As mentioned in previous field reports, my wife and I spent the week of July 7th, 2024, in Wilmington, North Carolina, while our daughters were at summer programs at NCSU and UNCW.

We had an amazing time and I managed to squeeze in some Parks on the Air (POTA) activations at Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, Carolina Beach State Park, and an epic activation at the Battleship North Carolina!

On Sunday, July 14th, we packed our bags and drove to Raleigh where we visited the NC History Museum and NC Museum of Natural Sciences. We were in the midst of a heat wave, so the time spent indoors at the museums was much appreciated.

I had my Elecraft KH1 packed and planned to activate the State Capitol (US-6852), conveniently located next to the museum parking lots. The State Capitol grounds truly requires a super low-impact radio like the KH1 due to the strong security presence and limited setup space.

Upon arriving at the State Capitol, we found a large gathering (possibly a protest) and sweltering heat (104°F/40°C)! I decided to postpone the activation and instead opted for an early morning activation, the following day, at William B. Umstead State Park, just a ten-minute drive from our hotel.

I checked the park’s website and discovered that the gates opened at 8:00 AM. This was perfect: I could grab breakfast at 6:00 AM, catch up on emails, head to the park, activate until 9:30 AM or so, return to the hotel, and still have enough time for our 11:00 AM Duke University tour. (The reason we spent extra days in the Raleigh/Durham area was so that our daughters could tour NCSU, Duke, and UNC Chapel Hill.)

William B. Umstead State Park (US-2755)

I arrived at the park just a few minutes after the gates opened.

Although I had never been to William B. Umstead State Park, I had studied a map beforehand and knew there was a picnic area accessible from the entrance I chose (the park has multiple entry points, and I selected the one closest to our hotel).

It’s a beautiful park, and the contrast between the morning commuter traffic and the oasis of trees was striking! I parked at the first picnic area I found, grabbed my radio pack, and chose a picnic site.

This early in the morning, the picnic area was deserted – I only saw runners, walkers, and park staff.

Setting up

For this activation, I brought my Penntek TR-45L and paired it with my KM4CFT 30M end-fed half-wave with a 40M linked extension.

Although I found an ideal setup spot, the surrounding trees proved to be a challenge! The branches were either too low or too high. After some effort, I managed to snag a suitable branch with my throw line, deployed the antenna, and was ready to get on the air!

Gear

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• Penntek TR-45L
• ABR Industries 25’ RG-316 cable assembly with three in-line ferrites (Use Coupon Code ABR10QRPER for 10% Discount!)
  
• KM4CFT End-Fed Antenna Kit (eBay partner link)
• CW Morse Outdoor Double Paddle With Steel Base
• Key cable: Cable Matters 2-Pack Gold-Plated Retractable Aux Cable – 2.5 Feet
• Weaver arborist throw line/weight and storage bag
• GraphGear 0.9mm 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil
• ‎Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook
• GoRuck GR1 USA
• Camera: DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod
• Thermacell Mosquito Backpacker Repeller

On The Air

Being this early in the morning, I started the activation on 40 meters.

I called CQ POTA only for a short time before the hunters found me. Fortunately, band conditions were pretty respectable!

I logged a total of 21 stations in 20 minutes.

Wonderful!

I decided to move up to 20 meters next, just to see if I could snag a few more contacts.

It wasn’t as active as 40 meters was (this time of the day), but I still managed to add six more hunters to the logs in about eleven minutes.

With 28 stations logged, I called QRT to ensure I could return to the hotel in time for our Duke University tour.

Here are the logs:

QSO Map

Here’s what this five-watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map:

Activation Video

Here’s my real-time, real-life video of the entire activation.  As with all of my videos, I don’t edit out any parts of the on-air activation time. In addition, I have monetization turned off on YouTube, although that doesn’t stop them from inserting ads before and after my videos.

Note that Patreon supporters can watch and even download this video 100% ad-free through Vimeo on my Patreon page:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Later that day…

Despite the oppressive heat, that Monday turned out to be a superb day. After the activation, I met up with my wife and daughters at the hotel. We then headed to Duke University for our scheduled tour.

It was hovering around 100°F/38°C, so our excellent student tour guides made sure to stop as often as possible in the shade or in some of the air-conditioned campus buildings.

After the tour, we met with QRPer reader and supporter, Dr. Roger Barr (N4GF), a Biomedical Engineering professor at Duke. He was incredibly kind and knowledgeable, and we all thoroughly enjoyed his in-depth insights about the university.

Thank you, Roger!

We left Duke around mid-afternoon and returned to the hotel to enjoy the air conditioning. I spent a couple of hours reading and relaxing.

Later in the afternoon, it was still around 98°F/36.5°C! I had been in communication with John Brier (KG4AKV), who invited us to meet him at a nearby lake as he made some Green Cube Sat and ISS contacts.

Since my daughter (K4TLI) is building a QRP EME station as a school project, and we’re basing it on a 70cm Green Cube sat chasing system, this was a great opportunity to see some of the gear in action.

John had put out word on his club’s discussion group, and quite a few people showed up for his demo. He did a brilliant job explaining his process and equipment. I should note hear that John documents some of his satellite adventures on his excellent YouTube channel.

His Green Cube contacts were all digital mode, but he used FM voice for the ISS pass.

It was a fantastic way to spend the early evening, and we enjoyed meeting so many great local hams.

All in all, it was a hot but very radio-active day!

Thank you

Thank you for joining me during this activation!
I hope you enjoyed the field report and my activation video as much as I enjoyed creating them!

Of course, I’d also like to send a special thanks to those of you who have been supporting the site and channel through Patreon, and the Coffee Fund. While not a requirement, as my content will always be free, I really appreciate the support.

As I mentioned before, the Patreon platform connected to Vimeo makes it possible for me to share videos that are not only 100% ad-free but also downloadable for offline viewing. The Vimeo account also serves as a third backup for my video files.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me! Have a wonderful week!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)