When International Women’s Day fell on a Sunday, the YL POTA Party gave us the perfect excuse to celebrate the way ARK knows best: by getting on the air. With more female members now active in the club and our own female club callsign, LA1YLS, it was simply too good an opportunity to miss. We therefore invited the club to join us in the park for an afternoon of radio.
We chose Elgeseter Park (NO-2521) for the activation, a convenient spot close to our club shack. Luckily, the nice spring weather made for a great Sunday afternoon in the park.
Our setup was simple: a radio, a tuner, a pole, and a 20 m vertical antenna. Once we arrived, everything seemed to come together almost suspiciously quickly. After all, who needs guy lines when the leftmost tree in the image above does the job just fine? Therefore, after just a few button presses, we were ready to call CQ.
Once we started calling CQ POTA using LA1YLS, contacts from across Europe began to make their way into the log. As time went on, however, making new contacts became more difficult, as the ongoing ARRL DX contest occupied large parts of the 20 m band.
Altogether, we logged 14 QSOs, with five different female operators taking turns on the air. Maren and Julia, two of our newest YLs, also made their very first SSB QSOs. Seeing new operators make their first contacts is always extra fun. We also made two park-to-park contacts, and one of them turned out to be especially memorable: a fellow YL activating a park in Romania.
By the end of the afternoon, the park had been successfully activated. After packing up, we split in two directions. Some headed into the city to join the Women’s Day parade, while others returned to the club shack with one final mission: to try for a QSO with 3Y0K on Bouvet Island.
That attempt did not quite work out, but not to worry; the very next day, LA1YLS (and LA1K) got the contact. All in all, International Women’s Day turned into exactly the kind of celebration we had hoped for, filled with radio and great company.
Featured image details:
YLs LB0RI, Marlene, LB2CK, LB9JJ, Pernille, Maren, and LB3BK during the YL POTA Party. Photo: LB4NK
