Two days before Hurricane Helene impacted western North Carolina (Wednesday, September 25, 2024), I stopped by the Blue Ridge Parkway for a quick POTA activation to thoroughly test my MTR-3B self-contained field kit.

This was crucial, as I had plans to conduct multiple SOTA activations during the 2024 W4 SOTA campout in north Georgia the following week. (Unfortunately, due to Hurricane Helene, I had to cancel those plans.)

The importance of a full field trial

This is something I always emphasize during presentations about SOTA, POTA, or traveling with radio: don’t assume your field kit is complete and fully functional—you must test it to know for sure.

A field test confirms two things:

1. You have everything you need inside your kit to complete an activation.
2. Everything in the kit actually works.

When preparing for something like a SOTA weekend or a family vacation, I usually deploy each of my field kits either at home or a local park. I power up the radio and make at least one contact, essentially mimicking a real activation. If everything works, I know the kit is good to go!

This simple process is an incredibly effective way to ensure your gear is ready for action.

Blue Ridge Parkway (US-3788)

That Wednesday, I squeezed in the activation between errands in town. The Folk Art Center near Highway 70 in East Asheville is the perfect spot—it’s a quick and easy detour.

Or at least it was before Helene. Now, with two bridges damaged—especially one major bridge on Highway 70—the two-minute detour to the Folk Art Center has turned into a 15-25 minute round trip, depending on traffic. (You never realize how essential bridges are until they’re gone!)

I parked near the picnic area, grabbed my gear, and headed for my usual picnic table setup spot.

Unfortunately, it was absolutely crawling with ants—likely a result of spilled juice or food. I moved to the other picnic table in the same area.

Testing the MTR-3B Kit in Real-Time

In the video, you’ll see me use every piece of gear in the field kit, except for the “bare bones” arborist throw line and weight. Since I had my other Weaver throw line kit with me, I used it to save time. I’d recently tested and re-packed the throw line in the MTR-3B kit, so I already knew it was in working order.

Setup was quick and easy. Once I connected the antenna and powered up the radio, I used my N6ARA Tiny SWR Meter to confirm I had a good match—since the MTR-3B LCD lacks an SWR meter. Fortunately, I had a perfect impedance match.

Time to play radio!

Gear (MTR-3B Self-Contained Field Kit)

Note: All Amazon, CW Morse, ABR, Chelegance, eBay, and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

Radio

• Mountain Topper MTR-3B
• 3D-Printed MTR-3B Cover

Watertight Case

• Pelican 1060 Micro Waterproof Case

Antenna System

• K6ARK No-Counterpoise 40M EFHW
• N6ARA MiniSWR 20-80M
  
• Bare-Bones Arborist throw line kit: 25 meters of Marlow KF1050 Excel 2mm Throwline, and one Weaver  8 or 10oz weight

Key

• N6ARA TinyPaddle Jack

Battery

• USB-C Rechargeable 9V Li-Ion Batteries

Logging

• Zebra Mechanical Pencil, Del Guard, 0.7mm
• Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook (small 3×5 size)

Audio

• Sennheiser earbuds with in-line analog volume control (discontinued 1999 model)

Backpack

• NEMO Resolve 25L Backpack

Camera and Audio Recording

• DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod
• Sony ICD-FX312 Digital Recorder ($20 thrift store find)

On The Air

I started calling CQ POTA on 20 meters, and within minutes, the contacts started rolling in. Woo-hoo!

I worked my first 10 stations in just 10 minutes, including two Park-to-Park contacts with WJ0L and N5ILQ. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I kept going for another 11 minutes, logging 10 more stations for a total of 20 contacts in just 21 minutes.

Not bad for three watts!

Thank you, hunters!

Logs

QSO Map

Here’s what this three-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.

Reflections

While preparing this video and field report, I couldn’t help but reflect on how profoundly Helene has impacted our lives—my family, friends, and community. As I mention in the video, we were braced for flash flooding and up to a foot of rain, but we never anticipated experiencing a 1-in-1,000-year rain and flood event. The scale of the damage has been overwhelming, and recovery will take time.

That said, there’s hope. The Folk Art Center has reopened, and I’m already planning my next activation there—a small but meaningful step toward returning to normalcy.

Things are improving bit by bit, and I’m grateful for your patience as I work to catch up. I plan to share another long update later this week, time permitting. Free time remains scarce, and I appreciate your understanding if my replies to correspondence are delayed.

Thank you

Thank you for joining me during this activation!

I hope you enjoyed the field report and activation video as much as I enjoyed creating them.

I also want to thank you for all your kind messages and comments. While I read and appreciate every one of them, my time to respond is quite limited right now. Please know that your support means the world to me, even if I can’t reply personally at the moment. As things settle down, I look forward to being more available. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

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!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)