Many thanks to Alan (W2AEW) who shares the following guest post:

New AX1 POTA Activation

by Alan (W2AEW)

I have to admit, I have been bitten “hard” by the POTA bug! (I blame Thomas!) It started for me in August 2022 while I was on vacation at the Jersey shore. Since that time, I have completed 48 activations at 19 different parks. All of these have been QRP, and almost exclusively on CW. This story is about one of my recent activations, which was unique for a couple of reasons. Read on…

The Park

My job puts me on the road, covering a large portion of the northeastern United States. When my schedule permits, I’ll hit the road earlier than needed in order to potentially stop for a quick activation along the way (usually giving up a lunch-on-the-road stop in favor of a bit of QRP CW operation at a park).

This particular park was not your typical state park. It wasn’t a nature preserve, or a mountain lake, or a hiking or picnic paradise. No, this park is decidedly urban, occupying 2 blocks in the city of Holyoke, MA. This is K-2439, Holyoke Heritage State Park. According to the state park website, this park celebrates the rich industrial heritage of the city of Holyoke. The park also includes a Children’s Museum, a Volleyball Hall of Fame and a restored antique Merry-Go-Round.

The park is situated along a canal that once powered some of the mills that were located on the property.

It certainly is not like any other state park that I’ve been to!

One of the reasons I chose to stop at this park is that it had only been activated 4 times in the past. In retrospect, I suppose this could’ve been because of the city/industrial setting. Was it going to be noisy? Maybe this was a bad idea.. Thankfully, it wasn’t… Another thing that appealed to me is that it had not been activated on CW before. So, my activation would be a CW ATNO (All Time New One) for this park, which is kind of cool.