Gee, the title almost tells the whole story.  But not really.  The title is where I ended up; how I got there, is the story.

Here’s the story.

Today, I hope to activate Fintry Protected Area CA-3505 in southern British Columbia.

One of my objectives since I started POTA last year is to try to activate as many parks as I can in the Okanagan region of BC that have not yet been activated by anyone.  Nothing like a good challenge.  I expect that most of them haven’t been activated because they are quite remote and difficult to access unless one has a true off-road all-terrain vehicle.  Even at that, sometimes it still requires backpacking-in, to boot (no pun intended).  This is in part because many of the Protected Areas and Ecological Reserves are not always directly accessible by vehicle.  The roads often do not enter the park boundaries at all.  They get you close, and then you need to hoof-it in to be POTA legit inside the park boundaries.

Fintry Protected Area has never been activated before, by anyone. I’m wondering why?  Compared to many of my past activations, it isn’t nearly as difficult to access as some others I’ve been to.

The location in Fintry CA-3505 that I will be activating today is located about a 1-hour drive north of Kelowna, BC (where I live) via West Kelowna.  The last section of travel is via rough gravel roads.

Driving north of West Kelowna on the Westbank Rd, overlooking Lake Okanagan, is a bit of a roller coaster ride with very little room for error next to steep cliffs. I truly dread driving this road.  I even equate part of this road to a go-cart track which is very twisty-windy.

This is where we exit Westside Rd onto Terrace Mountain Rd, which leads to Fintry Protected Area.  We follow the gravel road for another ~2.2 Km.

This bumpy gravel road has its share of twists and turns next to steep drop-offs.

As this sign points out, we are currently inside the Protected area boundaries.  However, this location just does not appeal to me at all, for various reasons.  I don’t think it’s a great location for radio propagation purposes, and the scenery is nothing to write home about.  I’m going to seek a little more elevation with a view that I can enjoy while I operate for 5 hours or so.

The next 1.5 Km on this road is actually outside the protected area boundary.  So, I need to find a road access point to get me back into, or very close to the boundary.   Once again, I heavily rely on my Garmin GPS for finding my way around.

A while later, I find access into the protected area.

A very short distance in, we find a spot to pull over and park.  Not a particularly good operating spot in my opinion.

Then, we opt to hoof-it in a short distance to a hill crest that provides  gorgeous views overlooking Lake Okanagan, facing East.

It’s around 09:00 PDT as the sun starts to work its way up the horizon.  The mornings are a bit on the cool side as we enter the second-half of September.

My wife Alexis (VE7LXE) assists with packing-in the lounging furniture, food and water.

That Ponderosa Pine tree on the left is my prime suspect for launching my antenna system.

This hill crest location should provide good radio propagation to the south and east horizons.

As Alexis sets up the Helinox furniture, I start unpacking my POTA pack.

Decision time;  what antenna should I deploy today?
The N9SAB 20m or 17m dipoles, or my 17m novel homebrew coaxial-sleeve vertical dipole?

The N9SAB dipoles have served me well in the past year.  But today I’m going to go with my homebrew coaxial-sleeve dipole.  It’s experimental and I’m still trying to decide if it’s worth the space it takes up in my pack or SUV.  It’s coiled-up in the upper right corner of the photo.

Time to raise the antenna system.

It took me three or four tries to get the throw bag and arbor-line up as high as I can possibly throw.  I’m guessing I made it up about 35’ with the 8 oz throw bag.

I slowly hoist-up the vertical dipole.
Once up, I always raise and slant the bottom of the vertical towards the SE to slightly elevate the radiation angle for presumed best coverage of the south-east USA.

Ok;  the 17m band antenna is raised and oriented and the Helinox furniture is situated.

As usual, I start on the 20m bread-n-butter band to capture my first 10 contacts.  Then I explore the other HF bands.  The KX3 doesn’t seem to have any problem tuning across any of the bands, 40m through 10m.  So, I’m good to go.

I’ll be operating the KX3 CW at 10W and using the KXPD2 paddle for my keyer;  this is my typical MO.

In the meantime, Alexis will be spending the rest of the day relaxing, reading her eBooks, and enjoying the views while I disturb the peace with lots of CW noise.

Here is my play-by-play account of how the next 5 hours went.

My first 20m contact was at 17:04 UTC (10:04 PDT) with W4SK in TN.  Off to a good start with 5 contacts in 5 minutes.  Then the band took a turn (or the chasers took a snooze), and it took almost an hour to capture my next 5 contacts.  The 10^th contact of the morning came at 18:13 UTC (11:13 PDT) with N0HC in CO (P2P).  I had a decent spread of coverage including NC, TN, MA, IL, ON, UT, and CA.

Now that I’ve fulfilled my 20m quota, it’s time to move on to 17m and see who’s hanging-out there.  17m is becoming my favorite band.  It would be nice if more people hung-out there, too.

The first 17m contact is at 18:31 UTC with KG2MM in FL.
Over the next 40 minutes I log 15 contacts on 17m including NJ, FL, OK, NC, WI NY, SC, NM, GA, MN, MD, and VA.
But wait, there’s more!  My bonus contact for this band is with IK4IDF in ITALY.  Did I mention 17m is becoming my favorite band?

Half-way through my 17m session, my Pixel phone lost Internet, so I couldn’t do any more self-spotting.  But that didn’t seem to matter as propagation seems very good today and the reverse beacons were frequently spotting me.

Now I’m wondering – could 15m band be just as good?  Let’s find out….

I log my first 15m contact at 19:17 UTC with KF9LI in TX.
Turns out that 15m is treating me very good today with 16 contacts over a 40-minute period covering TX, ON, FL, OH, MI, WI, IN, and LA.  I seem to be getting good easterly hops today.

But wait, there’s more!  My 15m bonus contacts today are ON4VT in Belgium, and DL1AX in Germany.
I’m definitely getting good easterly hops now.

It’s time to see if the 12m band is showing any promise this afternoon.

I’m Impressed – 12m is hopping too.
Starting at 20:01 UTC, I land KB3AAY in MD.  Lots of good propagation to the east coast… and beyond.  Over a 20-minute period, I landed 11 contacts in total for the 12m band with MD, VA, SC, LA, NY, GA, and DE.  Still great propagation to the east coast from the pacific northwest.

But wait, there’s more!  The bonus contacts for 12m are EA1AF in SPAIN, and OH1MM in FINLAND!  My first Finland!

For the final frontier of todays’ adventure – 10m.
In recent weeks, I haven’t had any contacts on 10m during my other activations.  Will today be any different?

Yes, 10m is open for business!
Starting at 21:02 UTC I log W2QL in VA.  Over the next 1-hour and 10-minutes I log a total of 10, 10m contacts including SC, NC, VA, TX, UT, and NJ.  Coast-to-coast propagation is quite good this afternoon.

But, wait, there’s more!  I was so surprised when I heard Thomas, K4SWL, answer my CQ. I didn’t know Thomas hung out on 10m!

(Note:  This trip took place before Hurricane Helene hit the Gulf states and NC.  Our thoughts and heartfelt best wishes go out to Thomas, family, and communities affected by this tragedy.)

Then, as my final bonus contact for the day on 10m, I bagged CE3FZL in Chile!

I don’t have much more time left before I need to pack-up and head out.  So, I quickly head down to the 30m band just to see if I can pick anything up there.  I haven’t had much luck on 30m on recent activations.

On 30m, I quickly land 2 contacts.  First with KN7D in UT at 22:12 UTC and then W6ZKH in CA.

It’s time to call it a day.

The tally for the day is 64 contacts spanning 6-bands, 8-countries, and 3-continents.  (Of course, that includes USA and Canada.)

Great coast-to-coast propagation and beyond (and Thomas, K4SWL).

Not a bad POTA days work, at all.  Even if it did take me just over 5-hours to complete.  This is an average of almost 13 contacts/hour.  Not a speed records set here, for sure.

I think this, so far, has been my best POTA day for DX.  Solar cycle 25 seemed to be doing its job today.

The contact maps below show a close-up view and an expanded view.

This map shows great propagation to the SE and east coast of the USA.

This contact’s map view shows the propagation to Europe and South America.  17m – 10m were the DX bands of the day.

It’s time for Alexis and me to pack up and head back to Kelowna.

Thank you for reading.
(This is likely my last post for this year.)

Cheers/72/73,
Jeff (VE7EFF) and Alexis (VE7LXE)
Kelowna, BC
Canada

 

Equipment List:

Elecraft KX3 with internal antenna tuner
Elecraft KXPD2 paddle
17m ½λ Coaxial Sleeve Slanted Vertical Dipole, home brew
Bioenno 4.5 Ah LiFePo4 battery
Helinox Table One Hard Top
Helinox Speed Stool
Helinox Sunset Chair