25 November 2022#

POTA K-2341#

WWFF KFF-2341#

A Quick Outing#

I had a few things to take care of before heading back home to Illinois, but also had some time this morning to sneak in a quick park activation. On the map this seemed a lot further away but once I got to the location I realized it was a spot that I had passed hundreds of times growing up and never knew it was there. This is one of the things I love about portable ops, it really helps me find cool places that I wouldn’t of otherwise gone. Some of them right under my nose for years.

Kaw River State Park is the only free state park in Kansas.

Setup#

There are an upper and lower parking lot. The lower parking lot is right by the river, but much lower and had much more traffic. I parked in the upper parking lot and setup in a grassy clearing nearby.

I used my 17’ telescopic on a stake in the ground with 4 radials laid casually on the ground. I didn’t have a park bench to setup on and I couldn’t quite balance the KX2 on my knee while sitting with my legs crossed so I decided to use the new N0SA CWMorse.us paddle again. It worked great again, but I really need to put the velcro on the back so I can attach it to my clip board.

It was a bit chilly out that morning as well so I decided to throw on my new ThermaRest Honcho Poncho. Really warmed me up and has a nice kangaroo pocket in the front to help keep the hands warm.

Noisy Fun#

The park ended up being very noisy, both on the air and from park goers. It’s a small park and I had gotten there early, but it was also the day after Thanksgiving so even though it started slow, a lot of people ended up coming out and filling up the small parking lot.

I had a ton of electrical noise and had to turn off the pre-amp on the KX2. There was a large tower near by, but the noise could of been from anything.

Wrapping Up#

I ended up with 36 in the log. I should of stuck around a little longer to make it into a valid WWFF activation but I needed to get going. Still a fun day in the park. Hope you were in the log!

72 - KK9U