Citadel Heights Park

It was time for Ralph and I to get out and activate another park in the Parks-on-the-air program. I try to get out twice a week, once to revisit Kwomais Point Park where I am trying to get to the twenty activations level. The second adventure is for a new park that I hadn’t been to before, in this area of the program I am trying to reach the 100 different parks point and this park would be my 96th! Almost there!

Ralph arrived for our planned 1pm departure and we made very good time along the highway to the park. Citadel Drive was the road that forms the upper side of the park boundary and it was the way we drove to the park. I parked the car alongside the road next to the park and we got out to explore it a bit. The north end of the park sports a small circular treed area with a few park benches arranged in a semi-circle. There is a trail that travels from the north end to the south after dipping down-slope a bit. The park was mostly a grassy field with a few shade trees scattered throughout.

After our walk, Ralph decided to operate in the treed circle we saw at the start I selected a spot at the south end near the road where I could hide under a large shade tree. It was a nice location and I had lots of open space to stretch out the antenna. We returned to the car and picked up our gear and then we wandered in opposite directions to tour chosen spots. I soon had the tripod positioned and staked into the ground. With the higher antenna the stakes are essential especially here where the ground had a slope to it. The mast went up quickly. Due to the slope, it did lean down slope a bit but it would be fine, the one anchor was solid and kept it from falling over.

I then started to set up the radio when a lady walking her dog stopped to chat. She was saying how she appreciated the fact that hams are out there and available for emergency services. After a few minutes another dog walker came by and they chatted. I then finished setting up and soon dialed in a park activator, the band sounded good today. My first contact was a chap at a park in Saskatchewan. Getting through took a few minutes so I decided it would waste less time if I just started calling on my own frequency. I picked a spot that seemed open and began calling. It wasn’t long until I got a chap in California. Unfortunately, someone else came on just up band from me making it hard to be heard. I decided to move down band two Kilohertz which was also open. That got rid of the interference and I continued to call. I got a quick succession of responses and by 17 minutes of calling I reached my 10th contact.

By the half hour point I had thirteen in the log and decided to try the 17m band for a change. This band has less noise and is easier on the ears though the reach is more conditional. It didn’t take too long and J had a response from a chap I worked earlier on the 20m band. He would get double credit today. It was now time for Ralph and I to check with each other and see how we were doing. I called him, he said he had reached 10 but would like to continue another 15 minutes. I continued calling and eventually worked another station on 17m. I then tried 15m and called for awhile but heard no responses on that band. As it was about time to pack up, I decided to live with the 15 contacts I had and started to pack up the gear.

Ralph met me at the car. We were both done packing up about the same time. It being a warm day, we both felt a bit heated so I checked the navcom for the nearest Startbucks. It was less than 2km distant and in a good location for our return drive. We set out for the store and soon had our cool drinks in hand. The rest of the drive home went well though with it being 3:30, the traffic was much heavier than on our way out. But being where we were, the drive still went quite smoothly and we arrived home at the time the navcom had estimated. A pleasant little park and a nice day in the sun.