by Teri (KO4WFP)
Sunday, July 14 finally arrived, a day for which I prepared the past five weeks. It was time for Daisy and the POTA Babe to head to North Carolina for a week of POTA, SOTA, and camping. The drive was straight-forward and easy – Interstate 95 to Interstate 26.
About four hours after leaving Savannah, we arrived at my first POTA location: the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site (US-0804) in Flat Rock, NC.
I LOVE visiting North Carolina. Nearly everywhere you look in the countryside you see green, green, GREEN. There are ferns (one of my favorite plants) in the understory. There are wildflowers in the fields I don’t see back home. There is a certain earthy smell when one walks trails. And the roads! Don’t get me started on how much fun I have driving the winding mountain roads with their banked curves! (Can you tell I love visiting North Carolina?)
Back to the story at hand, the Carl Sandburg National Historic Site is 264 acres and contains the home of Carl Sandburg, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet. He and his family moved to the site in 1945. It suited his need for seclusion and his wife’s needs for raising her prize-winning goats. In fact, the park service actually maintains roughly fifteen goats in a historic herd on site today.
The Sandburg home sits atop a hill and one gets glimpses of the house as you walk along the lengthy driveway winding up the hill toward it. The drive is shaded and benches dot the pathway beckoning one to sit and enjoy the quiet. I longingly looked at them as an activation site but the intermittent presence of pedestrians nixed that idea.
Both Daisy and I were surprised by the heat of the day. The temperature was 91 degrees! Thankfully, outside the house I spied some trees with shade beneath them. Their orientation would allow me to run my antenna toward the northwest and their shade was a welcome respite from the heat.
Given I saw no restrictions on antennas in the trees when reading the rules of using the property, I promptly set about getting the EFRW up. Trust this hobby to keep you humble, though. On my last activation at Tuckahoe Wildlife Management Area, it took just one perfect throw to snag the branch I wanted. Today, it took four! Some days you have it and others you don’t.
The activation proceeded slowly, I think mostly due to the inconsistent band conditions. It took an hour to log twelve stations. There were several stations I heard but they were too faint or they disappeared on me.
The bulk of the QSOs were on 20 meters with an additional one each on 30 meters and 17 meters. As I had cell service at this park, I did hunt other activators but the only station with which I could have a QSO was Joe K5KUA in Texas at park US-3030.
Given we had yet to check in at our campsite and set up our tent, it was time to call QRT despite only having 12 QSOs. It would have been nice to tour the house but dogs are not allowed inside, so Daisy and I contented ourselves with enjoying the grounds.
When I solicited input from QRPer readers as to where to visit in North Carolina and Virginia, Keith W4WKS recommended I stay at the Davidson River Campground inside the Pisgah National Forest.
The campground was easy to find (just outside Brevard, NC) and my site clean and conveniently located near the bathhouse. Daisy relaxed beneath the new Ruffwear hitch system while I set up our tent and made supper for both of us.
Whew! Between the drive, the heat of the afternoon activation, and the activity of the past week getting ready for the trip, this POTA Babe was bushed at the end of the day. However, not too bushed to stop for ice cream at Dolly’s Dairy Bar in Brevard. (Doesn’t that look scrumptious?!) Now whupped AND sated, I recharged my KX2 and wound down for the night.
Monday, July 15 would be a big day for me with my first SOTA activations. I had a rough idea of what to do but worried I’d trip all over myself actually doing it.
Ham radio is experiential, though. You can read and research all you want; at some point, you just have to step up to the plate and do it. Will my first SOTA activations be good, bad, or ugly? Stay tuned…
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Well done!
Billy:
Thanks for the compliment. I hope CARS is continuing to enjoy POTA despite the summer heat and humidity.
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
Thanks for the wonderful activation report!
Given the poor condx, would you say the signals came in on little cat feet?
Paul:
At first when I read your comment, I thought “huh?” Then a few minutes later, it clicked! How very witty of you! I would have preferred the propagation channeling elephants or hippos rather than cats but, as we know, the propagation is what it is.
Thanks for the compliment.
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
Looks like a fine roadtrip/POTA outing. Nice to see the POTA flag still being disoplayed!
72 de Gil K4JST
Gil:
I try to display the POTA flag when I can (especially at locations with lots of activity) and very much appreciate having it in my arsenal. It looked great on that barbedwire fence.
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
Teri-
The unidentified plant appears to be a dogbane.
73- K1SWL
Dave:
I looked throught some images of North Carolina white wildflowers when writing the article, but the leaves in those photos didn’t match the leaves in my photo which have a simple pinnate veining pattern. However, I googled “dogbane” and yes, those images look like the plant in my photos. So, thanks for identifying this plant for me.
In the next article, I have an unidentified plant and maybe you can shed some light on its name, too.
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
One of the first places I tried to activate. Enjoy.(
Great work and a beautifully crafted piece.
The POTA Babe in Transylvania County! Isn’t Western NC beautiful? I think that the entire state is pretty awesome. But Im a little sad to realize that I have lived in NC most of my 61 years and have never been to Brevard or Flat Rock. But I am going to!!
Hope you and Daisy are having a blast! I could really get into doing a solo trip like you are doing.
See you in your next installment!
73 de NG9T
Gary:
Yes, western North Carolina is gorgeous! I enjoyed the trip so much that I hope to return next summer to that region to get more SOTA experience. A solo trip is fun but also a lot of work and not as easy to bounce back from at age 53 I have discovered. However, I learn so much from these trips and, after having recovered, I want to go back out for more – hi hi.
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
Well done! Always interesting to read about your adventures in the field of QRP. I have been trying to get outside to do some QRP with my Index Labs QRP Plus Plus but the heat here in South Texas keeps me inside for now. Keep the good work up ! 72/73, for now, Dick, K0RDS
Dick:
I was in the Dallas, TX area last year visiting family and yes, it was HOT! I am champing at the bit to get more POTA done here in Georgia but dealing with the same hot and humid conditions as you. And now I have a tropical storm bearing down on my QTH this week.
Thanks for your compliment. I hope both of us will be back in the field soon!
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP