Thursday, September 22, 2022

POTA REPORT - Fort Worden State Park, WA (K-3194)


Late September is really a beautiful time here in the Pacific Northwest. Days tend to be in the 70's, mostly sunny, and the leaves on the tree are just starting to turn to welcome the autumn season to western Washington. So, to celebrate my 23rd anniversary the wife and I drove over to Port Townsend for a few days. And because my wife understands my passion for ham radio and has infinite patience, she agreed to let me play radio at nearby Fort Worden State Park

So, on our second day we drove out to the park and found a nice shady spot at Point Wilson near the lighthouse where I setup my Buddipole, a table, 2 chairs, and my POTA kit. I almost always work 20M and this outing would be no different. I started with FT8 and made 16 QSOs, then switched to phone and made 5 QSOs, tried CW for about 5 minutes with no takers, then back to FT8 for 2 more contacts. The band conditions weren't the best on this day, and I didn't want to press my luck, so after an hour I called it a day and packed things up so we could spend some time exploring the park. 

WA7WJR working a phone near Fort Warden's Point Wilson Lighthouse (K-3194)

After an hour playing radio, it was time to explore the park to enjoy the beautiful day, the natural surroundings, and...
Caution signs are synonymous with FUN!!! 

Let's go in here!
Fort Worden is a HUGE park. Lots of open space, lots of trails, lots of sandy beaches (don't go swimming...the water is damn cold), lots of historic buildings (some of which you can rent), campgrounds, a lighthouse at Point Wilson, and of course the old gun batteries that protected the US from crazed hordes of marauding Canadians. 😂

There aren't a lot of picnic tables (other than at the campgrounds), but there are plenty of places to setup a portable rig and start POTA'ing.  Also, if you stay at the campground or in one of the available residences for rent, you can operate throughout the night. This being an old Army base the park is massive. I was quite impressed with the beauty of looking out over the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Admiralty Inlet of Puget Sound, the historic significance of the park and its well-preserved buildings, and the natural beauty. And exploring the battery magazines was fun!

                         I've got this...                              Honey, we have a problem!

Oh...if you're planning on exploring the battery magazines you should take a headlamp or a flashlight. There are some interesting passageways in the main battery to explore! 

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