The first Saturday of 2025 was ARRL Kids Day from 11am to 5pm MST Arizona time. Within the first week of the new year, it was also a chance to earn the Parks on the Air – New Years Activator award. So, Virgil K7VZ, his son Evan KK7MGL, Rick W7STS, and his grandson Emerson KK7WWG set off in the early afternoon to get on the air.
We drove north of Phoenix on I-17 to exit 236. West of the freeway is the entrance to Table Mesa Recreation Area which is popular for OHV, camping, and shooting on BLM land. Continuing a few miles north on gravel roads, we found a nice pull out to activate US-11975. Band conditions had been good lately on 10m, so we setup a Buddipole antenna on a 25ft. mast with drive on mount tuned for 28.400Mhz. We connected the antenna system to the radio, a Yaesu FT-857D, powered by a 15Ah Bioenno battery. A HP laptop running HAMRS Pro was used for logging and CAT control of the radio. Having a wireless keyboard is also handy, allowing the laptop to be positioned so both operators can see the screen.
With our VHF/UHF handheld radios and mobile radios in the trucks, we spent a few minutes making park to park contacts with each other on 147.520 Mhz and 446.050 Mhz simplex. Rick W7STS and Virgil K7VZ worked a few of the first stations on HF to make sure each met the quota of 10 QSO for a successful activation to be logged.
Evan and Emerson found a clear frequency at 28.412 Mhz to call CQ. We used the POTA.app web site to self spot and immediately had a pile up of stations answering the radio calls. Emerson would call CQ and exchange signal reports with each station while Evan made sure their callsign was properly logged. Then, the mic would be handed to Evan to make sure he participated in the exchange. After both boys worked each contact, the mic was handed back to Emerson to announce “QRZ?” In just under an hour, they had worked 41 stations on 10m and were ready to head back into Phoenix where we stopped at HRO briefly, then met up with other hams for some good food at Wally Burger across the street.
The ARRL (American Radio Relay League) Kids Day is a biannual event on January 4, 2025 and June 21, 2025. The purpose is to introduce young people to amateur radio, fostering interest in getting their license, and providing opportunities for experienced hams to share their passion with kids, mentoring the next generation. Kids Day provides a hands-on radio experience. For more information, visit https://www.arrl.org/Kids-Day