On Monday, September 2, 2024, my good friend Vlado (N3CZ) and I spent Labor Day morning playing POTA.

Our first activation was at Lake James State Park, using the new CFT1 QRP transceiver. It was a lot of fun–you can read the field report and watch the video by clicking here.

For the second activation, I wanted to take Vlado to a site I’ve activated numerous times—one of my favorites—that he had yet to visit:

Table Rock State Fish Hatchery (US-8012)

We arrived on-site around 11:00 AM and, no surprise, had the place to ourselves. Honestly, I was hoping we’d see the three dogs that often pop by for a visit, but I believe they were on vacation with everyone else!

We both figured 20 meters would be our bread-and-butter band for this activation. More importantly, our transceiver was a 20-meter monoband (more on that below), so I deployed my new 20-meter end-fed half-wave antenna.

This particular EFHW is built on a transformer by Walter (NE4TN) at TennTennas.

TennTennas 49:1 QRP Transformer

I may have mentioned before that Walter gave me this little 49:1 transformer at Hamvention this year when I met him in person. Walter is one of my top hunters in POTA, and I can often count on hearing his call when I’m on 40 meters.

Walter handed me this little transformer as a thank you, with no obligation to promote it—in fact, he didn’t even tell me where they could be purchased.

But I’m a sucker for home-grown mom-and-pop ham radio businesses, so of course, I’m going to plug it! He sells these on eBay (partnership link) for $39 each as a small side business. Not a bad price for a solid little 49:1!

As I mentioned, I trimmed this one for 20 meters, but I’ll likely make it a linked antenna with 30 and/or 40 meters as well someday.

Vlado’s Homebrew Transceiver

I was also excited that Vlado brought along his homebrew 20-meter QRP transceiver.

I had seen this radio in his shack during various stages of development, but I had never had an opportunity to use it in the field.

I’m not sure if Vlado had used it for a POTA activation yet, in fact.

His little transceiver is super simple but sports proper filtering, an OLED display, and, despite the large battery he connected to it, has modest power requirements.

He built it into an old Kenwood VHF radio chassis he found at a hamfest. I’ve been with Vlado before when he’s hunted for chassis for his various homebrew projects. The OM is always building or repairing something in his shack.

We were really looking forward to putting this little transceiver on the air!

Gear

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Transceiver:
- N3CZ’s homebrew transceiver
Key:
- Putikeeg Mini CW Key on a steel block
Antenna system:
Power source:
- Bioenno 12 Ah LiFePo Battery (total overkill for this radio!)
Other accessories:
Camera:
- DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod

On The Air

As with our first activation that day, we decided to take turns with one radio instead of setting up two stations. Vlado was the first op to start calling CQ POTA!

Fortunately, the band was still healthy.

Vlado started logging calls immediately and at a good pace. Within 14 minutes, he’d worked 11 stations and decided to hand the key over to me.

I had the same experience as Vlado—a steady supply of hunters rolling in!

I logged 16 contacts in 17 minutes, then called QRT. While I would have liked to stay on the air a bit longer, both Vlado and I were ready to find some lunch!

QSO Map

Here’s what this five-watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map (click map 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!

This short activation—and the one earlier that morning—was a lot of fun. It was even better because I got to operate Vlado’s homebrew transceiver and pair it with my new TennTennas EFHW transformer.

Post-activation, Vlado and I made our way into downtown Marion, NC, for some superb barbecue at Smoke a ‘Lil Smoke.

After that, we called it a day and made our way back to our QTHs. I’m so glad my wife suggested I call Vlado for a little POTA rove on Labor Day morning!

Thank you

Thank you for joining Vlado and me during this activation!

I hope you enjoyed the field report and 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! Here’s wishing you a very radio-active week!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)