Individual Operating Stories

Saturday June 20/26 - Once again, Stuart (VA7QB) gives thanks to Ralph Webb for helping him with his newly assembled Buddipole last Spring.  Pic'ed is today's horizonal dipole setup, giving 1:1 SWR on 17metres and 20 metres.  Not many contacts, but the object of the exercise was to get on the air

On June 12th, 2026 I had the pleasure of completing my first Parks on the Air activation. 

After planning my antenna and acquiring the necessary radio equipment and a power source I was ready for my first trip to a park.  The setup was very easy with the assistance of Joe VE7JJK and Sue my XYL which

Making contacts can be a challenge for an activator, requiring a minimum 10 contacts per activation, or reaching bigger numbers for various awards. Bad conditions, propagation issues, atmosphere issues, bad weather can make POTA contacts a challenge. But there are WRARC members who try to be there

A few weeks ago, Stuart (VA7QB) rediscovered 'Numbers Stations'.  Remember them?

Most would think that these clandestine transmissions faded after the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union.  Not so.

February 2nd, Stuart captured 'M12', A Russian SVR (successor to the KGB) coded message to someone

I completed my 40th activation of Redwood Park which gets me the Fox Den repeat offender award.  On my previous activation I had reached a 1000 contacts earning me the kilo award at the park. This is not my first time for either award but as Redwood Park is close to my home and now my preferred

Parks on the Air has an annual start of the year event. If you activate a park or are a hunter contacting an activator during the first week of January you are granted the award. I wasted no time in going out and I activated Redwood Park on January 1. I am also in the process of working up my repeat

From November 11 2025 to December 13, 2025 I activated park  CA-5548, Blackie Spit.  It took 20 visits to accumulate 1217 contacts from all over North America, with added contacts from Australia, Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Hawaii, France, Spain, & Finland.

From April 001,2024 to November 8 2024  I visited Stuart Farm & activated Park # CA-6382.  It took 31 visits to accumulate 1006 contacts.  Here are some photos from that experience

I am working on getting the various repeat offender awards in the POTA program at Redwood Park. The awards are gained for each set of twenty activations in the park. Here is my story for reaching my first level - 20 activations - at Redwood.

For a full story and additional photos see my blog at: http

Following on watching Ralph (VE7OM) activate Peace Arch Park with a Buddipole vertical, Stuart (VA7QB) returned today to put learnings into his modified Buddistick vertical.

A mild success, although the farthest DX was Russia!  Note the pics, Kenwood 480SAT with no tuner, Ralph had been very helpful