Last week, on Tuesday, January 7, 2025, I finally broke a three-week no-POTA activation streak with a short trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway Folk Art Center.

Catching Up on POTA

Over the holidays, I’ve been doing plenty of POTA hunting from the QTH (you’ll see some reports and videos surface over time), but I hadn’t ventured out to a park for an activation. The holiday season kept me busy with family visits, birthdays, and home projects—most of which are ongoing, thanks to Hurricane Helene. Despite all of that, I found a lot of joy in portable POTA hunting from home.

Still, activating is in my blood. So when I found an opening on Tuesday, I seized the opportunity!

Back to the Folk Art Center

Now that the bridge on Highway 70 has been repaired, the Folk Art Center is once again my go-to spot for quick POTA activations. What was a frustrating 15–20-minute detour is now a simple two-minute hop—an improvement I deeply appreciate.

I pulled into the Folk Art Center parking lot around 1:00 PM. Unsurprisingly, the lot was empty—it was a brisk 28°F (-2°C), hardly picnic weather. Then again, POTA always warms me up!

Audrey

For this activation, I brought along my trusty Elecraft KX1 (affectionately named Audrey) and paired her with my Tufteln 9:1 End-Fed Random-Wire antenna.

It had been a while since Audrey had been out in the field, and I was excited to put her back on the air.

Frankly, post-hurricane projects have disrupted my POTA activation routine, and I’ve missed all outings like these.

Gear

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Radio and Speaker

Antenna and Cable Assembly

Key and Accessories

Logging

On The Air

With the TalentCell battery providing over 12 volts, I was pushing about 4 watts of output power from the KX1.

After spotting myself on the POTA site, I started calling CQ POTA.

Fortunately, the hunters were eager to log activators that day!

I worked my first 10 contacts in just nine minutes—conditions were fantastic.

I kept operating for another 12 minutes, adding 15 more hunters to the log.

In total, I logged 25 contacts in 22 minutes.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I had to go QRT with stations still calling.

QSO Map

Here’s what this four-watt CW 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.

Radio-Active Therapy

This activation was exactly what I needed!

Not only was it fun to get back into the field, but I also thoroughly enjoyed using the KX1 again. It made for a deeply satisfying outing.

I’m especially grateful that the Folk Art Center is once again an easy detour. You never realize how important a bridge is until it’s gone! While many of the major bridges in our area have been repaired—albeit temporarily—there are still smaller bridges awaiting work. Thankfully, those are easier to work around.

We’re incredibly grateful for the ongoing efforts to restore infrastructure here in the Swannanoa Valley.

Thank you

Thank you for joining me during this activation!

I hope you enjoyed the field report and my activation video as much as I enjoyed creating them! This is truly a labor of love for me!

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 an amazing week ahead!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

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Q R P e r

Some Much-Needed Radio Therapy with the Elecraft KX1

Catching Up on POTA

Back to the Folk Art Center

Audrey