Here I am at a SBARC barbecue at the park, trying to glean some FT-8 contacts with my portable rig: ICOM 7100, Bioenno 120 Watt Power Pack, Solar Panel, and 40 Meter Car antenna. I think I managed 33 contacts over 3 – 4 years with this rig vs. the 3,000 + contacts I’ve made in 6 months at the house.
Some great people from the W9XG club came over to help me with an antenna. I will write more about this later. What a blessing!
I was able to get involved with JOTA again. This was my first time in Iowa. What a beautiful park! The kids loved playing with all the CW stuff.
A few years back I volunteered for the Los Angeles Disaster Communication Service. Every Monday night ~ 4 – 5 of us convened in the basement of the Carson Sheriff’s station for a weekly net.
There was a background check, a uniform to be purchased, and some FEMA tests to be completed. Don’t let that stop you…take the time to handle the requirements that will let you get involved. It’s so worth it.
There is so much you can take do with ham radio. In 2018 I worked radio support for the Torrance Military Parade. Of course the only thing that mattered was the dog…
South Bay Amateur Radio Club, or South Bay Amateur Food Club, you decide…
I have a lot of fond memories of that club, of their barbecues at the park in the summer, their monthly lunches at Hoff’s Hut in Torrance CA. I met a lot of amazing people there, and got to do a lot of cool stuff. If you are located in the South Bay of Los Angeles County, you need to check out SBARC
I have been wanting a Radio Room for several years. Moving back to the MidWest made that a reality for me. I spend a lot of time in this room, playing on the radio, and now using it as an office for working from home.
The Brood approves…
As a member of the River Bend Wireless Operators Club (https://www.w9xg.club ) in Milan IL, there is a lot of necessary work to keep things running smoothly. I went down to the club on February 29, 2020 to mostly watch what’s involved in maintaining the club’s antennas.
It’s so different to belong to a club with a permanent clubhouse, as opposed to just meeting once a month in a conference room at a hospital like I did for my former club.
The amount and variety of antennas at this club is amazing. I can’t wait for Field Day…
We had been talking about activating a park for a few weeks. Then on February 23, 2020 instead of scoping out a park to activate, we just went and did it. We activated Wild Cat Den State Park in Muscatine County in Iowa and it was awesome.
I recently moved back to the Mid-west from Southern California. I don’t know much about the Quad Cities Area because I grew up on the northwest side of Chicago. When you activate a park, you make a day out of it. Load up your truck with gear, meet your friends for lunch at Jeff’s Market in Blue Grass IA, stop and check out points of interest along the way, like The Pine Creek Grist Mill, and then set up your station at the park.