It was a bit of a chilly activation with the temperatures in the mid 20°Fs. Even with the colder weather this is one of my favorite parks to activate, due generous amount of open and available space. In the summer months parking the vehicle in close proximity to picnic tables makings hauling gear to an activation spot easy. The location provides for a surprisingly good amount of scenery given its an urban park. Setting up on the eastern portion of the park offers views of Windsor Canada and setting up on the western portion of the park provides a view of the city of Detroit. The southern portion of the island includes some picturesque views of the Detroit skyline and international bridge crossings. For winter activations the main road that goes around the parameter of the park includes an abundance of parking allowing you to setup your antenna in front of a parked vehicle and run your feedline directly inside the toasty warm car. This isn’t always the easiest to do at many state parks.

Figure 1. Antenna Setup with Feedline Going Into the Window

For this activation I was looking to clear my mind a bit and play a little radio before returning to the work week. The picture shown in Figure 1 shows the antenna deployed with my feedline running into the drivers side window. The skyline in view beyond the river is the Windsor side of the river. Within a period of just under an hour I was able to make 51 contacts. At the beginning of the activation, 20m was going fairly steady. For the time of day I surprised that I was able to easily locate an open frequency quickly and self spot. After the first 45 minutes it seemed like a combination of some ups and downs in the band and a few stations that decided to move into adjacent frequencies caused my pile up to lose momentum. Before packing up I decided to switch from activating to hunting and for my last few minutes I made 7 park-to-park contacts.

Figure 2. Contact Map

From past activations due to proximity of the river a swift breeze can develop. While the wind speed was a bit a on the low side for this activation, I again had success using a weighted sand bag to help keep the antenna from toppling over. A breezy day will be real test to see if this strategy is the end solution. It surely makes setup and tear down quicker.

Given I have had a few winter POTAs this year under my belt I have been continually working on making my deployment and tear down process more efficient. This time I was able to get completely torn down and packed away in under 10 minutes at a leisurely pace which is an improvement over my initial winter activations this year.

POTA on ’73!