Many thanks to Rod (VA3MZD) for sharing the following guest post:

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Operating POTA from the interior of Quetico Provincial Park CA-0359 with a (tr)uSDX

By Rod Murray (VA3MZD)

In a previous guest post here on QRPer I gave a brief history of my introduction to Ham radio and specifically POTA and my experiences activating local parks by bicycle. My initial excitement about POTA was inspired by the YouTube channels of some noteworthy field operators, Tracy VE3TWM, Julian OH8STN, Adam K6ARK, Stuart VE9CF, and Thomas K4SWL of course, just to name a few.

Tracy VE3TWM’s experiences on a canoe trip to Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, a place he and I know well (although we’ve never met) were particularly inspirational. In this video from 2021 Tracey activated Algonquin Provincial Park CA-0138 from a lake that I’d previously paddled to on a canoe trip. I wanted to do that too! But it would take quite a while. Let me tell you.

In 2022, with my regular paddling buddy Tom, we planned to take our wives to one of the premier canoe tripping parks in North America that we’d never visited.  We’ve been paddling together since we were teenagers at an Ontario summer camp and had been taking our partners along on canoe trips for over 30 years.

Quetico Provincial Park in North Western Ontario, Canada, one of the province’s crown jewels, stands as a legendary wilderness area that can only be accessed by canoe or kayak in summer and ski or snowshoe in winter, with one exception. There is one road accessible campground and visitor centre in the park’s northeast corner. The Park, which is over 4700 square kilometres, is also surrounded by thousands more square kilometres of wilderness public land, known in Canada as “Crown land.” Numerous First Nation communities are also adjacent to the Park.

To the south is the equally famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, USA. Indeed, one can start a canoe trip in one country and finish in another, or paddle a route along the International Boundary (hence the name!), crossing the border numerous times as you go, with the required documentation of course.

We had a successful trip to Quetico in 2022 and I vowed to return when the opportunity arose. Meanwhile, I’d since become very active in POTA, and was more determined to complete a POTA activation from a wilderness park while on a canoe trip.

That determination was finally put in motion in early 2024 when another Quetico canoe trip was planned for August. But the challenge would be to put together a radio, an antenna and battery light enough and compact enough to pack in a canoe trip barrel.

Our plan was to enter the Park at one of the north east access points, travel south across immense Pickerel Lake, then paddle and portage our way as far as Fern or Olifaunt Lakes, depending on our progress and the weather, and return via the same route. Or, if we were feeling adventurous, to complete the circle route made possible by the historic Deux Rivière and Pine Portages. See Map below:

Either way would require 8 portages totalling more than 7 km. Everything has to be small and light because a portage is a rugged trail between lakes where you must carry everything on your back.

Because my wife and I have four packs in total for a 10 day trip, plus the canoe, each portage must be walked 3 or more times, back and forth, until all the gear is carried over. Incoming History lesson: From my university days as a researcher for the Kanawa Canoe Museum, now the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, I learned that “portager” is a French verb that translates “to carry” and has its origins with the French Voyageurs who paddled the continent trading furs. Therefore “portage” should always be pronounced in French.

At 67 years young, I now own a Swift Kevlar canoe that weighs under 14 kg, about 30 pounds. The food and equipment barrels are about 20kg each. I wasn’t about to pack or portage much more in the form of radio equipment. It had to be light!

It so happened that a new member of my club, the Elmira Radio Club of Ontario, Hagen VE3QVY, had recently built a (tr)uSDX radio. The radio is a masterpiece of miniature hardware and brilliant software thanks to Manuel DL2MAN and Guido PE1NNZ.

Hagen is an electronics whiz, to say the least, and he knew of my interest in this radio (I was on the original list for the Canada group kit build). He lent me his (tr)uSDX back in April and after making an easy trans-Atlantic QSO with it on 5W, I immediately ordered a Classic band kit. I was already thinking about activating Quetico from the park’s interior when I started my build.

Hagen offered considerable help with my (tr)uSDX since the last time I built a kit was in 1970 when I worked on a Heathkit SW receiver I got for Christmas. Hagen installed some improved MOSFETS, precisely rewound all the toroids, tested and improved the radio’s performance and measured all the specifications, to the point where the radio was transmitting a minimum 5W on all bands with very high efficiency. And it only weighed 150 grams, perfect for my needs!

It was time to gather the necessary accessories to complete this rig keeping it lightweight and portable. I added a short length of thin RJ-316 BNC coax to my kit and included the high performance Tim Ortiz N9SAB Nano QRP 20m dipole that I’d been using for POTA with my FT-818. At only 100 grams and a reliable performer, it would fit the bill, but limit my operation to 20m.

I already had a small Bioenno 3Ah battery that could power the radio through more than a few activations, which added another 400 grams. With a few extra accessories and cables and a N6ARA mini paddle, just in case (I’ve never made a CW contact but might try if needed) my lightweight kit was well under 1 kg and complete. The rig and accessories easily fit inside the soft pouch with my fishing reels, so no extra space was required.

I started to think about how I could get spotted while in the wilderness far away from any cell towers. Perhaps, I thought, if I could add a few FT8 contacts while in the Park I could surely make 10 QSOs to confirm an activation without a spot on POTA.app. I solved the spotting quandary for an SSB activation after much deliberation.

I also tested a number of mobile phone apps that run FT8. I tried both iOS and Android apps and settled on FT8CN for Android. After updating the (tr)uSDX firmware to run CAT and audio through a single USB cable to an Android phone, I gathered a few of the USB micro to USB-C cables needed to connect the radio to a phone running the FT8CN App. Eventually, after considerable trial and error, it all worked! To be clear, the FT8CN software has a bit of a learning curve, but that is another story. It works well with some practice.

In early August, the barrels were packed and ready to go. After two full days of driving north and west 1500 km on the Trans-Canada Highway from our QTH in South Western Ontario, we arrived at Quetico Provincial Park. Yes, the province of Ontario is that big!

We camped overnight at the Park’s Dawson Trail campground and set off on our canoe trip the following morning crossing the expanse of Pickerel Lake in breezy, warm, pleasant summer weather. A few open stretches of the lake required that we paddle behind islands to avoid the bigger waves. But all that would change, dramatically.

After settling into a campsite out of the cool north wind that developed late in the afternoon, we crawled into our tents for a deep sleep, only to awake the next morning to a wet drizzle, with an air temperature of 8C and considerable wind chill. That’s typical of a northern Ontario summer. One day it’s hot and sunny, another cold and wet. Staying put to ride out the unpleasant weather, my fellow canoe trippers settled into their tents with books. I, on the other hand, had POTA to attend to.

I set up my 20m N9SAB dipole, plugged the battery into the (tr)uSDX and spun the dial up to the SSB portion of the 20m band and heard a strong 54 CQ POTA call and got K7RCR in the log almost immediately!

I was off to the races.

Could I get another nine contacts by just hunting? I had a way to spot myself, but decided to only hunt stations calling CQ POTA. Before I left on the trip, one of my radio Club colleagues agreed that if I texted him from my Garmin InReach, he would spot me on the POTA site, increasing my chances of activating. But I decided to stick with my hunting plan for this activation.

It took a few hours of hunting, but with a 2fer and an even better, 2 operator 2fer, I had 13 SSB contacts in the log. I had activated Quetico Provincial Park CA-0359. I needed a cup of warm soup, then crawled into my tent and down sleeping bag to get warm again.

The next day, in much better weather, we set out towards the Pickerel River, which drains the lake southwards over a series of waterfalls. Waterfalls mean portaging the canoe around them with all the gear. It’s hard work.

Once over the portage we rigged up our fishing rods and caught a few Smallmouth Bass and Pickerel (US translation = “walleye”) which made all the heavy lifting a lot more fun! After three portages we arrived at Bud Lake, deep in the Park and settled into a beautiful campsite on a stunning lake with extraordinary sunsets!

From one extreme to the other, the weather turned hot and humid for the next four days. We paddled and fished in the early mornings to escape the heat which meant that in the afternoon I could place my camp chair under the shade of a towering White Pine tree and do more POTA while the others read.

I set up the radio with the CAT USB cable to the Android phone running FT8CN. After a few glitches I started getting replies to my “CQ POTA VA3MZD EN48” calls. Something I had to figure out was that the phone, without a cellular connection, obviously, could not sync the time. FT8CN has a manual time offset. After numerous trial and error adjustments and comparing the phone clock to my Garmin Instinct Solar watch, I was able to get the time sync correct and was on my way to another activation.

Over the next two days I was able to complete two additional FT8 and SSB activations from near my tent looking out over Bud Lake. I sent a satellite text message to my Club friend on one activation who then spotted me on the POTA website which helped hunters find my frequency and make contact. The weather was so hot and humid we were forced into the shade except for an afternoon swim in the cool waters of the lake. I made a total of 33 contacts on SSB and FT8 on one of the days which more than met expectations.

Eventually the weather turned cooler. We decided to return to Pickerel Lake via the same three portages. With the food barrel now depleted, and considerably lighter, we made it back to Pickerel Lake after 4 hours of paddling and portaging. As we set up camp, another storm set in. Although it rained through the night, we were able to pack up, and make the crossing of the big lake in relatively calm waters the next morning. Lastly, we portaged back to the vehicles from Stanton Bay on Pickerel Lake.

And just like that, our 10-day Quetico Canoe Trip 2024 was over.

We had portaged around some spectacular waterfalls, caught fish and I’d accomplished my goal of activating Quetico Park. We headed home via Thunder Bay and Sault Saint Marie. On the return trip, I was also able to activate CA-4885, the Historic Canal between Lakes Superior and Huron. Eventually we made it home to South Western Ontario.

It took a few days to unpack, clean up and store the canoe tripping equipment. Equally important, I double checked, edited and uploaded the logs to the POTA website.

A canoe trip is a rejuvenating adventure. I thank my wife Colleen, and our long-time paddling partners Tom and Patti for making this an unforgettable trip. It’s hard work, but the companionship, wilderness scenery, fresh fish meals, morning coffee and sunsets more than make up for the challenges.

I’d be remiss If I didn’t thank the many hunters and activators who made my unique POTA activations possible! Quetico Park is rarely activated so I hope the hunters were as thrilled as I was to get them in the POTA logbook.

My Canoe Trip Radio Equipment

• (tr)uSDX Radio
• RJ-316 Coax
• N9SAB 20m Nano QRP Dipole Antenna
• Android Phone running FT8CN
• N6ARA mini paddle
• Garmin InReach
• Garmin Instinct Solar Watch
• MSR Elixir Tent
• MEC Sil Tarp
• 16’ Swift Prospector Canoe
• Barrel Works canoe trip barrels
• Eureka Canoe Pack
• Helinox Camp Chair

73 and POTA on!

Rod VA3MZD