Could Be Worse
Setting on a bench in a mix of light rain and snow when it's 35 degrees out may not be the best way to spend a Saturday morning. But it could be worse.
I thought I'd sneak in a quick hiking in POTA activation with my IC-705. Even though there was a very light rain coming down spiraticaly, the rain was supposed to clear off for a few hours. So it wouldn't be that bad out.
Well, as I ended out on the trail not only did the precipitation didn't clear, it started to change over to snow. Oh, well I thought, it could be worse.
As I was setting up my station on an Leopold bench along the Ice Age Trail, I realized I had another small set back. The new to me Windows tablet I picked up for hike in radio activations had a dead battery. Again, not the end of the world, I have HAMRS on my smartphone.
With my fingers already getting cold enough to make creating a spot on the POTA website, I decided to ditch the idea of calling CQ and do this activation by hunting other parks. The slower pace of the QSO's and being able to load the other park's info with just a press of a button in the app made this the logical choice for me.
The only downside was the bands were not the best and I was limited to 10 watts. In about an hour and 15 minutes I did get my ten contacts. But there was a time I was really considering calling it good with about 6 contacts. Then coming back to the trailhead later in the day to finish off the activation with my 100 watt Yaesu FT-891.
The thing with QRP is the challenge can be fun, and the challenge will challenge your patience.