“The best and most expensive transmitter is but a useless toy if it is connected to a poor antenna.”
Bill Orr, W6SAI, S-9 Signals (1959)
Green grass, mild days, and blue skies are sure signs it’s time to climb towers, string wire, and get up on rooftops in the never-satisfied quest for a few more dB of gain.
It’s also time for contest pallor and seasonal-affective disorder to give way to tanned skin and spring fever. IOTA, SOTA, and POTA (Islands, Summits, and Parks on the Air, respectively) activations seem alluring again. Two-meter radio direction finding and foxhunting offer fresh air and at least a little exercise.
It’s good weather to grab your QRP field bag and head to the local park or lake, toss a EFHW antenna up in a tree, and attract both QSOs and curious onlookers. You can boast how many hundreds of miles per watt you get from that little cigarette-pack sized rig.
Hunting for the source of that new and pesky S7 noise floor in your otherwise-quite neighborhood now takes on the grim-yet-determined character of a military campaign.
Marred only momentarily by the tax-filing deadline, Spring is always something of a happy surprise.