We Paddled To An Island, Fired Up 600 Watts, And Worked The World

The tide doesn’t care about your logbook—and that’s exactly why we chased it. We loaded radios, batteries, and a vertical dipole into kayaks, paddled two miles on a rising tide, and landed on a slippery sliver of grass called Eagle Island. The result? A sustained, three-hour pileup on 10 meters that reached across Europe, South America, and 20 U.S. states, with park-to-park contacts stacking like driftwood.

Our guest, Keith (AC1RH), is a relentless Parks on the Air activator with nearly six figures of QSOs and a knack for turning tough parks into routine wins. He walks us through the exact route from Cashman Park, why you absolutely must time the tides, and how a simple tarp plus sandbags kept a 600-watt station alive as the river crept around our boots. We break down his go-to radios (FT-991A and FT-891), the five-band vertical dipole ...