POTA DXing from Maine

We left Florida a week ago to visit the wife's peeps in W2-land and then head on up to Maine to surprise my sister and brother-in-law who are RVing at Acadia NP in Maine. Plans after that called for Nova Scotia and PEI - little did we know at the time that a hurricane would have the same destination.

Nevertheless, we are now in Freeport Maine, watching the latest updates from the talking heads on various weather channels.

With no sign of a storm here yet - it's still 4 days away - we drove just a few minutes south of Freeport for a dual activation/hike in Wolfe Neck State Park. 

The park was uncrowded, almost empty of people and the were many places that made ideal spots to set up for a POTA activation. I wanted to be on the air quickly with a fast tear-down time so I took the easy way out and just stayed in the car. 

The 17-ft whip went onto the roof with a 33-ft radial stretched into the wooded area behind the car. I've become a believer in this set-up as an effective way to quickly work a good number of stations on several bands with DX being easily added to the log. 100 watts from the FT-891 and that most efficient of all modes (CW) and the 1-hour acti was off and running.

First contact into the log was Thomas K4SWL who was doing an activation himself. He wished me happy travels and I'm looking forward to reading about which rig and antenna he was using. 

One thing I couldn't help but notice: from Maine, European signals are strong! Stronger than most US stations I worked. At one point I almost felt like asking the Europeans to stand by so that I could hear the US stations!

A few photos:

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One radial at base of magnetic-mount antenna

 

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Many trails, such as this one, lead to picnic tables with trees for antenna supports

 

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I was spotted in EU with quite a strong report. They were equally strong on my end

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Lots of DX was logged

 

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And then a delicious lobster dinner back in Freeport

 

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