Our HAM Station

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NPOTA Fun - Activating a New Park

Posted: 31 Aug 2016 07:11 AM PDT
https://stationproject.wordpress.com...ng-a-new-park/

Eastern Branch of the Penobscot River in Katahdin Woods and Waters NM

Ever since we built ourÂ*Mobile HF Station, weve talked about taking it
toÂ*Acadia National ParkÂ*in Maine and operating from the top of Cadillac
Mountain. Â*The 2016Â*ARRL NPOTAÂ*event gave us the motivation to plan the
trip for the week before Labor Day. Â* Â*The week before our trip, we saw an
article in theÂ*ARRL LetterÂ*encouraging operation from the newly declared
National Monument,Â*Katadhin Woods and WatersÂ*in Maine, which had just be
designated asÂ*NPOTA MN84. Â*Visiting theÂ*NPS website, we learned that the
park is only a 2 1/2 hour drive from Bar Harbor, where we are staying. Â*We
decided to accept the challenge to be the first to activate the new park.
Our F150 Mobile Station at the entrance to Katahdin Woods and Waters
National Monument

Tuesday August 30 was our first full day of vacation, we left our hotel
room and parked by theÂ*AcadiaÂ*visitor center and called CQ National
Parks. Â* We ended up with 76 contacts in the log from NP01.

After that we got on the road and headed towardÂ*Katadhin Woods and Waters,
activating counties along the way including the county line between
Penobscot and Aroostook Counties.
NPS Map of the Park

As a newly designated National Monument,Â*Katadhin Woods and WatersÂ*does not
yet have a visitors center or any signs showing you when you enter and exit
the park. Â*We just had theÂ*mapÂ*(above) to determine where the park
boundaries were. Â* Â*All of the roads in black on the map are gravel roads
that are also used for logging trucks.
Entrance to Kadahdin Woods and Waters National Monument

We entered the park from Swift Brook Road off Rt 11 in the lower right
corner of the map. Â*We drove through the lower section by the entrance and
then headed north along the Eastern Branch of the Penobscot River and
operated nearÂ*the Loos camping area. Â* The sign above confirmed that we
were within the park boundaries.
Scenic View of Katahdin Woods and Waters NM

The scenery along the river was beautiful with views of the mountains in
the distance.
Operating at MN84

We started operating on 20m and the pileups were huge! Â*Everyone was
excited to get this new NPOTA into the log. Â*Fred,Â*AB1OC/MÂ*ended up going
split on 20m due to the size of the pileups. Â*After a while, he moved to
40m to give the close in folks a chance at MN84. Â*We went back and further
between 20m and 40m until the pileups thinned out. Â* We also made 18 QSOs
with the club callsignÂ*N1FDÂ*to also give the club credit for the
activation. Â*We really enjoyed activating the park and the people we talked
to were great! Â*We made a total of 350 QSOs from MN84.
Friendly Sign at Katahdin Woods and Waters NM

We also plan to activateÂ*Acadia National ParkÂ*NP01 again from Cadillac
Mountain this week. We willÂ*also activateÂ*Saint Croix Island, HS01
andÂ*Roosevelt Campbello International Park, AA21 in Canada (as AB1OC/VE9
and AB1QB/VE9).

Activating MN84 for the first time was truly a memorable experience. Â*We
enjoyed it so much we will be back on Saturday to give more NPOTA chasers a
chance at MN84! Â*Hope to talk to you on the air!

You can read more about our Mobile HF station and Mobile HF operations here
on our Blog.

73,

Anita,Â*AB1QB
Filed under: Mobile HF, NPOTA, Station Tagged: Mobile HF