Telegraph Trail Park

One of the things I really like about doing Parks on the Air is the opportunity to visit new areas and parks. Here was another small park that I had never heard of before and a community of which I didn’t know about. When I was checking the weather on the week-end, Monday looked to be the best day to go out and activate a park. But, when Monday came and the weather looked a bit ominous and was quite cold I was having second thoughts.  I kept watching the temperature and clouds and wondering if I should chance it. The forecast said no rain but it can be wrong. Come 12:30 I decided things were looking a bit better and I would head out.

I got the car loaded and a bit before 1pm I set out for the park. It was a half hour drive and I was soon travelling across town and into the northern part of Langley. I encountered little traffic on the side roads and made good time to the park. Once there I parked alongside the road way and wandered out to gather a few photos of the park before moving my gear. The southern area is fairly small being squeezed between houses and roads but it still seemed like a pleasant place. There was a nice table to enjoy next to the play area which was occupied by a mother with her preschool daughter. By now the clouds had parted and I was enjoying some nice sunshine, so it looked like it would be a nice stay.

I wandered up the main trail a short way to get a few photos but I didn’t go as far as the northside field. In summer the currently bare trees would make the park a pleasant spot to enjoy some shade while getting fresh air. I returned to the car and loaded my cart for the short trip to the table. I placed my tripod and stretched out my wire antenna but as I raised it, I saw that the branches of a tree would snag the wires so I had to relocate the tripod by a few feet and try again. This time all was well and I had the antenna in the air.

Setting up the radio on the table went quickly and I began to scan the bands for other parks. I found the noise on 10m quite high around an S7, I wasn’t able to hear any activators and only a couple of hunters. Moving to 12 meters was no better. I tried 15m and here the noise dropped to S5 and I could hear a park activator in Arizona. I called him and we exchanged info. The first contact was done. Though there were a couple more parks listed I couldn’t hear them so I just picked my frequency and started calling.

It took only a couple of minutes and I heard a loud station from Kentucky come through. That was followed by a weaker one in Wisconsin. Then one of the park activators I had tried to hear before found me and I had a second park to park in the log, this chap was in Rhode Island. A number more came through though some were a challenge to hear with my high noise level, I was working them at a decent rate. Then I heard what sounded like a VK4 station. It was very weak and hard to pull out, but in the end I was able t get his callsign and I had my first Australian station worked from a park! That would have been over 11,000Kms. Not at all bad for a small antenna too close to the ground.

After that excitement I continued to call out and work more stations around the continent. Another park activator came through as well, giving me three park to park contacts for the day. By the time I reached 25 minutes I had 19 logged. At that point I hit a lull in the activity and a chap had come by to talk with me. I decided I had enough and so I shutdown the station and chatted with the person who had come to visit. He was an interesting chap who shared much about his interests and activities though I don’t think he quite understood what I was doing.

Done with activating and visiting, I packed up the gear and loaded it all into the car. I gathered a few more photos and then made for the nearest Starbucks. It was only a kilometer away; the same one I have been going to it seems every time I make it to north Langley. Once I had the drink in hand, I asked the navcom for the best route home and it plotted a course with arrival expected at 3:14, I got home at 3:15 due to some slow-moving cars. The day proved to be quite good for being outside in a park, I am glad I chose to go out.