Activation Report: Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916) — October 2, 2026
- 5 min reading time
Twenty-five 20m FT8 contacts from the Skyway pier (US-1916) on 80 watts, with Gambia first and Argentina and Russia in the log. I was going after my 82-contact record and cut it short to get to the shop.
Mode: FT8 (Digital) · Band: 20m · Radio: Icom IC-706MKIIG · Contacts: 25 · Park: US-1916
Twenty-five contacts on 20m from the Skyway pier, the morning after the radio died here. I was going after my 82-contact record and cut it short at 8:13 because I had to get to the shop.
The park
Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916), on the pier for the second morning in a row. It was overcast, 76°F and calm with a 4 mph breeze. The sky stayed gray with a strip of light along the horizon.
The setup
Same car setup as yesterday: the Icom IC-706MKIIG, the Harvest OUTB2000 HF/6M mobile antenna on the back of the car, an ATU-100 PRO+ on the console, and WSJT-X on the laptop. I dropped a 30-foot ground radial off the pier into Tampa Bay again. The radio was at 80 watts, which is the 8 on the RF power screen below, and the tuner read an SWR of 1.01. Yesterday the same tuner read 1.76.
On the air
First contact was C5R in Gambia at 6:35, and M0CKX in England came three minutes later. Then the log is empty for 23 minutes. At 6:45 PSKReporter had me heard across Europe and North America, with single pins in Japan, north of Australia and on the Antarctic coast, and I had two contacts.
DL5CTE in Germany at 7:01 started the next run and AE6CH in California answered at 7:11. Eighteen of the 25 contacts came between 7:01 and 7:58. VE2FVV in Quebec at 7:32 was the tenth, which qualified the park. Nothing is in the log from 7:58 until 8:07, when LU2MET in Argentina came in, followed by N7CQ, DH1NGL in Germany, UA9CK in Russia at 8:11, and KC1MMC at 8:13.
The record is 82, from Sawgrass Lake on Wednesday. I got 25. There were no issues with the radio. I had to get to the shop, so I cut everything short.
Would I activate here again?
Yes.
73 de W4GGJ
Activation Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Park | Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916) |
| Date | October 2, 2026 |
| QSOs | 25 (four duplicate records in the log not counted) |
| Band / Mode | 20m / FT8 |
| Frequency | 14.0754 to 14.0760 MHz (as logged) |
| Power | 80 W |
| Antenna | Harvest OUTB2000 HF/6M mobile, with a 30 ft ground radial dropped into Tampa Bay |
| Measured SWR | 1.01 (ATU-100 PRO+) |
| Grid Squares Worked | 18 |
| Call Areas | US 0, 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 + VE2, VE3, VA3 · C5, M, DL, DH, GW, LU, UA9 |
| First QSO | 6:35 AM EDT (C5R, IK13) |
| Park Qualified | 7:32 AM EDT (VE2FVV, FN59, 10th contact) |
| Last QSO | 8:13 AM EDT (KC1MMC, FN34) |
| Session Length | 98 minutes (first to last QSO) |
| Best Hour | 18 QSOs (7:00 to 7:59 AM EDT) |
| Hottest 15 Minutes | 8 QSOs (7:26 to 7:41 AM EDT) |
| Furthest Contact | UA9CK, MO09 (Russia), 6,006 mi / 9,665 km, grid square to grid square |
| DXCC Entities | 8 (USA, Canada, Gambia, England, Wales, Germany, Argentina, Russia) |
| Best Report Received | +18 (KQ0J, EL87) |
| Weather | Overcast, 76°F, calm, 4 mph |
Gear used in this activation: Icom IC-706MKIIG · Harvest OUTB2000 HF/6M · ATU-100 PRO+ · laptop running WSJT-X