I woke up around 6:45 on Saturday, August 24, 2024. That’s late for me, but I tend to sleep well when camping and it must have helped that the previous evening POTA activation by the campfire was pure bliss.

There were some noises in the campground that woke me up during the night (probably other campers scaring off raccoons), but aside from that, I slept peacefully in my rooftop tent.

As I lay there Saturday morning, I couldn’t decide whether to make breakfast and hit the air for an early morning POTA activation, or to take a nice hike before everyone else in the campground woke up.

I chose the latter option!

At 7:00 AM, I headed to the nearby trailhead for the Lake Shore trail. It was a very pleasant and quiet hike—roughly 5 miles in total.

Afterwards, I made some blueberry oatmeal and a cup of French-pressed coffee. It really hit the spot!

Next, I grabbed my Elecraft K2 and connected it to the MM0OPX 40M EFHW that I had set up the previous evening.

I realized it had been a while since I’d taken the K2 out into the field, which was why I packed it for this trip. I use the K2 quite often in the shack, but it needed some outdoor time. All radios (and their operators!) need outdoor therapy!

New Tufteln TP-III Protective Cover

My friend Joshua (N5FY) at Tufteln sent me this protective cover, at no cost to me, for the BamaKey TP-III.  Joshua has almost become a specialist in making bespoke protective covers for radios and accessories.

This cover is great. You insert four rare earth magnets (included) into four holes in the bottom of the cover. These work with the rare earth magnets on the TP-III to mag-lock the cover in place.

If you buy one of these for your TP-III, I would advice that you check the polarity of the magnets on the TP-III before inserting the magnets in the cover’s holes. I didn’t do this and found that I’d aligned a couple of the magnets in opposition, thus they repelled the magnets in the case. I had to dig the magnets out and reverse them–not a complicated procedure, but one I could have avoided had I simply thought about this in advance!

Anyway, I do like this cover! Thanks, Joshua!

Gear

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• Elecraft K2/10
• BamaKey TP-III
• Tufteln TP-III Magnetic Cover
• Senrog Bench Block [TP-III base]
• MM0OPX QRP EFHW (Contact Colin for Availability)
• ABR Industries 25’ RG-316 cable assembly with three in-line ferrites (Use Coupon Code ABR10QRPER for 10% Discount!)
• GoRuck GR1 USA
• Weaver arborist throw line/weight and storage bag
• GraphGear 0.9mm 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil
• Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook
• Camera: DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod
• Thermocell Backpacker Mosquito Repeller

On The Air

I hopped on the air and started calling CQ POTA on the 40-meter band. I figured that at this time of morning, 40 meters should be in decent shape.

I was right!

Within ten minutes, I had logged ten hunters. Woo hoo!

Keep in mind that the previous evening, I had already logged 43 stations within the same UTC day, so this activation was just building on the one from the night before. In other words, it was already a “valid” activation before I even started calling CQ.

I continued working stations on 40 meters until the band got a bit quiet. Then I quickly QSY’d to the 10-meter band and worked my way down to 15 meters.

Both 10 and 12 meters were dead, which wasn’t surprising given the time of morning. But sometimes little openings to the EU happen on the higher bands, so it was worth a try!

On 15 meters, I managed to work one hunter—thanks, Mark (KA5TXN)!

All in all, including the previous evening’s activation, I worked a total of 80 contacts.

QSO Map

Here’s what this five-watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map: [click image to enlarge]

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.

What fun!

As I reviewed the video, I was reminded just how amazing the audio and receiver are in the Elecraft K2. It’s truly a gem of a transceiver and a keeper for sure.

This overnight camping trip made me realize how much I enjoy combining camping and QRP. I plan to spend many more nights in the C6 Rev Tent this fall and winter. One trip coming up soon is the W4G SOTA campout in North Georgia. I’m really looking forward to that!

Thank you

Thank you for joining me during this morning 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 brilliant week ahead and I hope you get a little time to play radio!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)