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Right on the Gulf of Mexico, not 50 feet from the water, This is my favorite venue for QRP.

The crosses are a memorial to people that drowned in a freak storm that blew in from the Gulf Of Mexico, unannounced and unanticipated. This is a beautiful spot for ham radio operation, (bug spray required)!

MFJ push up pole is neatly deployed from the 2 inch towing receiver on the back of my truck. This is the first time I tried it out. There is a 30 meter EFHW, End Fed Half Wave antenna attached to the top with a rope and pulley.

Dave, K4DFG and I operated QRP from this park today. He worked 20 meters. I worked 30 meters. Both of us use the PAR EFHW, antennas. They are very easy to put up and take down.

Kx3 for a radio, and a computer for logging and transmitting CW,

I worked a guy in OK who was also QRP and very glad to be working QRP and is back on the air after a long lay off. We hit it pretty good here today, they just finished mowing the grass as I set up.

Dave used his FT817 and worked a couple of guys in Texas.

No goats here, sorry! No long hike, just a drive up and plop!

Hiking with all this stuff is unthinkable. But for a drive up and plop style of operating. I take extra parts, batteries , just in case!

Fiberglass electric fence post keeps the terminal end of the EFHW off the ground.

The coax is the ‘other half’ of the antenna. I try to make sure its close to a 1/4 wave long on whatever band I happen to be on.

This seemed unnecessary today on 30 meters, the coax was a bit short of that figure but it worked well anyway.

We had a great time, made a few contacts and enjoyed the beautiful venue.

Air boats haunt this very shallow cove so its a good idea to have noise cancelling headphones but even then, they are pretty loud. Only one went by today.

72 de AA1IK

Ernest Gregoire

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