A.H.P. Matthew Park

This morning saw heavy rain and dull overcast skies. The forecast called for clearing so I was a bit uncertain about how I would spend the afternoon, either cowering inside afraid of some water or outside breathing the fresh air of the great BC coast. As noon came the clouds were parting a bit and I was gaining hope. I had an errand to do at the post office so I thought I would get that done and then decided on how things looked.

I looked over the park list and selected one in North Surrey, there are only a few that I haven’t been to so soon I will need to go for longer drives to visit new parks. I then loaded my gear in the car and made for the post office. There was a line-up which took ten minutes to wait through and then a few more to complete my task. Back outside the sky was clear and sunny so I decided to head north to the park. The navcom said the route would take about 30 minutes.

The drive initially went quite quickly but then I hit traffic in central surrey and things slowed way down. The 30 minute drive took over 40 but I eventually arrived at the park. This one had no parking area and the street alongside the park was a no parking zone. I drove past the park and then turned up a side road but it also had some no stopping zones. I drove back past the park and tried another side road. This one had some parking on the north side so I turned around and settled into a spot. I was a bit of a walk to the park so the cart was an essential part of the trip. Once loaded I started along the street to the park.

The park had a single strand chain fence separating it from the road, there was an entrance path at the far end so I ended up walking the whole width of the park to get to the path. A park grass cutter was just leaving through there. We both commented on how soggy and wet the grass field was. It was a good thing I didn’t cut across the field, I would have been soaked. There was a higher area across the field to the east where there were some covered tables. I walked over there and selected the end table and picked a place for the antenna.

Once set up I checked the band conditions and they weren’t as good as some past times but 20m looked decent so I dialed in the band and looked for some park activators to call. The first park I tried didn’t hear me but the second did and I had my first log entry. I tried a couple more parks unsuccessfully so I then found an open frequency and settled in to call. It took a few minutes but the I heard a station in Arkansas. He was just above the noise floor which was actually high at S5. So, the weaker stations would not be heard but it should still be OK. After a few more minutes of calling a gust of wind came up and toppled my mast! I put it back up and positioned it against the wind. After some more calling it fell over again. This time I guyed it to my cart which proved a decent anchor when on its side.

I did dome more calling but then I noticed the noise level had dropped two S-units. That seemed odd but I was happy until I noticed that on the last fall the antenna elements had gotten twisted at the top. I lowered the mast fixed the wire and put it back up. The noise was back but so were the stations. Most hunters were from the east coast and mid-west including two from Manitoba. Soon I was getting reports of QRM on the frequency and I could just hear some other station near me on the band. Rather than fight it I moved down band 15KHz and posted myself there. Things were clear once again and I was getting stations with no reports of interference.

The wind was getting gustier and I was concerned that the mast may fall again so I decided it was getting near time to pack up I had 11 in the log which was enough though I generally like to have more. Then I got a call from another park activator. He was working a twofer so once I got him logged that gave be two more contacts for the day. Immediately after the park a loud Arizona station called and I was up to 14. By now I was quite concerned about the weather and so I shutdown for the day. Packing up went quickly and then I had the long was across the field and alongside the road to the car. The drive home was slower than going as the traffic was now approaching rush-hour. Fortunately most sections went fairly quickly.

Despite the very wet morning, the afternoon proved to be very pleasant for getting out in the air. The rain did leave the field very wet though, so that was slower going fortunately the park had a raised area that was well drained. This park gave me my 75th unique park which earned me the Sapphire Level certificate. Next is the 100 park level which will take a bit of work but perhaps by the end of the summer I will be there.