Activation Report: Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916) — October 8, 2026
- 7 min reading time
One hundred QSOs from Sunshine Skyway at 80 watts on the IC-706MKIIG — a new personal best from the car, with FT8 reaching South Africa and Siberia.
Mode: FT8 (Digital) · Bands: 40m / 20m · Radio: Icom IC-706MKIIG · Contacts: 100 · Park: US-1916
The field notes say "nothing special today and no problems." The log says 100 unique QSOs, a signal that reached Cape Town, and a new personal best. Both are true.
The park
This is the fifth time I've activated Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park (US-1916), and it doesn't need much introduction at this point. The old Skyway bridge piers run a mile out into Tampa Bay, there's a bait shop and a fishing pier, and the north rest area has a small beach with a parking lot right on the water. I set up in the beach lot. Overcast, light drizzle, 75 degrees. Not the worst October morning.
The setup
This was a full mobile operation from the car — not the usual backpack-and-picnic-table routine. The Icom IC-706MKIIG sits on the center console, the Dell laptop goes on the passenger seat running WSJT-X, and the Harvest OUTB2000 screws into the hatch mount on the back of the Tiguan. The ATU-100 handles the matching. No battery to worry about, no mast to raise, no ground radial to lay out. Turn the key, turn on the radio, start calling.
The IC-706MKIIG runs 80 watts on HF. That's sixteen times the power I usually bring to a POTA activation with the X6200 at 5 watts. The difference shows up in the log, not the experience — you're still staring at the same WSJT-X waterfall, still clicking the same CQ button. But the other end hears you a lot better.
On the air
Started on 40 meters at 07:41 EDT. Three QSOs there — KD5RXP in Louisiana, K0CQ in Colorado, K2QO in New York — then moved to 20 meters and stayed. The band was already open by 07:44 and it never really closed. Park qualified at 08:01 with the tenth contact, W2GGY.
The rate was steady. Best hour was 38 QSOs starting at 09:06. Hottest 15 minutes was 14 contacts starting at 07:54. Not frantic, just consistent — a new call every two or three minutes for three hours.
The PSKReporter map filled in all morning. Five DX contacts: VA3TS, VE4ZIM, and VE3XZF in Canada, RW0SR in Siberia at 6,828 miles, and ZS1WC in South Africa at 8,025 miles. Four DXCC entities total. Seventy-seven unique grid squares across all ten US call areas.
The hundred
QSO number 100 was K4AEH in Tennessee at 10:53 EDT. I didn't notice it at the time. The counter in GridTracker ticked over and I kept calling CQ. It wasn't until I closed out and looked at the log that I realized it was a new personal best — the previous Skyway best was 75 contacts, and the overall POTA record was 82 at Sawgrass Lake Park.
A hundred contacts in a single activation is a round number, not a threshold. But it's the first time I've hit it, and the log says 100 unique calls after removing three duplicates (KZ4MW, K9PM, and KF4YHC each appeared twice). So 103 logged, 100 unique.
The lesson worth keeping
The IC-706MKIIG at 80 watts doesn't make contacts that 5 watts can't. Every station I worked today would have heard me on QRP eventually. What 80 watts does is compress the cycle — calls get answered on the first or second try instead of the fifth, and the rate stays high enough that you don't lose the thread. Three hours, a hundred contacts, and a field-notes entry that says "nothing special." That's what power headroom buys you: an unremarkable morning with remarkable numbers.
Would I activate here again?
This was number five at Skyway and I'll be back. The beach lot is flat, quiet, right on the water, and the cell signal is strong enough for spotting. The only caveat is the same one every time: the fishing pier crowd gets loud on weekends, so come early or come on a weekday.
73 de W4GGJ
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Park | US-1916 — Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier State Park |
| Date | October 8, 2026 |
| QSOs | 100 (103 logged, 3 duplicates removed) |
| Bands / Mode | 40m, 20m / FT8 |
| Frequencies | 7.074 MHz, 14.074 MHz |
| Power | 80W |
| Antenna | Harvest OUTB2000 HF/6M on hatch mount |
| First QSO | 07:41 EDT — KD5RXP (EN11) on 40m |
| Park Qualified | 08:01 EDT — W2GGY |
| 100th QSO | 10:53 EDT — K4AEH (EM95) on 20m |
| Session Length | 3 hours 12 minutes |
| Best Hour | 38 QSOs starting 09:06 EDT |
| Hottest 15 Minutes | 14 QSOs starting 07:54 EDT |
| Grid Squares Worked | 77 |
| Call Areas | All 10 |
| Furthest Contact | ZS1WC (KF16, South Africa) — 12,915 km / 8,025 mi |
| DXCC Entities | 4 (US, Canada, South Africa, Asiatic Russia) |
| Conditions | SFI 114 / K 2 |
| Weather | Overcast, drizzle, 75°F |
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Activations | 40 |
| Unique Parks | 17 |
| Activation QSOs | 1,042 |
| Parks Hunted | 470 |
| POTA Awards | 17 |
Gear used in this activation: Icom IC-706MKIIG · Harvest OUTB2000 HF/6M · ATU-100 Automatic Antenna Tuner · Dell laptop running WSJT-X v3.0.0 (WSJT-Z MOD)