My work off-site finished at lunchtime, leaving me with little to do besides drive most of the M27 and sit around at home. A better idea: do some radio nerd stuff in a field instead.

The BBQ field at River Hamble Country Park

GB-2465, River Hamble Country Park is sited on the River Hamble as you might expect, between Southampton and Fareham. The park’s history dates back to World War II, when it was the site of HMS Cricket, a training base for Royal Marines that helped prepare for the D-Day invasion. It’s a sure sign I’ve worked with the Navy for too long when I don’t even flinch at referring to a shore establishment as “His Majesty’s Ship”, and “stone frigate” has become a perfectly normal concept to entertain in my head.

These days, it’s a nice country park with open fields, woodland, a café and various activity centres for Scouts and the like.

After a quick wander around the place, I settled on the large open field to the north of the visitor’s centre. There I came across the greatest luxury a POTA activator could ask for: picnic tables. Signs warned that they were only for groups that had pre-booked them for barbecues, but as the place was deserted on a chilly November afternoon, I didn’t think they would my presence too much.

As usual I started on the 20m band, netting myself 37 contacts around Europe and a couple to North America inside 30 minutes, a few of them park-to-parks. Not bad for a weekday afternoon, I thought.

After that I switched to 10m, which started slow but eventually picked up a bit. 13 more contacts in 20 minutes rounded out the activation, including three transatlantic park-to-parks.

By that time the wind was picking up and I was starting to feel the chill, so I packed down and headed back to the café.

Many thanks to all my contacts this afternoon. See you on the air next time!