It All Started With "1"

 

It All Started With ...

It all started with that first one.  Take a moments to read about some my Parks on the Air activations toward my quest for 10,000 (10 Kilos) contacts from US-7956 / Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve (EM78df) in Louisville, KY. USA.

 August 2021, I took the plunge into Parks on the Air activations.  For over a month I had dabbled in hunting activators from my shack and other portable locations. At the time, my Morse Code skills were suspect as I had done miniscule Morse Code operating since 1991.  It was on a Sunday morning August 8, 2021 that I chose to activate US-7956 / Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve by using Single Side Band (SSB).  I'm lucky this site is less than four miles from my home and I guess you could say this is how my "Ham on a Bike" activites began,too.

That "FIRST" and "SECOND" contacts were 20 meter Park-to-Park with Len / VE9MY and Linda / VE9GLF; from "Springhill Coal Mining National Historic Site in Springhill, New Brunswick, Canada.  Those two contacts themselves were enough for me on my first POTA activation. Not wanting to jinx it I enjoyed my FIRST Parks on the Air activation with 12 SSB contacts.

Throughout my quest for 10,000 contacts, I've used many diffrerent site locations in the Preserve, several different rigs and antenna, met many, many inquisitive onlookers and have been treated with interactions with dogs that frequent the park and have played Peep-A-Boo with a fawn. 

You can view some of my rigs and other equipment from this previous Blog Post.

Parks On The Air activation number 300 at Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve US 7956

Here are a few of my most memorable contacts that I've had from US-7956 over the last 5 years. I am not one to believe that you could only get QRP DX operating FT8. I'm here to tell you I've have operated DX FT8 with QRP and have gotten DX operating QRP and was able to work the grayline and make a 40 meter QRPp QSO with Andy / VK5LA.  

Thinking it might have been a FLUKE, I have made several other greyline contacts with Andy along with one with Don / VK3YV  and a JA SSB contact with Komatsu / JH1GEX. Most recently I've worked a QRP 30 meter greyline in VK land with Bill  / VK4FW.

I've operated at all times of the day. From sunrise to well after sunset. 

Differenrt clothing for all seasons . Winter, Spring Summer and Fall.

 

I've met so many wonderful people while operating Ham Radio at US.7956. Some of these meetings have turned into friendships.  Addtionally, by Operating Morse Code, Single Side Band, Digital (FT4, FT8,Winlink, and Slow Scan TV (SSTV); I've garnered thousands of contacts and along the way those contacts have developed into meanlingful relatonships. 

As I've said before, POTA is not about the numbers for me. I've bought and built a smal stable of QRP rigs, many different sets of portable antennas and experimented with various configurations of my Buddipole Deluxe Antenna System to peration from 80 - 2 meters.  The Parks on the Air program lead me to delve deeply into Space Weather and how it relates to Amateur Radio.  POTA has led me into a Rabbit Hole which I'll explore more about in my next blog post.

But now all of this culminated with me making my 10,000th contact from US-7956, Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve with Paul / KE9BHN on June 6,2026.  The week prio,r HF bands conditions were some of the most trying I've experieinced in quite some time. Geomagnetic Storms unusally unpredicatable QSB tested my patience.

I was hanging on to hope of making that 10th QSO for a valid activation and my 10,000th QSO from Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve, Louisville, KY. USA. Finally, I was able to find a strong signal from a Wisconcin POTA site. Just as I completed my FIRST POTA activation from US-7956, I completed my 10,000th from US-7956 with a Park-To-Park QSO. How appropriate. 

What's next for me?  Who Knows.  However, in my next post I'll delve into the Rabbit Hole I've sunk into from my involvement with Parks on the Air.