Honeymoon Island State Park (US-1880)
- 7 min reading time
78 contacts on 20m and 40m FT8 from Honeymoon Island with the IC-706MKIIG at 80 watts — if you trust the radio over the tuner, which read 35.
Mode: FT8 (Digital) · Bands: 20m / 40m · Radio: IC-706MKIIG · Contacts: 78 · Park: US-1880
Three problems before the first ten contacts were in the log. Seventy-eight contacts after. The tuner read 35 watts while the radio was set to 80.
The park
Honeymoon Island State Park sits on a barrier island off Dunedin, on Florida's Gulf Coast. A causeway connects it to the mainland. This is my second activation here.
I parked near the beach with a view across the water and set up from the car. Clear sky, 72 degrees, barely any wind. Good conditions for sitting in a parking lot with the windows down.
The setup
Same mobile setup I've been running all week: IC-706MKIIG on the center console, laptop on the passenger seat running WSJT-X and GridTracker, Radioddity HF-008 on a lip mount on the back hatch, ATU-100 EXT inline between the radio and antenna.
Three problems showed up before I had ten contacts in the log.
First, the power mismatch. The ATU tuned to 1.05 SWR, which is about as good as it gets. But the display read 35 watts. The radio was set to 80. Two days ago at Sawgrass the same setup was showing 52 watts on 40 meters. I don't know where the other 45 watts went, and I didn't figure it out in the field.
Second, a ground loop. The moment I plugged the laptop charger into the car's 12-volt outlet, a buzz ran through the audio. I unplugged it and ran the laptop on battery for the rest of the session.
Third, speaker feedback on transmit. Every time WSJT-X keyed up, the 706's speaker fed audio back into the laptop mic.
On the air
Started on 40 meters at 7:06 AM. KE7WVV in DM56 came back first. Twelve contacts on 40m in the first hour, then I switched to 20 meters and stayed there.
Twenty meters was open. The rate picked up fast — the best fifteen-minute stretch hit 48 QSOs per hour around 8:29 AM, and the best single hour landed 36 contacts near 9:14 AM. I qualified the park at 7:48 AM with K5MCB in EM53 as the tenth unique callsign, then kept going for almost three more hours.
YS1GMV was the standout contact — El Salvador, from a parking lot on a Friday morning. Four Canadian stations rounded out three DXCC entities for the session. AE6ML in DM04 was the furthest at 2,245 miles, which is southern California from the Gulf Coast of Florida.
All ten US call areas showed up. Fifty unique grid squares. Both numbers are the best this mobile setup has produced.
The lesson worth keeping
Two days ago at Sawgrass I wrote that I needed an inline power meter between the radio and the tuner. The tuner was reading 52 watts then. Now it reads 35. Same radio, same coax, same tuner. Without a meter I can't tell whether the radio is putting out less than 80 watts or the tuner is measuring wrong. The lesson is the same one I already wrote: buy the meter.
Would I activate here again?
Yes. The drive is longer than Sawgrass, but the scenery is better and the numbers were the best I've had from this setup. I'd come back with a meter and the patience to trace the power issue.
73 de W4GGJ
Activation Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Park | Honeymoon Island State Park (US-1880) |
| Date | October 16, 2026 |
| QSOs | 78 |
| Bands / Mode | 20m, 40m / FT8 |
| Frequencies | 14.074 MHz (20m), 7.074 MHz (40m) |
| Power | 80W (35W at tuner) |
| Antenna | Radioddity HF-008 |
| Measured SWR | 1.05 (ATU-100 EXT) |
| Grid Squares Worked | DM04, DM33, DM56, DM59, DM79, DN40, DN70, EL09, EL29, EL49, EL88, EL98, EM10, EM11, EM12, EM20, EM21, EM27, EM28, EM31, EM37, EM45, EM53, EM65, EM69, EM75, EM77, EM79, EM89, EN22, EN31, EN35, EN61, EN63, EN72, EN81, EN90, EN94, FM06, FM07, FM18, FN00, FN03, FN13, FN20, FN21, FN41, FN42, FN54, FN59 |
| Call Areas | 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, VA, VE, YS |
| First QSO | 7:06 AM EDT — KE7WVV (DM56) on 40m |
| Park Qualified | 7:48 AM EDT — K5MCB (EM53), 10th unique callsign |
| Last QSO | 10:36 AM EDT — KE8ZXF (EN63) on 20m |
| Session Length | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Best Hour | 36 QSOs ~9:14 AM EDT |
| Hottest 15 Minutes | 12 QSOs (48 Q/hr) ~8:29 AM EDT |
| Furthest Contact | AE6ML (DM04) — 3,613 km / 2,245 mi |
| DXCC Entities | United States, Canada, El Salvador |
| Best Report Received | +26 from VE3LFR (FN03) |
| Conditions | SFI 136, K 1 |
| Weather | Clear sky, 72°F, calm 3 mph |
All-Time POTA Stats
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Activations | 43 |
| Unique Parks | 17 |
| Activation QSOs | 1,155 |
| Parks Hunted | 499 |
| POTA Awards | 17 |
Gear used in this activation: IC-706MKIIG · Radioddity HF-008 · ATU-100 EXT
