It was a really great day today in Cedar Hill State Park. The weather was not too hot and the bands were busy. We had a great turn out for the ECARC's monthly Parks On The Air activation/demonstration for July 2024. We met up for a photo and then boke out into several groups. 11 to 20 contacts per person was the average so we could rotate people out of the radio seats which were provided. Some went their own way and did activations elsewhere, but it worked out as planned. It was nice to see everybody who showed up. It would have been nicer to see more people out there so they could get into the lineup. Truth be told, it is not about the contacts or numbers, it is about hanging out with people you know while doing the hobby we love. It is about training new hams and refining the skills of the senior ones.
We learn from each other and make each other better when we do things like this. There is the old proverb: Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another (Pvbs. 27:17). Some of the comments were to the tone of "I am glad I did this because my hunting skills are good but my activator skills need work!" Also, if you could imagine being a new ham (Tech), and you never even used a repeater yet, and then getting on 10m using your privileges to call CQ, and you get DX contacts! That is something you will remember forever. We had that today, Glen (KJ5FWW) made a contact with someone in Columbia (10 meters BTW). How cool is that? Some of the regular POTA people made contacts with an American contact who was in 3+ parks. They made activations look easy! Today was support your parks day and it ain't over yet. You still have time to activate. Get it done by the end of UTC Saturday. Get Out There!
73 - Matthew N5MHM
