Many thanks to Scott (VA3EKR) who shares the following field report which was originally posted on his blog:
March 23, 2025, Fletcher Creek Ecological Reserve, Puslinch, ON (CA-5363)
by Scott (VA3EKR)
Today was a nice day to walk around, though still a little chilly at around 0°C. Fletcher Creek Ecological Reserve is part of the Hamilton Conservation Area network, and is in Puslinch Ontario, about 51km from my house.
Activated from the parking lot, that is fairly close to some hydro transmission lines, so I was worried about interference, but I thankfully did not experience any. This is the entrance to the paths from the parking lot.
The bands were quiet but propagation seemed to be pretty good. It took me a while to get 12 QSOs in about an hour. So somewhat slow. This weekend seems to be blessed with propagation to Idaho and Washington!
After the activation, I walked around the trails.
This is a map of the park. It loops around an old abandoned quarry, that has been rehabilitated.
Here’s the audio. Still terrible for the transmitting side. I’m working on it.
Here’s a map of the QSOs, all 20m CW.
This park was my 50th, and so I got a Diamond Activator Certificate from the Parks on the Air website.
Congratulations on your 50th activation – that’s a lot of fun!
Thank you Steve!
I was only a Ham for a short while before seeing Tom’s channel.
I knew immediately that this was something that looked phenomenally fun! Especially the CW POTA community – you can tell that hunters and activators are all working together to make it all a success! It was very humbling as we new CW operator to see how forgiving and helpful the seasoned hunters were!