Many thanks to Teri (KO4WFP) who shares the following guest post:

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The Lifeline of CW and POTA

by Teri (KO4WFP)

The past five months have been tumultuous. I am now divorced and my son and I are making a new life for ourselves with my family. Those of you who’ve been through a divorce know how stressful and difficult a process it is, especially when navigating it for the first time. You are undoing relationships and patterns of behavior and figuring out how to move forward and what that looks like.

Why do I tell you this? Partially because I want those of you who’ve said “where the heck have you been?” to know why I’ve been absent from QRPer. However, I also want to thank all of you in the ham community because it is this community that saw me through my difficulties. Hams are some of the kindest and most wonderful people, especially CW and POTA hams. This community has rallied to my side and given me a reason to keep moving forward.

As Thomas noted in his September 17 post of this year, CW is indeed “radio therapy.” After I relocated, it was six weeks before I had a home station again. Six LONG weeks without seeing my code buddies – Caryn KD2GUT, Glenn W4YES, and Charles W4CLW – on the air. I felt cut off not having those QSOs, not being able to get on the air when I desired, like someone had removed my legs! The absence reinforced how much CW and POTA mean to me.

While working to get a home station again, I latched onto POTA. I vividly recall driving home from my first POTA activation after leaving my ex-husband and, for the first time in several weeks, the stress temporarily melted away. Life, for a few hours, felt normal. I felt like my old self.

CW and POTA were indeed therapy as I put my life back together. Getting out and activating was good for my mind and body. Ham radio for me is about relationships and seeing ops who hunt me regularly was like reconnecting with friends saying “hi”.

POTA became an integral part of my healing process and I pursued activations at George L. Smith State Park and, my old stomping ground, Butter Bean Beach, part of Wormsloe State Historic Site.

George L. Smith State Park is a pretty site for POTA. The park’s focal point is Mill Pond Lake which was created by the damming of 15-Mile Creek in 1880. Visitors can rent kayaks or canoes to explore three paddling trails in the 412-acre lake and its wetlands but are warned against swimming due to the presence of alligators. The land adjacent to the lake has seven miles of nature trails through sand-bottomed forest with hardwoods and longleaf pine.

The old mill at the site still exists. The original floodgates are used to control the water level in the lake with the addition of an electric hoist to open and close the gates. The mill, known as Watson Mill, is housed in a bridge which was open to motor traffic until 1984 and is one of only two mills operated by the State of Georgia. Watson Mill housed a sawmill for lumber as well as a gristmill, the latter which remains operational for demonstration purposes.

After a quick drive through the park, I chose to set up on the hill next to the park office which offered an open area without adjacent power lines. It wasn’t long before my EFRW was installed in a tree and I was on the air.

The first activation at this state park was my second activation ever bringing my dog Daisy. I jokingly call myself a POTA Babe (note the shirt). Well, every POTA Babe should have a POTA pooch!

Daisy proved to be a great POTA companion, content to lie down and be entertained by her surroundings. She was so well behaved, she didn’t chase either of the two fawns who later showed up to cavort not far from our location.

As a reward for such exemplary behavior, Daisy and I took a walk after my activation. The short trail led through the woods and along the edge of the pond, giving us a good look at why Mill Pond is called a blackwater habitat. (Note the water stained black like tea from decaying vegetation.)

The five activations at Butter Bean Beach during my divorce were to complete my kilo for this park. During my fifth activation on November 14th, I needed a little over 70 QSOs to reach 1,000 contacts. The temperature was 57 degrees but the wind coming off the water made it feel much colder. I resorted to pulling the Jungle Blanket from my car, wrapping it around me to tough it out!

You never know what you’ll see while at Butter Bean Beach. This day the local police department showed up for training exercises. Not only were divers getting in and out of the (cold!) water, later a SWAT team ran out into the parking lot past my car and got into a helicopter that landed. The helicopter then rose, circled over the parking lot, and zoomed off!

Before the divers finished their training, one came over. He said they’d been trying to figure out what I was doing the past few hours. So we had a pleasant ten minute conversation about ham radio and morse code. You never know when an opportunity for outreach will present itself.

Forty meters usually is my workhorse at Butter Bean Beach. However, there was significant site noise this day and I spent very little time on that band. Twenty meters proved to be the heavy lifter. Over the course of four hours, I band-hopped back and forth, between 20, 40, and 17, picking up QSOs here and there including three overseas – France, Sweden, and the Azores. Finally, FINALLY, when I could stay no longer due to an afternoon appointment, I reached 75 QSOs, just enough for my first kilo. My determination paid off!

However, remember what I said earlier? CW and POTA is about relationships. None of my activations would be successful without hunters supporting me. And I wouldn’t be where I am today with CW without my code buddies and the Straight Key Century Club operators who’ve given their time and assistance as I develop my skills.

Ham radio IS a lifeline. When life gives you lemons as it did to me, hop on the air and make lemonade, meeting new friends and reacquainting with old ones. I hope all of us will be active and helping one another in this amazing hobby for a long time to come.