to take a little break. I took this opportunity to try his tuned dipole. My KX-3 loved it as it was tuned for the lower portions of the band. I continued to work on 20m until he came back. 

Back on my antenna, I then tried 17m. My CQs went unheeded. The RBNs indicated decent hits, but I had no luck. I finally wrapped up by making a few calls on 40m. Unfortunately, I had to wrap it up as the bands were heating up. I had other commitments back at home to attend to. 

Mike and I both had about 50 QSOs each during our outing that day.

Thank you Mike for sharing my 100th activation of the park

A big bust

 I was all excited for my POTA activation of US-1518 [Maybury State Park today!]. I was very eager to get there as this was going to be my 100th activation of that park. So I pick up the charged batteries, load up my motorcycle. I then negotiate the residual rush hour traffic and get to the park around 6PM. I was in a little bit of rush as sunset was at 7:15PM and I wanted to complete my activation before dark. 

I get to the park. It was a beautiful fall day in Michigan and the sun was definitely racing towards the horizon. I throw the arborist line over the tree branch and set up my wire antenna. After hooking up the feeder line, I pull the radio out of its box and set it up on the table. I hook the antenna up to the radio; pull the battery out. But wait! where's the power cable? Darn! I was working with another radio at home and forgot to put the power cord in back into the box. Nothing deflates the excitement as busted activation.

So much for the much anticipated 100th activation of the park. It'll have to wait for another day.