No, not SOTA or other such sanctioned events.... but rather just a great old-fashioned picnic, where you have some cold chicken, salad, maybe some pretzels and fresh fruit - perhaps even some cheese and a bottle of wine to share, and pack the dog in the car - all to head to just a plain old local park for a few hours of "Radio Picnic"? I hope there are others that enjoy this... my wife and I try to fit several in every summer for the last few years. Having just flown in this morning at O-Dark-Thirty from Boise (got home to the house just before 7:00 AM), with a beautiful sunny day ahead, we decided to have a Radio Picnic and did just that The park is beautiful, and one that I spent a great part of my youth - not far from where we now live. I packed my Elecraft KX1 with external 12v Gel Cell, G5RV-Junior (only used on 20m) along with antenna launcher and all the other such bits to rig up a portable station, and Anne packed us a very nice lunch right down to a nice bottle of Pinot Noir, a couple yummy cheeses, pretzels, and dips, cold baked chicken leftovers of what she had made for herself while I was out on the road.... quite the picnic! 20m was doing OK - I worked a number of stations no problem, with signal reports as high as 589. Not like a "contest weekend radio picnic" but enough to make it worthwhile. My fave was NB6GC aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, CA. Very nice QSO. I plan to order the full certificate/patch/DVD package for that one. We usually take frequent breaks, to read books, walk the dog around in sight of the table area, and just kick back and visit and enjoy the time and our company with all the birds chirping, then back for a few more contacts while she reads her book or knits (her main hobby, and portable as well!) If you've not tried a "Radio Picnic" with your significant other, assuming they support your hobby as you support theirs, you're missing out!! Lots of really good memories every time we do one of these. Great finish to a very long day that began at 3:00 AM in Boise - the BBQ coals are getting ready to pop on a couple small steaks while I post this back home in the shack, to finish out a really nice day. Fun stuff. Dave W7UUU
Our local club used to have a event called Ham Radio in the Park every month except June (Field Day) . I don't know if they do it anymore. But in it's heyday it was quite successful and managed to get dozens in attendance. It moved from park to park around the city and was quite family friendly. Many of the local parks have shaded pavilions with tables, playgrounds and walking paths. Family that weren't interested in radio could enjoy the out of doors and other facilities. Some photos of past events.: https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups...orderBy=mtime&sortOrder=desc&photoFilter=ALL#
Hey Dave, What park is that? Don't forget the club picnic... Are we gonna do radio stuff there too? We have in the past, but usually froze our collective butts off in the process because the picnics were too early in the spring. This year, it will be warm and dry... I hope!
It's Fircrest park. The structure way in the distance is the Fircrest Rec Center and the pool where I learned to swim about 50 years ago We don't have any "official radio stuff" planned for the club picnic - I can bring my KX1 but I only ever run 20m CW for QRP, and if more than one of us is on 20m in the same area... well, shades of Field day But who knows? As long as we don't have the freak storm like last year, it should be warm and dry and a very nice day for a picnic Dave W7UUU
I sorta did that yesterday. Upon rumors of 6 meters being open, I made myself a sack lunch and headed for the hills. Alas no propagation, but had a nice coupla Spam n Cheese paninnis and a nice flagon of ice tea overlooking the Chena Valley.
