K-1135

After activating the Butte National Grasslands, I continued my drive south toward Modesto, CA to visit family. After hitting I-5, I decided to stop and try my luck at Castle Crags State Park (K-1135). The park is beautiful and easily accessible from the freeway, but it’s in a bit of a valley surrounded by rocky peaks and I wasn’t sure how well I would get out.

I was easily able to spot myself, tune around for P2Ps and get on the air. The pace was not especially brisk but I was able to make 15 QSOs in about 30 minutes. The first time I got a break in the action, I decided to call it a day because I was starting to think about getting down to my family’s place to start my visit.

My 17′ whip performs incredibly well, though I’m starting to appreciate its limitations. It’s not hard to re-tune for 17m or 15m, but it does take time, even though I’ve marked the whip with a Sharpie to make band changes easier. And although I have a Wolf River Coil for lower bands, I know from experience that it doesn’t perform particularly well on 80m. I’ve never tried it on 40m but at some point I’ll be in a campsite for an extended period of time and wish to use it on 40, so I need to try it out soon. Spring and Summer are just around the corner.