Many thanks to Rod VA3MZD who shares this five park POTA bicycle rove report with us. If you have an article in your head and want to have it posted here, let’s keep this community going while our friend Thomas continues to help his neighbours in the wake of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Draft up your story in an email with reference points to the pictures you want embedded and their captions, attach photos to the note and send it my way to vincedeon at gmail dot com and note QRPer in the subject line to get my attention.
By Rod Murray VA3MZD
Last year I reported, in a guest post here on QRPer, on the five POTA parks near my QTH that are linked by the Elora-Cataract Trailway, a rail trail that runs east from the quaint tourist village of Elora, Ontario, through the town of Fergus, where I live, through Belwood Lake Conservation Area and continues for approximately 45 km to the village of Cataract, on the Niagara Escarpment, well to the east. The trail passes through or near four POTA parks in my immediate vicinity, made easily accessible by foot, bicycle or vehicle, as one chooses. The Trailway is also part of the Great Trail of Canada CA-5082. In one of these nearby parks, Belwood Lake, it’s a 2-fer, making 5 parks in total.
POTA Map showing the location of the four nearby POTA parks near my QTHThe All Trails Map of the Elora-Cataract Trail/Great Trail of Canada from Elora to Belwood Lake
In my original report I had also set a goal of one day activating the one nearby park I had yet to visit, and also to activate all five local parks in one day. With the summer quickly coming to a close here in South Western Ontario, and the fact that the one park I had yet to visit would close for the season in just a few days, it was time to attack my two goals with a rove! So I made plans to rise early, hope for cooperative weather and complete my 5 park cycle trip. Could I do it?
For those who haven’t followed my previous posts, we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, and were hit hard by the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane (later Tropical Storm) Helene. I’ve been sharing regular updates to chronicle our recovery efforts and, naturally, to highlight the vital role amateur radio has played throughout.
As I mentioned in my last update, now that we have a road open to all vehicular traffic and our community has been reconnected to the grid, we’re all looking toward the future—our new “normal”—focusing on returning to work (those of us who have work to return to), repairing our property, and helping those in our community who are still in need.
The Vast Impact of Helene in WNC
Over the past three days, we’ve ventured further from home, and we’ve seen the broader impact of the storm in our county.
Many local businesses we relied on are simply gone. Grocery stores are still struggling to replenish refrigerated and frozen items, which means we must drive 35-40 minutes (one way) to find these essentials. Due to damaged or wiped-out bridges and road closures, the trip is longer than it used to be. All traffic is now concentrated on the functional roads, so driving times are extended even more.
Two local grocery stores, our pharmacy, post office, hardware store, produce store, and numerous restaurants were all flooded. Some have announced they will not re-open.
A woodworking shop my wife and I visited the day before Helene—where they were making a sign for us—was completely washed away. Only part of their cinder block walls remain.
The tire shop where we bought tires the day before the storm was severely damaged by flooding, as were the dozens of shops and stores nearby, including two grocery stores. Even our local Lowe’s in east Asheville was severely damaged by floodwaters. See photos here.
On Friday, I took my car to the dealership for a safety inspection follow-up and alignment. They were also flooded by about two feet of water, but were able to continue most operations. Their building had been stripped from the floor up to two feet for future repairs.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t perform the alignment because that machine was damaged. Fortunately, the general manager moved their entire inventory of cars to higher ground.
While driving through north Asheville a few days ago, I saw numerous historic homes split in half by large, old-growth trees.
The storm was selective. Areas within a 500-year floodplain were devastated. Some communities, like ours, faced tornadoes and high winds that downed many trees. Yet just a few miles away, there might be little sign of wind damage. Isolated communities along rivers—Chimney Rock, for example—were completely wiped out. Simply erased from the face of the planet.
Everyone I know has friends or family who lost their homes or businesses. Some even know those who lost their lives. The stories are heartbreaking and hard to process.
Our Booth Fairy in downtown Swannanoa. She was located opposite our World Central Kitchen center and offering free advice, compliments, hugs, slow claps, thumb wars, and more!
Despite everything, the community here is strong and resilient. I haven’t spoken to anyone who plans to leave permanently. Frankly, there are few places where you can be sure you’ll never face a natural disaster. Meteorologists believe big storm systems like Helene will become more frequent.
Back to (Some) Normalcy
At home, my daughters will return to their community college classes (they’re dual-enrolled as high school seniors) next Monday. It will have been a full month since they’ve been in class. One of my daughters’ Shakespeare classes resumed rehearsals last Friday after ensuring everyone could travel to the venue safely.
A few friends have pointed out that I’m starting to relax a bit, noting that I wrote an email that was all about radio. A good sign.
POTA and SOTA Plans?
This weekend, I told my wife, “You know? Maybe I could fit in a POTA activation this week. I think I’m ready.”
Of course, she fully endorses the idea.
There’s a small issue, though: to activate a POTA park, I’ll need to drive at least an hour away.
I checked this weekend, and all my local POTA sites are temporarily closed. This includes national parks, state parks, and historic sites. Even some trails I often activate, like the Mountains to Sea Trail, are only accessible via the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is also closed.
Pisgah National Forest is vast—tens of thousands of acres—so I might be able to find an accessible spot that isn’t barricaded. But I’m hesitant to activate a site that’s technically closed due to Helene–no matter how accessible.
One possibility is to combine a POTA activation with visiting my father in Hickory, NC. Most of the parks east of Hickory are open, as storm damage was minimal in those areas.
Someone recently suggested I take this time for a little SOTA, but that’s even more complicated than POTA. Many of the local summits I enjoy activating are either accessed via the closed Blue Ridge Parkway or trailheads on rural roads that have been damaged.
Even if I could reach a trailhead, most trails are likely littered with blowdowns, making the trek slow. Later this year, I hope to help with trail clean-up crews once more trailheads are accessible and my right shoulder has fully-recovered.
That said, I can reach some of the smaller summits in the foothills of NC when visiting my father. While there will likely be some blowdowns, I expect fewer than in the high country. If timing works out, I might be able to hit one!
If all goes well, I plan to make a video this week regardless—perhaps something from my property as I hunt stations. Who knows?
One thing’s for sure: I could use some proper radio therapy. Although I’ve been using radio heavily these past three weeks, it’s been all about emcomm and community organization. It’ll be nice to play radio just for the fun of it again!
Four Words…
Thank you so much!
Last night, we met with some of our amazing neighbors and did a little astronomy. My daughter Neva (K4TLI) took this photo of Comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS with my iPhone.
As always, we are deeply grateful for the kindness and support we’ve received. If I haven’t had a chance to respond to your emails or comments, please know it’s because I’ve been focused on helping my family and neighbors during this challenging time.
A huge thank you to Vince (VE6LK) and all the fantastic contributors on QRPer.com! I’ve read every comment and message, though I haven’t had the time to respond to each one.
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying all of the guest field reports! What a wonderful escape! Thank you!
You are an amazing community and support network. Thank you so much!
It’s another beautiful cloudless day in southern British Columbia (16 Sept, 2024). My goal for today is to activate Buse Hill Lookout, located in Buse Lake Protected Area CA-3287, before the weather turns too cold and wet to venture into the area.
Buse Hill is about a 2.5-hour drive NW from Kelowna, BC where I live. The last ¾ hour of the drive is on gravel range roads. My wife Alexis (VE7LXE) is accompanying me on this trip, as always.
While planning for the activation, I closely studied Google Maps Satellite view, as well as Garmin GPS Birds Eye views of the activation area. This helps me evaluate the terrain and access routes. I also study the Gov’t of BC Mineral Titles online maps which give both satellite views and topographic views (before POTA, gold panning was my summer hobby and the BC Mineral Titles online maps were essential for knowing where to legally pan).
Access to Buse Hill Lookout, CA-3287. Ecological Reserve south-end access route. Tip: Click on images to enlarge view.
From these maps I can see that the last 1.5 Km is an undefined off-road access route. From the satellite views, it’s very difficult to assess the viability of a route that my Forester can handle. So, I knew there was a 50-50 chance I may be able to drive all the way up that last 1.5 Km. With this in mind, we came prepared for two eventualities: 4-wheel it up, or backpack it up if necessary.
That means having two prepared POTA back packs; one with the KX3 for near car activations, and my KX2 backpack for hiking situations.
For those who haven’t followed my previous posts, we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, and were hit hard by the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane (later Tropical Storm) Helene. I’ve been sharing regular updates to chronicle our recovery efforts and, naturally, to highlight the vital role amateur radio has played throughout.
Let me say that it’s a comforting feeling to no longer have a tree leaning against and pinned to the roof of our home. It’s nice not to hear the creaking sounds of it rubbing against the metal roof every time the wind blows.
I’m incredibly grateful to the arborist crew that removed the trees from our vacation rental house and QTH. I mentioned that earlier this week the original arborist team we’d scheduled had informed us that they couldn’t remove the tree because they couldn’t bring a crane up our dodgy road.
Our new crew worked without a crane— which, of course, took more time— but they skillfully removed the tree using ropes, pulleys, and a solid understanding of physics. True pros!
We’re so thankful for their efforts.
This same crew ended up removing trees from several other homes on our road. They’re doing incredible work.
More Road Improvements
Our two-mile-long, steep, and curvy road has been getting a lot of attention from the Kentucky Department of Transportation this week. Even though Kentucky is two states away, crews from all over the country have come to help. This particular road crew has been amazing.
The road is now mostly two lanes again. While it’s not paved— and likely won’t be anytime soon— it’s passable by nearly any vehicle. We are all so grateful, and it looks like these improvements might even hold up against future weather challenges.
Improvements and Challenges
Now that our mountain community has electricity (and water), a stable and safer road, and access to every home (except one with a particularly long and mud slide-damaged driveway), life is beginning to normalize.
We’re feeling stable enough here to plan a visit to my father in Hickory this weekend. We’ve postponed visiting him for three weeks because of how unstable things were here, and we’ve kept all our travel within half an hour of the QTH.
After speaking with many neighbors, I feel like their experiences are reflective of everyone in WNC right now. Some are back to work, especially those who can work from home with satellite internet. Some want to work, but their employers— many in the tourism industry— were hit hard by Helene. One friend who works as a solar installer said that literally all of his company’s inventory was destroyed in the flooding along the Swannanoa River.
Tourism, the biggest industry in the mountains, has ground to a halt. A friend mentioned that many people he knows under 30 are now unemployed. For instance, the Grove Park Inn, one of our largest resorts, laid off all of its employees. They hope to reopen soon, but I imagine many guests have canceled for the rest of the year.
Helene couldn’t have come at a worse time, as the fall leaf-peeping season is upon us. Many businesses (including our vacation rental) make the bulk of their income during this period.
The counties shaded in red are discouraging tourism while the ones in green are welcoming them.
While some WNC counties are still open for business, others— like Buncombe County— are discouraging tourism. I can’t imagine tourists descending on the area right now, as they would only get in the way of recovery.
A Neighborhood Radio Network
In the background, I’ve been exploring the idea of creating a robust off-grid radio communications network for our rural, remote community.
As mentioned in previous posts, we’ve been using amateur radio (VHF) to communicate within our community. While most operators aren’t licensed amateurs, in times of emergency, that’s not an issue.
As things return to normal and our mobile phone network is fully restored, I want to find a long-term, off-grid communications solution.
I recently spoke with my friend George (KJ6VU), who has gone through this process in his own neighborhood. He provided insight based on experience and I’m most grateful.
While I’d love for everyone in my community to become licensed hams, I know that’s not realistic. That said, I think we’ll gain a couple of new hams after my evangelizing! For now, we need off-grid communication options that are more accessible and use something more akin to channelized radios. Here are some options I’m considering:
FRS (Family Radio Service): These radios are surprisingly effective but have low power output, and you can’t replace the built-in antenna. This won’t work across our entire two-mile road, especially with the 900-1,000 foot elevation change. This is really the option of last resort for us.
GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service): This is a more viable option. GMRS radios are more robust, you can replace the antennas, and there are even 50-watt mobile/base options. The downside is that each family would need to apply for an FCC license ($35) and use the same family callsign. There’s also a lot of GMRS traffic, so even if we standardize on tone and channel settings, interference could be an issue. We could install a repeater for better coverage.
PLMRS (Private Land Mobile Radio Service): This option would require more paperwork and upfront costs, but it has benefits. A frequency coordinator would find unused frequencies for our region, and if enough households sign up, the cost per household would drop. We could standardize on channelized DMR units, and interference from outside users would be minimal. Households wouldn’t need individual callsigns, and we could opt for a repeater if necessary.
I’ll be sorting through these options in the coming weeks and reaching out to neighbors to gauge interest. There are already enough people interested to make this a reality—it’s just a matter of deciding which service to use. At this point, I’m leaning toward PLMRS. If you have any experience or advice, feel free to comment!
Thank You
99.9 FM has been a local channel completely devoted to community information and news post-Helene. A part of my morning routine was to turn on this C.Crane radio and listen in the mornings.
As always, we are deeply grateful for the kindness and support we’ve received. If I haven’t had a chance to respond to your emails or comments, please know it’s because I’ve been focused on helping my family and neighbors during this challenging time.
A huge thank you to Vince (VE6LK) and all the fantastic contributors on QRPer.com! I’ve read every comment and message but haven’t had the time to respond to each one. My time on the internet is limited, as most of my energy is going into normalizing life.
You are an amazing community and support network. Thank you so much!
Many thanks to Jonathan KM4CFT who shares this article with us. If you have an article in your head and want to have it posted here, let’s keep this community going while our friend Thomas continues to help his neighbours. Draft up your story in an email with reference points to the pictures you want embedded and their captions, attach photos to the note and send it my way to vincedeon at gmail dot com and note QRPer in the subject line to get my attention.
By: Jonathan Kayne, KM4CFT
About 10 months ago, I took the plunge to design my own Morse Code transceiver. It was a crazy idea, and this was certainly a massive undertaking, but somehow, I managed to pull off this monumental task. The result of the project was the CFT1, a 5 Band CW Field Transceiver specifically tailored for POTA and SOTA operations. Doing this project was a great learning experience and despite the monumental effort and work I put into it, I really enjoyed getting to design a new product. There is something special when you see something you love and put effort into appear in the hands of others and seeing them enjoy using said product.
The purpose of this article is to outline some of the thoughts I put into when I designed the CFT1. It is not meant to go into the meat and potatoes of RF design work as there are plenty of resources out there that go over that stuff. I have yet to see much discussed on design philosophy of a transceiver so I thought it prudent to document these things. That is; what I took into consideration when putting together the radio. And as I learned in this project, when pulled off correctly, can result in a great product.
Because I receive so many tips from readers here on QRPer, I wanted way to share them in a concise newsletter format. To that end, welcome to QRPer Notes, a collection of links to interesting stories and tips making waves in the world of radio!
Foldable feet for small radios
Many thanks to Randall (K8UFM) who shares the following tip:
Thomas,
I found these on Amazon and they work great for small radios.
PONICOR 2PCS Zinc Alloy Mini Foldable Laptop Stand, Portable Computer Keyboard Riser with 2 Adjustable Angles, Self-Adhesive Invisible Notebook Stand and Keyboard Lift for Desk (Black)
This is Tom WW8D in Salem Va. I sure do enjoy your videos on youtube. I received a new KH1 yesterday and I just wanted to tell you that I have a clear waterproof case like the one you but its a slight bigger fromHarbor Freight. Its an Apache 550 and everything fits perfect in it.
I purchased the Apache 550 a few days prior to Helene hitting our area. I intend to make a post or video soon showing how this apache case compares size-wise with my Pelican cases. It is, in general, a much larger case than the M40 I currently use with the KH1. See photo below.
Video: Demystifying SWR
Many thanks to Vince (VE6LK) who writes:
Here is an EXCELLENT video explaining return loss, why lossy coax hides SWR issues and many other things:
Editor note – Please enjoy this guest post from Jeff Bourgeois VE7EFF.
Sometimes the elements just aren’t in my favor. I knew activating Echo Lake Provincial Park CA-3459 would be a propagation challenge. This POTA Park has never been fully activated before. Last year one operator attempted it and was only able to log four contacts. Today, I not only had mountains to contend with, but apparently significant solar storms in action as well.
What initially made this activation so challenging is that Echo Lake is located on a valley floor and that it is surrounded by mountains on almost all sides. I picked this particular spot to operate because it is the only location in the park that has a small window of opening to the South or South-South-East. I was hoping I could hit enough stations in the USA to make a successful activation of 10 contacts.
Echo Lakes is about a 2-hour drive NE from my home in Kelowna, BC, and about 45 minutes ESE of Lumby, BC. The last half-hour or so is on gravel roads. Now that we have arrived, my wife Alexis, VE7LXE, helps with unloading the gear,
This photo shows my narrow window of opportunity for southerly HF propagation. Mountains on the left, mountains on the right, and mountains behind me.
As you can see below, the eastern direction is mostly blocked by a mountain and SE is the direction where I typically have the best success of traversing the USA. I generally can’t rely on NVIS propagation; there just aren’t enough Canadian POTA chasers within NVIS range for me to make a successful activation.
Today, I’m using my recently acquired Chameleon CHA Porta-Mount to support the 34’ (really only ~ 32’) carbon fiber telescopic mast.
Once again, I’m also testing my homebrew coaxial sleeve dipole, now cut for the 17m band. I constructed it with RG-8X coax and terminated with a Fair Rite #31, 2.5” core as the RF block choke. My KX3 antenna tuner will take care of any SWR issues on all bands that I operate on.
Because I’m using a carbon fiber telescopic mast, I’ve previously noted that the mast has “significant” detuning effect on the antenna. Thus, I operate it as a slanted coaxial sleeve dipole. This moves the antenna away from much of the mast influence. The slant should also help with raising the propagation angle to hopefully clear the mountain tops (but not enough to make it NVIS).
The weather report was supposed to be mostly sunny. However, it turned out to be just the opposite and was cloudy, threatening to rain, and somewhat cold. It’s colder outside than I care for and the fact that it is threatening to rain, I decide to operate from inside my 2016 Subaru Forester. I only operate from inside my car when it isn’t viable to operate outside. Besides, I don’t want to risk getting wet today.
Now that my KX3 is fired-up and connected to the Bioenno 4.5 Ah battery and the antenna, I’m all set to see if anyone can hear me. I should mention that I’m operating at 10W today so I guess that disqualifies me as a QRP operator. 😊
Here is the play-by-play report:
I started calling CQ on 20m at 16:55 UTC (09:55 PDT). My first contact came 15 minutes later with KN7D in Utah. It took another 15 minutes to snag my next contact with WM2V in Arizona.
There’s not much happening for me on 20m, so I switch up to 17m. At 17:40 UTC I log N5RLH in NM. That’s it for 17m. Moving up to 15m, I snag a contact in NC with N4EX at 17:52. That was my only 15m contact of the day.
I went on to try 12m, 10m, and even 30m. Absolutely nothing over the next hour of calling CQ on those 3-bands. Back down to 20m. One contact with KE4KE in Minnesota. It took an hour and 15 minutes more to land just one more contact on 17m with KB6FPW/P in California at 21:00.
I’m definitely not breaking any speed records today. A tortoise could probably log more contacts than this.
Another hour passes until I land a contact with K0SX in Colorado on 20m. Suddenly, 20m picks-up steam and I land 4 more contacts on 20m – two in California and two in Colorado between 22:00 and 22:47. I’m almost at the end of the POTA UTC day for this park, but I’m determined to try to pick up more contacts before 00:00 UTC.
Last crack at 17m band. At 23:13 I land KJ7BS in Arizona. As my final contact of the UTC day, I snag KD7DUG in California at 23:15. I keep calling CQ for the next 45 minutes with no more results. It is now 00:00 UTC and the POTA day is over.
But something drives me on to keep calling CQ. I keep thinking propagation will get better.
At 00:05 I log my last contact of the day on 20m – a P2P QSO with AF0E in Colorado. I realize that this contact will have to go into the next day’s POTA log, but a contact is a contact. At the end of the day, I logged 13 valid POTA contacts, plus 1 into the next UTC day.
Tip: Click on the map for a larger image view.
The Contacts Map above does seem to confirm that my narrow corridor of propagation was primarily due-south or SSE – squeezing through the mountains opening. Some magic of propagation handed me North Carolina and Minnesota.
This is by far the hardest I’ve ever had to work to get sufficient contacts to activate a new park. I was determined to get this park activated, though. It took 7 hours of calling CQ to log 13 contacts. That’s a record 1.8 contacts/hour!
I don’t think the antenna is the real culprit for today’s weak results, especially considering that 6-days earlier I logged 68 contacts including 8 DX stations in Europe via Inonoaklin Provincial Park CA-3626 using this same antenna configuration. I wont get any awards for logging the most contacts per hour – but perhaps I qualify for an award for the least number of contacts per hour! They could call it the Snail Award. 😊
Between being surrounded by mountains and muffled by solar storms, it was a challenging day. Time to pack-up and make the 2-hour drive back home before it gets dark.
For those who haven’t followed my previous posts, we live in a rural mountain community in Swannanoa, NC, and were hit hard by the unprecedented destruction caused by Hurricane (later Tropical Storm) Helene. I’ve been sharing regular updates to chronicle our recovery efforts and, naturally, to highlight the vital role amateur radio has played throughout.
Late Sunday afternoon, as my wife and I were reviewing our financials and plans on the porch, we suddenly heard a group of neighbors down the road cheer, “Woo hoo!”
We exchanged a knowing look.
Power had been restored to our road.
What a moment! A dedicated power line crew from Indiana had spent several long days installing new poles and running new lines along our two-mile stretch.
As I’ve mentioned before, we installed a solar power system with battery backup (read all the details here), so the only way I could confirm grid power had returned was by checking the app that monitors our system.
This news was a tremendous morale boost for everyone. With grid power restored, neighbors no longer need to worry about propane deliveries or managing generator runtimes. They can now fully rely on their refrigerators again.
Late Sunday evening, I stepped outside into the front yard, and for the first time in weeks, the valley was quiet—no more generator hum.
Simply amazing. We’re deeply grateful to the line crews who traveled from across the U.S. and Canada to restore service.
Estimates
While I doubt Duke Energy is reading my posts, I do plan to reach out and thank them for their hard work. I also want to offer a suggestion about providing power restoration estimates to customers, particularly after such a major event like Helene.
During smaller outages (the kind that happen when a tree falls on a line), Duke’s website and app typically provide an estimated restoration time. More often than not, power is restored a bit earlier than the estimate. I think this is a good practice, as it gives customers a realistic, “worst-case” time frame.
However, during this event, Duke understandably refrained from providing detailed estimates. We were told that 90% of the county would have power by Sunday, but there were no specific estimates for harder-to-reach areas like ours.
I assume that some Duke field engineers were instructed to err on the side of caution when giving estimates to customers they encountered. In our case, a Duke employee told us last Thursday that we should prepare to be without grid power until Christmas.
This information reached us just before our community meeting that day, leading many of us to adjust plans and purchase supplies for a long-term outage.
Then, on Saturday, we spoke with a power line worker contracted by Duke who had been dispatched to our neighborhood. He informed us that power would be restored in a matter of days and that new poles had already been set on the lower part of our road. He estimated we’d have power by Monday, maybe even Sunday.
Sure enough, by Sunday evening, the lights were back on.
While we were overjoyed, the earlier estimate of “Christmas” was more than a little stressful. Many of us made decisions and spent money based on that initial forecast. Perhaps the Duke employee felt he was managing our expectations, but the result was unnecessary stress and over-preparation.
I thought this might be an isolated incident, but a ham radio friend in Fairview shared a similar experience. His community was told to expect months without power, only to have it restored within days.
I’m not here to complain. My point is simply that being straightforward and realistic in assessments is far better than offering a doomsday scenario.
Disrupted Services
While power restoration is a huge victory, we’re still facing some longer-term challenges.
For one, unless people have recently signed up for Starlink (and I’m certain this disaster has led to a massive surge in subscriptions), there’s no internet on our road, and it’s unlikely to return anytime soon. AT&T is our only service provider, and their lines were in poor condition even before Helene hit. Earlier this year, we switched to HughesNet satellite internet because our AT&T DSL was unreliable and painfully slow.
There’s been talk that AT&T might replace the old copper line with fiber, but I have my doubts. Rural communities like ours often get overlooked because we don’t have the subscriber density of urban areas.
We’re also still without mobile phone data service. My 4G hotspot, which we rely on to supplement bandwidth for our daughters’ online classes, hasn’t worked since September 27th.
Our road, too, remains a challenge. The Kentucky DOT crew did an excellent job patching up two rough areas on flat parts of the road, but it’s still not easily passable by vehicles with low ground clearance. Our road will stay one-lane until the NC DOT can step in and fully repair it to their standards and add guard rails at some point int he future. NCDOT has never faced destruction on the scale of Helene before, so it’s going to take time to address all the damaged roads and bridges that were compromised or wiped out by flooding and debris flows.
Even simple things like grocery shopping take longer now. Ingles, the dominant grocery chain in western North Carolina, was hit hard by Helene.
I took this shot at our local Ingles two days post-Helene when a neighbor and I rode our mountain bikes into town. Note where the water line is on his white truck that was parked in the parking lot (where he thought it would be safe) during the storm.
Our local store was flooded (see photo above), and many locations remain closed. Their massive distribution center in Swannanoa/Black Mountain was also damaged. In the Asheville area, we have other options, but Ingles is the only grocery store in some of the rural towns in WNC. Hopefully, they’ll get back on their feet soon.
Our favorite local produce shop was almost certainly damaged beyond repair. The owner, Mr. Ledford, is a family friend and a valued member of the community. We always tried to shop locally and relied on his store for fresh produce.
It’s heartbreaking to see how many local businesses in Swannanoa were affected by the storm. This disaster is going to change the business landscape here for years to come.
Some school services are expected to resume by October 28, provided water restoration in Asheville stays on track. Our daughters will have missed a full month of their senior fall term. Since they’re dual-enrolled at the community college, all of their classes will go on their college transcripts. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that this break has given them time to focus on university applications and scholarship opportunities.
Proud Papa: I must say, I couldn’t be prouder of my daughters (K4GRL and K4TLI). They’ve been doing an incredible job helping both at home and within our community. Both have taken on net control duties for our local simplex frequency and have been passing traffic on the N2GE (Mount Mitchell) repeater. Their dedication and skill have been vital to our recovery efforts and the broader communications network in the area. Thank you, ladies!
Arborists Update
Yesterday morning, the arborists we hired to remove the trees from our property called to let us know they wouldn’t be able to bring their cranes up our tricky road. There are two sections that are too steep and rough.
That news was a bit of a blow, as we’d spent days finding an arborist with an opening in their schedule and who could make it to our area.
But within an hour, a neighbor called on the radio to tell us that a family friend from Ohio, who owns a tree service, was on the way to help—free of charge. They’d traveled overnight to Western North Carolina just to lend a hand.
When the arborist saw our rental house, he said, “You don’t need a crane if you can use mechanical advantage. Let’s get this done.” Using ropes and pulleys, he and his crew made quick work of the tree.
They’re coming back this morning to help with the tree our residence as well.
Their generosity has been overwhelming, and although they’ve offered to do this for free, we will pay them to help pay it forward—so they can continue helping others who might not be able to afford tree services and perhaps keep them in the community a bit longer.
As I’ve said before, this disaster has truly brought out the best in humanity, and we feel fortunate to be surrounded by such kindness.
In summary
Things are certainly improving, and we are incredibly grateful for all the progress made so far. Rather than expressing concerns, I hope this message offers a constructive perspective from those of us navigating life in a post-disaster environment, with the intention of highlighting opportunities for improving communication in the future.
Thank you
Once again, we are deeply grateful for the kindness and support we’ve received. If I haven’t had a chance to respond to your emails or comments, please know it’s because I’ve been focused on helping my family and neighbors through this challenging time.
A huge thank you to Vince (VE6LK) and all the fantastic contributors submitting articles on QRPer.com!
Vince has been an absolute lifesaver, stepping in to handle the formatting and posting of field reports and articles. It’s been such a pleasure to read all the incredible reports and witness QRPer.com truly flourishing while my attention is focused on recovery at home.
On that note, I’ve been reading every comment and message, but simply don’t have the time to reply back to everyone. My time on the internet is very limited these days because I’m still outside working most of the day.
What an amazing community you all are! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
In recent times I’ve been feeling the urge to start experimenting with telescopic vertical whip antennas. Vertical whip antennas appear to be somewhat simpler to setup than elevated dipoles. So, it seems like a worthwhile endeavor to experiment with.
Recently, I purchased two Chameleons telescoping verticals whips: their 17’ version and the 25’ version, for experimental purposes. I’m looking forward to trying various configurations, which will likely not be until next spring or summer as our weather here in the Okanagan Valley of BC is starting to show hints that winter is just around the corner. So, for now I have one specific configuration idea in mind that I have been itching to try: a 1/2 λ Coaxial Sleeve Telescopic Vertical Dipole. However, this configuration is required to be elevated with a tall mast.
In a sense, I suppose one could call this a Hybrid Telescopic Vertical Antenna because the top-half of the antenna will be a standard 17’ telescopic vertical whip from Chameleon. And, instead of typical radials, the bottom-half of the antenna will be using the same concept of a Coaxial Sleeve Vertical Dipole, tuned for the 20m band.
I won’t take up too much space in this report outlining the construction details. I just wanted to see if this antenna concept has any viable potential for ongoing uses. This is the antenna I will be using today atop my 30’ carbon fiber telescopic mast.
Here we go with the events of the day.
Today I will be attempting to activate Vance Creek Ecological Reserve, CA-4252. The Vance Creek activation spot is located about 1.5 hours drive NE of Kelowna, BC, Canada. The access road into Vance Creek is a gravel forestry service road (FSR), just north of Lumby, BC. I will be the 2nd person to ever activate this park, and the 1st to do it with CW.
We left home early with plans to make this another full day of playing with POTA.
Having never been here before, we drove the length of the reserve in search of a good spot and settled for a location just inside of the far-end of the park boundary at around 16:00 UTC (09:00 PDT). We chose this location because it is one of the few areas to easily park off the roadway. Beyond the sign titled “Woodlot” is a forestry logging harvest area (outside the park boundary).
Editor note – Please enjoy this guest post from Conrad Troutmann N2YCH.
Thank you “deputy” Vince, VE6LK, for assisting in managing some guest contributor posts for QRPer.com. I’m so happy to hear Thomas and his family rode the storm out safely and send him my best wishes and hope things return to normal soon. Here’s my contribution to help keep QRPer.com going while Thomas gets his house back in order. 73, Conrad, N2YCH
September 22, 2024
Lately, the high frequency bands (15/12/10 meters) have been hit or miss, largely due to recent space weather events. Today, taking a look at WSPR beacon reception at my QTH on the Top Spotters web site, I noticed that 10 meters was open and I was spotting quite a few stations on the band.
Top Spotters Ranker – https://wspr.rocks/topspotters/
The weather here was sunny and beautiful and my batteries were all charged up, so it seemed like all signs were pointing to a POTA activation at Silver Sands State Park, US-1716. I usually activate on 20 meters, however with 10 open, I thought I’d try for some DX and give hunters that don’t normally hear me on 20 a chance to get the park. When I was trying for my Worked All States POTA award, I appreciated it when the Hawaii and Alaska activators activated on the higher bands so I had a chance to get them all the way from the East Coast. I like to return the favor when I can.
I decided to give my Elecraft KX2 a workout as well. Paired with my Buddipole vertical up 10’, I figured I would do well.
Buddipole Vertical with Elevated Counterpoise using Electric Fence PostKX3, Samsung Computer and Bioenno Battery with a view looking towards Long Island Sound at Silver Sands State Park in Connecticut
I got set up, checked and adjusted my computer time using JTSync and started calling CQ POTA on FT8. I called and called and no one answered. I checked PSKReporter and I was being spotted, but still, no answers. I was receiving well, in fact, I was picking up stations as far away as South Africa. “Hello, is this thing working? Can you hear me now?”
Just to be sure my equipment was working, I shifted to “hunt and pounce” mode. Rather than call CQ, I started answering stations who were calling CQ. It’s not my preferred way to get the QSO’s needed to officially activate the park, but sometimes that’s what you need to do. I have JTAlert set to sort received stations from strongest received signals to weakest. I’ve found based on prior experience that my chances of completing a QSO are much higher with stations that I’m receiving with strong signals. So, I answered a CQ for a station in Texas coming in at +19 and he answered right away. One in the log.
I did this for the next 30 minutes or so and managed to get six stations, about half I called and the other half answered my CQ. I moved around the waterfall looking for openings, but it was busy and challenging. Just for grins, I decided to see if FT4 was active. Sure enough, I was receiving many stations there as well. I called CQ and immediately had stations answering. I did the rest of the activation on FT4 and had a steady stream of callers. I completed the activation with 17 total QSO’s, my map is below. I make these maps using the Adventure Radio log analyzer. You can import the same log you upload to the POTA page and put the grid square in and it generates the map.
Activation QSO Map made with the Adventure Radio Log analyzer
Interestingly, all of the USA contacts were on FT8 and when I moved to FT4, I picked up all of the EU ones. I was happy to see after I uploaded my log to the POTA site that almost all of the hunters who got me were active POTA hunters and had accounts at the POTA web site. In fact, one was actually a park-to-park QSO. PA4PA was at the Sluiswaai Nature Reserve, NL-0219 in the Netherlands.
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