On the evening of June 12, 2025 Jake Barbieur (N9DMT) and Earl Streeter (KD9YCQ) met at the Smith and Cruson Slough day use area to activate POTA entity US-5643. The equipment was set up near the boat launch offering a quiet, scenic spot to operate.

Equipment

• Xiegu G90 HF Transceiver @ 20W
• 6Ah Bioenno LiFePO4 Battery
• Homebrew 40m EFHW antenna in an inverted-V configuration
• 30ft Jackite mast

Weather was partly cloudy and in the mid 70s, which provided comfortable operating conditions. N9DMT arrived early and must have fed all the mosquitos, because they were nowhere to be seen when KD9YCQ arrived.

Despite noticeable QSB on the 20m band, the team logged 17 contacts between 2200 and 2330 UTC, alternating calling CQ. Most contacts were on the East Coast, with one DX contact from Spain: EA2EZ