Sunday, May 18, 2025, was the final day of Hamvention. It’s typically the slowest day, and I’ve even been known to skip it in favor of doing POTA with friends instead.

This particular Sunday, though, my dear friend Vince (VE6LK) was giving a mid-morning presentation about building go-boxes, so Eric (WD8RIF), Miles (KD8KNC), Len (W8VQ), and I headed to the Greene County Expo Center to attend.

Vince’s presentation was well-attended—most impressive for a Sunday morning!

As tempting as it was, I didn’t abscond with any of Vince’s radio kit!

Carillon Historic Park

Around 12:30, Eric, Miles, Len, and I left Hamvention and ventured into Dayton. We planned to do an activation at one of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park sites (US-0732).

Eric chose Carillon Historical Park as our activation site for US-0732. It’s an ideal POTA spot in many respects, with a large open field, several trees, and plenty of parking. That said, when we pulled into the site, we realized there was a public event underway and the parking lot was nearly full.

Fortunately, the parking attendants motioned us to park in a field close to where we would set up our stations. The music event was taking place on the far side of the park, so it didn’t interfere with our activation.

Eric, Miles, and Len made their way to a clearing and set up my Chelegance MC-750 antenna.

I picked a broad maple tree that provided a perfect shady spot for my station. The canopy not only kept me cool, but also offered a bit of stealth—not that stealth was necessary at this site, but with so much activity in the park, I wanted to keep my entire station contained in a safe, tidy space that wouldn’t trip up children running around nearby.

I set up my Helinox chair next to the trunk and deployed my throw line nearly vertically using the “granny shot” method—a technique I rarely use. It took two tries to get the line placed in a way I felt would support the antenna well. By shooting the line upward from underneath the canopy, both the antenna and throw line stayed in a tight footprint right beside me and entirely under the tree.

My antenna

Speaking of antennas, I was using a homebrew end-fed random wire sent to me by one of my readers and subscribers, Bryan (AD8HK). I believe Bryan may eventually offer a variation of this design commercially, but at present it’s still in development. He sent me this one purely for evaluation.

This particular antenna features a 9:1 transformer with a 17 ft 9 in radiator and an 8 ft 10.5 in counterpoise. With a wide-range ATU—like the one built into my KX2—it matches from 40 meters and up.

With my full station deployed, it was time to hit the air and see if the ionosphere had any charge left in it.

Gear

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Radio

• Elecraft KX2 with Windcamp X2 Side Rails and Cover
  • Tufteln KX2 Protective Cover
  • KXPD2 Paddles
  • Elecraft KXBT2 Li-Ion Battery Pack

Antenna & Supports

• AD8HK Homebrew End-Fed Random Wire with 17ft 9in radiator and 8ft 10.5in counterpoise

Cable Assembly

• ABR Industries 25’ RG-316 cable assembly with three in-line ferrites (Use Coupon Code ABR10QRPER for 10% Discount!)

Throw Line and Accessories

• Weaver arborist throw line/weight and storage bag

Other Field Gear and Accessories

• Tufteln N0RNM Folding Knee Board
• Helinox Chair Zero

Packs & Cases

• LowePro CS60 Hard Side Case
• NEMO Resolve 25L Backpack

Logging Supplies

• KOH-I-NOOR 5219 2mm Lead Holder Pencil
• Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook

Camera/Audio Gear

• DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod
• DJI Wireless Microphones

On The Air

Band conditions during Hamvention weekend were pretty dismal. I’ll admit, I was fully prepared to call CQ for a couple of hours, if necessary, to complete the activation (Eric felt the same way). We had no other plans for the afternoon, so time was on our side.

The great thing about pairing a small random wire antenna with my KX2 is the incredible frequency agility I get using its internal ATU. And during this particular activation, I definitely needed it.

I started on 30 meters (since Eric was already on 20 meters nearby) and worked three stations in short order: KC1BDJ, WB3DDJ, and KA5TXN. Then…nothing.

After a few minutes of silence, I moved to 17 meters and quickly picked up three more stations: N5PJ, AI5DD, and KD7DTS—all within about six minutes.

Next, I tried 15 meters, but there was no sign of life.

Eventually, I believe Eric moved off of 20 meters, so I hopped over and picked up W8VQ (P2P), WD8RIF (also P2P, of course), N5PJ again, AE0PL, and NQ1F—all within about seven minutes.

That brought my logged total to 11 stations. The activation was now officially valid, but I still had some time left, and I wasn’t ready to call it quits just yet.

I then moved to 40 meters and logged N0QLR, W7EEE, and WD8RIF (again) in about five additional minutes.

That brought my grand total to 14 hunters in about 44 minutes on the air. I called this a total success, especially considering the challenging band conditions. I think our timing lined up with a brief window of decent propagation—and we made the most of it.

Many thanks to all of the hunters who tried to work me!

QSO Map

Here’s what this five-watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map. Click on the map image to enlarge.

More detail (click 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 YouTube monetization turned off, 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.

More friends!

After wrapping up my activation and packing up my gear, I received a text from Vince (VE6LK). He, Paul (WD9GCO), and Jack (N9ITB) were planning to activate the same park entity (US-0732), but from the Wright Brothers National Museum site in downtown Dayton—just a short drive from Carillon.

Vince mentioned they had just arrived and were setting up. I quickly discouraged them from operating at that location. That particular site is in the middle of town and plagued by severe QRM. Last year, I attempted to activate it with my KH1 and was greeted with a solid S9 noise floor. Combine that with weak propagation, and it’s a recipe for frustration.

I suggested they come join us at Carillon instead, since Len, Eric, and I had already completed our activations. They didn’t hesitate to take up the offer, and within minutes, they arrived at our site.

I turned my camera back on and filmed Paul’s beautiful FT-857 go-kit, neatly built into an Apache watertight case—truly a work of art.

Unfortunately, the bands had deteriorated even further during that short span of time between my activation and theirs. We ended up pulling out the old “dummy load” trick—hooking a dummy load to an Elecraft KX2 and logging a few quick SSB park-to-parks to help them complete their activation just in time for dinner.

P2P Ground Wave

What we didn’t realize until later was that our friend Dan (N7CQR) was also activating US-0732, just from a different section of the park.

Dan was using his Elecraft KH1 with a four-foot whip. Just like our friends Paul and Jack, he quickly discovered that the bands had gone completely flat.

Eric, Vince, Len, and I all took turns using my KH1 to work Dan P2P from Carillon. I assumed he had already logged the ten contacts needed to validate the park.

But just as we hopped into the car to head to dinner (where we were meeting Dan along with the rest of the Ham Radio Workbench crew), he texted me this photo showing he still needed three more contacts:

How can you say no to a face like that?!? (FYI: Dan and I have been trading KH1 selfies this year–they’re never flattering.)

We jumped out of the car, popped the trunk, and I quickly deployed the KH1 again—it takes maybe 20 seconds tops. Then Len, Eric, and I each worked Dan P2P to help him secure the final three QSOs. I can’t recall what band we used (it was different from earlier), but I’m certain we were working him ground wave—no ionosphere needed!

This activation truly turned into a proper group effort—and a memorable one at that!

Thank you

Thank you for joining me/us during this activation!

I hope you enjoyed the field report and my 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! Have an amazing weekend!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

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