Come along on this cross-country Parks on the Air journey — behind the scenes, travel details, and the stuff that doesn’t make the videos: https://patreon.com/hamradiolaunchpad
Nobody has driven a car on Mackinac Island in over a hundred years. Freight moves on horse-drawn buggies, luggage moves on bicycles, and the loudest thing on Main Street is hooves on pavement. We rented a tandem bike and rode around the whole island.
The radio didn’t come with us. Watch to find out why..
Before the island we spent three nights in Fond du Lac, climbed the observation tower at High Cliff State Park, and got Wisconsin on the air. Then we drove up into Upper Peninsula Michigan and camped at St. Ignace for five nights. Two parks went on the air this leg, and one of them went better than the other one did.
Parks on the Road is a year on the road in an RV, activating parks in every state along the way for Parks on the Air. New episodes every other week as we go.
❤️ Support the series: https://patreon.com/hamradiolaunchpad
CHAPTERS
0:00 – Cars have been illegal here since 1898
1:31 – Galena to Fond du Lac
1:46 – Asking the nav dumb questions
2:18 – Fond du Lac and the lighthouse park
3:57 – High Cliff State Park — first Wisconsin activation
6:21 – North into Michigan
7:00 – St. Ignace and the Mackinac Bridge
8:08 – Straits State Park activation
8:58 – The trip so far
9:11 – The ferry over to Mackinac Island
9:39 – Fort Mackinac
10:56 – Main Street and the Grand Hotel
11:42 – A tandem bike around the island
12:41 – Why the radio never made it over
14:03 – Where we’re headed next
THE NUMBERS
-High Cliff SP (US-1456) — 13 contacts, 12 states, 2 entities, farthest 1,411 miles to Idaho
-Straits SP (US-1543) — 11 contacts, 7 states, 1 entity, farthest 1,177 miles to Florida
-Trip total — 10 parks, 6 states, 8 entities, 3 park-to-park, 124 contacts, farthest 5,500 miles to Argentina
GEAR IN THIS EPISODE
-Yaesu FT-710 radio — https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/yaesu-ft710
-Buddistick Pro antenna — https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/buddistick-pro
-Bioenno BLF1215A battery — https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/bioenno-blf1215a
-Sony A6700 camera — https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/a6700
-DJI Mini 5 Pro drone — https://hamradiolaunchpad.com/dji-mini
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