Saturday, October 28, 2017

Meetup at Rocky Bayou State Park

Last Saturday, Dennis WA6QKN and I drove over to Rocky Bayou State Park near Niceville, FL to meet up with Tom WD0HBR. Tom had some time in the area while his wife Sandy took a class in Valparaiso. Tom had found a spot in the picnic area that overlooks the bayou. The area is under many oak trees. Tom set up his Youkits HB-1B with a random wire antenna. Dennis and I set up my Elecraft KX3 with a 40 meter Off Center Fed Dipole (OCF). The OCF had very low SWR on 40 meters and between 2 and 2.5 to 1 on 20 meters. The OCF is a popular one from China via eBay. Dennis was interested in my KX3 since he has one on order. I managed to make a dozen contacts which is enough to activate the park for Parks On The Air (POTA).  Dennis took lots of great photos in this album. It was nice to do portable ops with a couple of friends.

Tom WD0HBR

Dennis WA6QKN

Rocky Bayou

Suzy. She enjoyed lunch and a walk!