I was back in El Paso. On this trip I activated three parks.
The first two was a twofer on a national trail overlay. I activated US-4569 and US-9757 (El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro National Historic Trail and Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail) next to the Keystone Heritage Park off Doniphan Drive in El Paso’s Westside. This one was all voice and all 20 meters. I had a total of 29 QSOs. I had two QSOs with Utah, K7BUX in Eagle Mountain and K7PDW in Syracuse.
After that activation, I went over to Chamizal US-0770, For this activation, I activated on 20 and 17 meters SSB with a total of 27 QSOs. This brought me up to 197 QSOs for this park. My first contact was with KD7FVZ in Syracuse, Utah and I had K7KE from Millville in the Cache Valley. I had a contact with XE1ZYO Marco en el Estado de México.
After doing the activations, I had a Whataburger, then went out to Cornudas, Texas to attend the first meeting of the Wild West Amateur Radio Club, an organization in the sparsely populated Northern Hudspeth County. The club was started by Chris WS5B.
A picture of the rental car with vertical ham stick in Chamizal. The amphitheater is in the background.
I activated at Heritage Hills Park in Saratoga Springs, Utah. The Pony Express Trail runs straight through the middle of the park. I have activated from a park bench before, but this time I was on the south end of the park on the street where the trail comes out. This time I had a very successful activation. I activated on the POTA workhorse, 20 meter SSB getting 95 QSOs. The 95 QSOs got me up to 425 for POEx. I had three with El Paso, WB5LJO, KD6CUB, and K5WPH.
This activation was back to the same site as a week ago. 10 meters was wide open. 256 QSOs all SSB. 128 on 10 m, 16 on 15 m and 112 on 20 m. I quit at 23:59. With the quarter kilo, that gets me up to 681 total for that park. Thanks to all that hunted.
A plot of the QSOs from this activation. Northwest Territories to Argentina; Hawaii to Vermont. The QSO in Argentina was on 10 meters with LW2DO. The signal was so good we had a good brief rag chew in Spanish.
I got my QRP Labs QDX transceiver on the air. I did some after dark 20 meter contacts. I got 11 QSOs on FT8. The furthest away was KA1MXL at a distance of 3397 km.
A plot of my first set of QDX QSOs
This was a quick activation in Saratoga Springs on the Pony Express Trail back to Harvest Hills Park. This one was all on phone, both on 10 meters and 17 meters. I had 32 contacts giving me a total of 716 for POEX.
I got a new session of Skywarn Training at the UCARES meeting in Springville, Utah.
Close to sunset on a March Day with the Wasatch Mountains in the background
This was done in Eagle Mountain (DN30xi) where I was serving as a Laurel volunteer examiner. Before the exam, I made contacts on 40 m FT8. After the exam I worked 20, 17, and 15 m using both SSB and FT8 on each. I had two final contacts on the national calling frequency. I had a total of 95 QSOs to give me a total of 912 for the park.
A view of Lewiston Peak in the Oquirrhs from my portable QTH
These were done on a quick trip up to Pinedale, Wyoming to pick up some load resistors from KE7RWV.
I did the first activation from US-6222 Names Hill State Historic Site (DN42ve) near LaBarge, Wyoming. I did not have a cell signal, so I did FT8 20 meters. In spite of the hill being in the way, I did manage a contact into California. I think it was reflected somehow,
The second one was US-4535 Bridger-Teton National Forest at Fremont Lake above Pinedale. This one was on 20 meter SSB.
Names Hill with Jim Bridger's name inscribed.
Operating next to a frozen Fremont Lake at an altitude of 2270 m (7450 ft)
UCARES was supporting the Timpanogos Trail Marathon. I was already signed up for the half, so I carried my HT in my hydration vest. I had been back in the US less than 24 hours, but I was able to make it to the end.
On the trail with Mount Timpanogos in the background
This was my first time activating this park. Parking and set up was much easier than I thought. I was on the way to help a friend unload some household goods, and I was early. This park was on the way, so I stopped for the activation. 17 SSB on a squirely 20 meter band.
Set up at Powell Slough NWA (DN40dg) with West Mountain and Utah Lake in the background
During our visit to El Paso, I did two more activations at Chamizal National Historical Monument (US-0770). For the activation on 6 June, I worked phone on 2, 15 and 20 meters for a total of 22 QSOs. It was 37 °C (100 °F). For the activation on June 9, I worked 2 meter phone getting 7 local QSOs including WM6X, a truck driver passing through on I10 and XE2GRC in Cd. Juárez. There was a lot of QRM from somewhere. I then got 3 phone on 20 meter, and got the rest with FT8 for a total of 29 QSOs. This gives me a total of 248 QSOs for the park.
I made my first QSOs from our new home in El Paso (DM61ur). My first QSO was with K7AAO Ken in Sandy, Utah in my Utah home grid square DN40 on 20 meter FT8. My whole setup was outsie in the El Paso heat (38 °C). I made a total of 10 QSOs outside, 6 FT8 20 meter, 2 SSB 20 meter (both POTAs), 1 2m FM, and 1 2 m SSB (both local nets). The 20 meter contacts were done on a 22 meter long wire just a little over 3 meters in height.
A 21.6 meter long wire antenna, a temporary setup in the back yard
A J-pole in the front to check into the W5WIN Club Bilingüe Net
I was in Eagle Mountain doing another VE (Laurel) session. I did the activation from the same spot (DN30xi) on either side of the exam session. Band conditions were difficult due to sun spot activity. I did the entire activation on FT8 using the 20 and 40 meter bands to get 39 QSOs. For Pony Express, this gets me up to 951 QSOs total.
I was in Berlin on a business trip. I brought a small rig. The radio was my Xiegu G90 with a 6 A/h LiFePO battery and a 13 meter long wire antenna. I activated four parks. All contacts were on FT8. Due to the closeness of Europe, I used 40 meters quite a bit.
Ich war auf Geschäftsreise in Berlin. Ich hatte ein kleines Gerät dabei. Als Funkgerät diente mein Xiegu G90 mit einem 6 A/h LiFePO-Akku und einer 13 Meter langen Drahtantenne. Ich habe vier Parks aktiviert. Alle Kontakte liefen über FT8. Aufgrund der Nähe zu Europa habe ich die 40 Meter recht häufig genutzt.
Counties contacted Kontaktierte Ländkreise: Austria (Österreich), Belgium, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany (Deutschland), Hungary, Italy, Jersey, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain, Ukraine
DE DL/WX5LOK
| Date | Ref | Park | Bezirk | QSOs | Bands |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20-June-25 | DE-0171 | Volkspark Friedrichshain | Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg | 32 | 10, 40 |
| 21-June-25 | DE-0280 | Großer Tiergarten | Mitte | 19 | 40 |
| 22-June-25 | DE-0492 | Park am Gleisdreieck | Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg | 12 | 15, 17, 20 |
| 22-June-25 | DE-0748 | Ernst-Thälmann-Park | Pankow | 17 | 20, 30, 40 |
Set up at Volkspark Friedrichshain (JO62rm) fresh off the plane. Once I got going, everything went great
I avoided the demonstrations to find this spot at Großer Tiergarten (JO62qm) near Steppengarten and Venusbassin
Gleisdreieck (JO62ql) means rail triangle. This was a noisy spot due to the electric trains. There are a number of lines that converge here. The temperature during this activation was 33 °C (91 °F).
The Ernst-Thälmann monument (JO62rm) was placed during the DDR times before the wall came down. I set up behind the monument in a nice grove of trees.
After getting back from Germany the day before, I drove down to Spring City, Utah (DM49gl) to the Skyline Radio Club’s field day site. I talked a lot about radios and antennas and didn’t get on the air once.
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