Post AzNgcI3Ry1ZNVxR9F2 by mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info
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 (DIR) Post #AzNgcI3Ry1ZNVxR9F2 by mcdanlj@social.makerforums.info
       2025-10-19T22:28:33Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       Today's SYP (Support Your Parks) #HamRadio #POTA #QRP CW adventure had limited time, so I wasn't sure I'd actually stay for 10 QSOs. But then I discovered that park US-3859 Johnston Mill State Nature Preserve had no failed activations recorded, so then I felt like a failed activation would let down my fellow hams. 😀I finished operating, packed up, and hiked back from my operating position to the car just minutes before the rain arrived.I hunted park-to-park (answering other operators calling "CQ"—"calling any station") for 3 QSOs (conversations), but there were deep pile-ups (many people responding at the same time) that made it hard to be heard with my low power, so I switched to running, calling "CQ" (for other stations to respond to me). I'm still doing that at 15WPM to give me a chance of copying the call sign the first time. One of the nice things for a CW (morse code) tyro about QRP (low-power operation) is that the pile-ups are smaller because fewer people can hear you. On the other hand, I had to QSY (change frequency) every 2–3 QSOs because someone couldn't hear me and started belting out a high power "CQ CQ" over me. No free lunch! (Also, so much jargon, sorry!)For my antenna, I used some fixed sections and feed point from my PAC-12 vertical on a tiny Chelegance flat tripod, and a 5.6M whip to avoid using the coil at all.I was surprised by intermittent wide-band QRM (noise from human sources) early on that filled my waterfall display from time to time and washed out all other signal. I added a second choke, so I was using both mix 31 and mix 75 chokes, and between them a 20 meter bandpass filter. Maybe it helped, or maybe the QRM just stopped. Hard to tell. No idea where it came from.