Chris, VA3CJW, picked me up again this morning, at 8:00, and we drove to Bannister Lake Complex Conservation Reserve (CA-1298). It was sprinkling rain, and so I was a little apprehensive about an activation, but was hoping for the best.
There is just a small parking area near the road, and a short walk to the lake. The parking lot had few useful trees, so we went on to the lake. The lake has an interesting observation tower, and I took some snaps of some cute swans, but the tower is metal, and we thought it might be best to see what some other nearby parks were like. I may go back and activate this another day, and take my Chellegance vertical antenna, with the stand meant for hard surfaces. Unless you can find some novel way to activate the tower that overlooks the lake, I think it's better to go to one of the surrounding parks.
Just a few minutes down the road is FWR Dickson Conservation Area, and it is a much more interesting park for sure. A small covered information structure greets the visitors with a map and other information (click on the next image to get a larger zoom-able image).
The park has some lovely trails, and boardwalks, and it must be known for birds, as there were several serious bird photographers there. The trails had an enormous number of acorns on the ground!
To reduce effort, we chose to activate near the parking lot, as there were some very convenient trees that had two branches next to each other that would allow both of us to choose a different branch. You can see Chris' throw line (yellow) next to mine (orange). I tried using a very thin cotton-like line, with the idea being that I could put it in a very small arborists line pouch when traveling by air. Let's just say there's a reason why you may have never heard this type of line being recommended for POTA; it tangled like crazy and was not fit for purpose.
I jumped on 20m first to get my 10+ QSOs, and then assisted Chris with his activation. He doesn't need any assistance, really, so I just heated up my soup and cornbread on my portable stove.
I was very happy to get Brian, N1BS from Rhode Island. Chris got a nice POTA in England, and some SOTA, as well as Michelle KC1UML from Massachusetts, who I know from LICW, and Chris knows from SKCC. She has a great bug-fist!
In all I made 17 QSOs in about half an hour, all on 20m, using the QRP Guys Random Wire Antenna, and my Elecraft KX2 with 5w.
| Date | Time | Call | State | Band | Mode | Park |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/10/11 | 14:49 | KB4DE | SC | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 14:50 | K1BZ | ME | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 14:51 | AA5UZ | LA | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 14:55 | K2UPD | NY | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 14:56 | W9DP | IL | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 14:57 | NK8O | KS | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:00 | N8HSD | MO | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:03 | K5LG | AR | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:06 | N1BS | RI | 20m | CW | US-6982 |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:08 | KG7CW | ID | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:13 | KJ4R | SC | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:14 | NS1C | FL | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:15 | WA2SPL | VT | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:16 | KC1NDL | MA | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:18 | WØOR | MN | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:19 | WØBZ | CO | 20m | CW | |
| 2025/10/11 | 15:21 | K1WAT | NC | 20m | CW |
Following Thomas' suggestion, K4SWL, for the great phone app Merlin for identifying birds, I picked up several at this park!
| Name | Female | Male |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Cardinal |
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| White Throated Sparrow |
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| American Robin |  |
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| Blue Jay |
| |
| Black-Capped Chickadee |
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| White Breasted Nuthatch |  |
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| Northern Flicker |  |
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| American Crow |
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| Song Sparrow |
| |
Chris also spotted a small frog!
Another great fall day of POTA on a Canadian Thanksgiving weekend!