It was a glorious Spring morning here in the DC area this morning and I was able to get up a bit earlier than usual so I was on my way to work bright and early. I was treated to abnormally light traffic as well, so I crossed the 14th Street bridge with plenty of time to spare and was able to take the exit to West Potomac Park and drive around Hains Point to one of my favorite drive-up activation spots in both Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT and Star-Spangled Banner NHT. My usual parking spot was cordoned off for the Police Unity Tour which I presume was scheduled to roll-through later on in the day, so I went a few feet down the road to the next parking area and got myself ready for an activation.

This morning I had time on my side, so I opted to give 40m a go, hoping I could get some of my LICW friends in the log and knowing that I would have some time to work the pile-up if it decided to happen. I sent out a note to the LICW group that I was QRV, spotted myself, and started at 7.042 MHz calling CQ. It didn't take long for Mike N2PPI to give me a call with a solid signal into DC from NY -- always fun to get him in the log. Next up I heard from a station in Michigan, followed by Ed N2GSL in NY coming in a bit soft (he was probably running QRP) but fully readable in the District. That made 2 LICW buddies in 3 QSOs, I was loving it.

Next up I heard from Georgia, New York, and Massachusetts. Next up was frequent hunter Dan WD4DAN with a strong signal from Georgia, followed by New York, North Carolina, super activator KU8T in Indiana, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Rhode Island, and another Ohio. Next I heard a very faint Rin W4RIN just above my noise floor in Georgia. Great to get another LICW member in the log (#3)! Then I got a call from super hunter Joe N3XLS in Pennsylvania (also an LICW member if memory serves me correctly, #4), then I was treated to another LICW contact with Chris N8PEM in Ohio coming in like he was transmitting right next to me for my 5th LICW contact of the activation. It was good to get him in the log and I am hoping to see him and Ed N2GSL at Hamvention next week.

The pile-up kept running, so I heard from Tennessee, Maine, North Carolina (x2), Ohio (x2), New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Ontario (Canada), Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania (x2), Maine, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and finally Massachusetts. There was a stop in the action and I saw my time was running late, so I called QRT and called it an activation.

In all I had 40 contacts in 45 minutes on the air with 5 of those being LICW members (12.5%!). It was a lot of fun making contact with so many friends and familiar calls and a wonderful way to start the day. These two brought my activation count to 115 activations with 4,146 total QSOs. Definitely a lot of fun.