by Teri (KO4WFP)
After an interesting and successful activation at Fort McAllister, I turned my sights southward and further back in time to Fort Morris Historic Site (US-3717).
Fort Morris Historic Site contains earthen fortifications that date back to the Revolutionary War. The site is simpler than that of Fort McAllister. Fort Morris was built to protect the town of Sunbury. Sunbury was a thriving, cosmopolitan community on the Medway River. In fact, three signers of the Declaration of Independence came from Sunbury. The river has a naturally deep channel that allowed the town to compete with the city of Savannah for commerce.
Fort Morris was attacked by the British in late 1778 and told to surrender. Colonel John McIntosh told the British, “Come and take it.” The British left but returned later with reinforcements and did take the fort, renaming it Fort George.
The capture of Fort Morris was the beginning of the decline of Sunbury. The British burned the town after its capture. Sunbury lost economic significance, suffered from hurricanes in 1804 and 1824 as well as yellow fever and malaria epidemics, and was abandoned by 1860. There are no remaining ruins of the historic town except for a cemetery in which many of the tombstones were destroyed by the 1870s.
I arrived at Fort Morris early, September 2nd, on an overcast day. The trees next to and over the entrance road formed a welcoming green canopy. I left Daisy at home as I planned to walk through the small museum on site and dogs are not allowed inside. What I didn’t know is that the museum is only open Friday through Sunday.
I had the site to myself nearly my entire visit. I walked to the fort first to see if I would be allowed on top of the embankments. Nope! So I walked out of and to the right of the fort along a path that runs around the entire structure. The path is dotted with live oaks whose Spanish moss flitted in the nonstop breeze.
These trees were perfect for the Tufteln EFRW I so often use. I wanted to run my antenna northeast which would put it on the path I walked to get to this spot. In short order, the antenna was installed and I added some more flagging tape for visibility.
I first thought to set up at the sole picnic table behind the fort. (How convenient for an activation!) But, on second thought, that would put my back to the path and, though I’d have a lovely view of the Medway River, I would not be able to watch for pedestrians who might walk into my antenna. Instead, I set up my Helinox chair on the opposite side of the path. This way I could still view the river but also look up and down the path.
The bands were kind to me today. I began with 40 meters and had two callers, both from Georgia, on that band. I moved to 20 meters where the bulk of my QSOs happened – 29 in total! I also logged one QSO on 15 meters and six QSOs on 17 meters, though none of those were DX as I had hoped for. All in all, I was pleased with this activation.
This activation was also my second using an app on my iPhone for logging – Ham2K PoLo. What I like about Ham2K PoLo is that it is easy to use and the name and location of the op remains on the screen while you are logging the QSO. The app provides a way for me to compare the QTH in the record to the one I copy. It also allows me to thank ops by name at the end of the QSO which I have always liked to do but stopped doing when I used paper unless I could recall the name associated with the callsign.
There are a few downsides from my perspective on using the app. First of all, I cannot type the callsign as fast I could write it. But that is because I haven’t become accustomed to using the app yet. Also, if I hear a partial call during a pile-up, I can’t note it unless I write it on a piece of paper. Lastly, when I hunt other activators, I like to write down their information since the POTA app moves everyone’s information on the screen as it updates spots. To get around this difficulty, I started taking a screenshot of an activator’s information and saved it to my photos so I could enter the information in PoLo at my leisure while I hunted the activator.
An interesting sidenote – After I wrote this article, I put together a video of the activation itself which I usually don’t do. I found two busted call signs which is not typical for me. I think there are four reasons for what happened.
First, I am still becoming accustomed to using the new app and that is a distraction while trying to copy information in the QSO. Second, I relied on the app to confirm the QTH. In both instances where I copied the call sign incorrectly, the incorrect call sign also had the same QTH so it didn’t help me in those situations. Third, I need to brush up on my Instant Character Recognition. Last but not least, instead of confirming the callsign at the end of the QSO, I used the op’s name after “TU” since I had it available from the app. I think thanking someone by name is a nice touch; however, many ops who hunt POTA are probably not conversant with conversational CW and may therefore not recognize their name in CW.
To avoid a repeat of what happened, I’ll make several changes. First, I will return to pencil and paper. Sure, having the data logged in the app saves me time; however, my activations have maybe 40 or so QSOs at the most which doesn’t take much time to enter back home. Second, at the end of my QSOs, I will return to using the callsign behind “TU” and only include the op’s name if I remember it. Third, I need more work with Instant Character Recognition – both working with the Word List Trainer tool but, more importantly, spending more time in on-the-air QSOs, especially those using conversational CW. I’ve had less in the way of code buddy QSOs over the summer due to propagation and busy schedules. That changes this month as I resume regular QSOs with two code buddies – Caryn KD2GUT and Gary K4IIG.
So there you have it – my activation at Fort Morris Historic Site – #39 on the list as I work toward 60 new valid park activations this year. Will I continue my streak of historic properties or return to wildlife management areas next? Stay tuned…
Activation Video
If you are interested, here is the link for the activation video on POTA Babe YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/naqWlAatnIs
Equipment Used
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Another wonderful report, Teri, and a fantastic video as well!
I make mistakes all of the time. I remind myself, though, that POTA, SOTA, and all of our radio activities are there for our pure enjoyment. You make a good point in your video that so many are afraid to give CW a go because they’re worried about making mistakes.
Future CW ops should know that al of the people they’ll be working on the air have also made mistakes. In fact, it’s a rite of passage and we are better ops because of the mistakes we occasionally make. 🙂
Again, great report!
Cheers,
Thomas
K4SWL
Nice! I’ve downloaded POLO but have not been brave enough to use if during my CW activations yet. Not sure what my hang up is. You’ve inspired me to give a go next time I activate.
Cool site. Too hot for me south of the Mason Dixon Line though.
73 Shawn WS0SWV
Nice activation.
I downloaded the POLO app but have not yet used it. I am trying out the World Radio League logging app and browser but typically use HAMRS on my iPad.
I made a recent acquisition of a Chelegance MC-750 vertical. We are doing a compare of it vs. the Pacific Antenna dipole.
MC-750 deployment #2 took 7 minutes. We had 103 QRP phone contacts by the time we packed up.
Billy:
Congratulations on your acquisition of the Chelegance MC-750. Wires are great (and usually my preference) but sometimes you want something, as you said, quicker to set up. Glad it is working for you! It is nice to have options!
I hope the members of the No-Work Wednesday Club are doing well!
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
Polo will actually make logging hunted parks much easier – no need to write anything down or take screenshots: instead of using the POTA website for spots, use the “Spots” tab in Polo and just tab on a spot. This will populate the log with all the information (as long as the activator is only in one park), you just fill in the signal report and save. Done. That’s one of my favorite features in Polo.
I always have a scratch pad next to my phone when I log with Polo, that’s for partial or sometimes full call signs before they get typed.
de Karl Heinz – K5KHK
Hi Karl,
I definitely agree with you on the ease of hunting active POTA stations using Polo. Open the spots tab, tap on the spot, and everything gets inserted into the logging field. I Polo a try for logging in a park, and it worked well – except for my fumble fingers. So it is paper logs for me in the field.
I have an alternate station at the family cabin, but no computer. I find Polo on my Samsung tablet works great for logging there, particularly when hunting spotted POTA stations. The better work space ergonomics helps to minimize errors, and the leisurely pace gives me time to correct the ones I do make.
Best 73 de Brian – K3ES
Yeah, I suffer from FFS (fat finger Syndrom) too. I need a bigger phone, but they don’t make shirts with big enough pockets 😉
Karl:
Thanks for pointing out that feature which I forgot as well as mentioning your pile-ups work-around for those that want to use the app. I find my space limited as I am usually using my Tufteln kneeboard and choosing one or the other (paper or app) works best for me. The other thing I realized after the article posted is that I also make notes sometimes for my article and I need a piece of paper for that. It is nice to have options and each of us choose what works best in our situation.
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP
I just love all the pictures and the background of the park. Thank you! As I activate more and more, I am enjoying this part as much, or more than the actual operating!
73 de KZ1O
Dave,
While getting on the air is always fun, there is more to POTA which you discover as an activator. Learning about new places and getting outside is a nice side benefit of the activity. I’m glad you enjoyed the article. Keep having POTA fun!
72,
The POTA Babe
Teri KO4WFP