Activation Report: Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916) — September 18, 2026
- 7 min reading time
A 27-minute 20m FT8 activation at Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916), 15 QSOs on 5W including Haiti, after finding three setup mistakes in a row after time away from POTA.
Mode: FT8 (Digital) · Band: 20m · Radio: Xiegu X6200 · Contacts: 15 · Park: US-1916
The first thing I noticed after getting to the north beach area at Skyway was that I hadn't turned the power up in WSJT-X. So I fixed that. Then I realized I'd never tuned the antenna. Went to tune it and found the telescopic element still collapsed inside the HF-010 whip. That's what I get for being away from POTA long enough to forget my own startup sequence.
The park
Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916) sits at the north end of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge crossing Tampa Bay. I set up at the north beach area north of the main rest area — a strip of rocky shoreline covered in dried seaweed, open water in front, nothing between the antenna and the bay. Clear sky, 80°F, light breeze off the water.
The setup
Extended the HF-010 element and ran a sweep on the NanoVNA. Marker at 14.070 MHz: SWR 1.074, R 52.76Ω, X −2.43Ω. No tuner needed.
Station in the VW cargo area: X6200 on the WINDcamp table, Android tablet running TavaOne Activate, DigiPi on the RPi4 handling WSJT-X over VNC. Both 8Ah LiFePO4 cells in the MOLLE pack. SFI 136, K 2.67.
On the air
HH2JR in Haiti (FK38) was first in the log at 8:51 AM. The next 25 minutes filled in the rest — Ontario twice (VE3WKG and VA3TS), stations across the Midwest, Great Lakes, and northeast. VA3TS sent back +10, which was the best signal report of the day. Fifteen contacts total.
By 9:17 the waterfall had gone quiet. KG9JP (EN56, 1,356 miles) came through at −18 and was the last contact at 9:18 AM. That was it for the band. The PSKReporter map at 9:31 showed 348 reception reports, including stations in Australia and South Africa — more reach than the dying waterfall suggested.
The lesson worth keeping
I ran the NanoVNA before keying up — hardware side was fine. What I skipped was the software side: TX power set, audio routed, frequency matching. Going through hardware without checking software is how you end up transmitting 0 watts and wondering why nobody responds. The startup sequence needs both halves, in order, every time.
Would I activate here again?
Yes. The north beach area is easy to reach, good antenna clearance to the water, quiet on a weekday morning. The mistakes were mine, not the park's.
73 de W4GGJ
Activation Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Park | Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916) |
| Date | September 18, 2026 |
| QSOs | 15 |
| Band / Mode | 20m / FT8 |
| Frequency | 14.075 MHz |
| Power | 5W QRP |
| Antenna | Radioddity HF-010 |
| Measured SWR | 1.074 at 14.070 MHz |
| Grid Squares Worked | 12 (EN56, EL15, EM57, FK38, FN20, FN03, EN94, FN00, EN61, EN34, EM79, EM98) |
| Call Areas | 5 US (0, 3, 5, 8, 9) + VE3, VA3, HH |
| First QSO | 8:51 AM EDT (HH2JR, FK38 — Haiti) |
| Park Qualified | Yes |
| Last QSO | 9:18 AM EDT (KG9JP, EN56) |
| Session Length | 27 minutes |
| Best Hour | 15 QSOs |
| Hottest 15 Minutes | 10 QSOs (8:57–9:12 AM EDT) |
| Furthest Contact | KG9JP EN56, 1,356 mi / 2,182 km |
| DXCC Entities | 3 (USA, Canada, Haiti) |
| Best Report Received | +10 (VA3TS, EN94 — Ontario) |
| Conditions | SFI 136, K 2.67 |
| Weather | Clear, 80°F, 13 mph breeze |
All-Time POTA Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Activations | 36 |
| Unique Parks | 17 |
| Activation QSOs | 814 |
| Parks Hunted | 411 (21 entities) |
| Hunted QSOs | 497 |
| POTA Awards | 17 |
Gear used in this activation: Xiegu X6200 · Radioddity HF-010 · NanoVNA · LiFePO4 Battery · DigiPi on RPi 4. Links with affiliate codes support the channel at no extra cost.