by Thomas (K4SWL)
On Wednesday, May 21, 2025, I had another opportunity to squeeze in a POTA activation during a late morning drive back to the mountains after visiting my father, who was in the hospital at the time.
Once again, I chose one of my favorite POTA sites that I don’t get to visit nearly enough these days: Tuttle Educational State Forest.
Tuttle Educational State Forest (US-4861)
The weather that Wednesday was nearly perfect, and I was really looking forward to getting on the air.
One advantage of early-to-late morning activations this time of year is avoiding those unpredictable afternoon pop-up thunderstorms that are so common and can chase one off the air.
I picked out a shady picnic table beneath a canopy of trees, hoping it would provide a few good options for hanging a sloper.
Spooltenna Time!
As I mention in the activation video, I was an early beta tester of the Spooltenna. Just before Hamvention, Rob (KO4HUI) sent me a final production version so mine would match what’s now shipping. This was the first time I’d deployed the production model in a sloper configuration.
Full disclosure: I didn’t pay for this antenna, as I volunteered as a beta tester. Rob and his wife Christi also invited QRPer to join the affiliate program, so QRPer earns a small percentage of any sale made through our link.
When I surveyed the trees around my site, I realized I didn’t immediately see a branch directly over my operating position. That’s really what a sloper needs—especially with this antenna—because the feed point is elevated and a bit heavier than something like the far end of an EFHW radiator. I also wanted to maximize height using my 25′ cable assembly, which meant a more vertical hang would be best.
Eventually, I spotted the perfect branch. It took a couple tosses with the throw line–my window to hit it was narrow–but that’s part of the fun!
Slopers have great performance characteristics, so it was worth the (wee bit of) extra effort. And to be fair, if I deployed slopers more often, I’d probably be a lot better at it!
With the Spooltenna deployed, I simply set up my Yaesu FT-818 and I quickly checked the SWR on 20 meters where I planned to start the activation. Turns out, it was a near perfect match! Woo hoo!
Time to get this activation started!
Gear
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Radio and Battery System
Antenna & Cable Assembly
Arborist Throw Line
Key and Accessories
- BaMaKeY TP-III Ultra-Compact Twin Paddle
- Senrog Bench Block TP-III base
- Tufteln TP-III Magnetic Protective Cover
- Key cable: Cable Matters 2-Pack Gold-Plated Retractable Aux Cable – 2.5 Feet
Other Gear
- NEMO Resolve 25L Backpack
- Rite In The Rain Top Spiral Notebook
- GraphGear 0.9mm 1000 Automatic Drafting Pencil
Camera and Audio
- DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod
- DJI Wireless Microphones
On The Air
I started calling CQ POTA and was pleasantly surprised: 20 meters had some life!
I made 12 contacts in just 14 minutes, which felt downright luxurious compared to some of my Hamvention weekend activations.
After the band quieted down, I QSY’d to 40 meters. Once again, the Spooltenna provided a perfect match (1:1 SWR).
I wasn’t sure what to expect from 40 meters at midday, but I quickly logged another 7 contacts in 8 minutes!
I ended the activation with 19 contacts—a solid little run—and reluctantly packed up since I needed to get back home for some afternoon obligations.
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.
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.
Just what the doctor ordered
It felt amazing to hit the field and play a little radio that Wednesday.
Once again, I was very pleased with the Spooltenna—it’s easy to deploy, built with quality materials, and delivers solid performance. I like it so much, in fact, that it was one of the few antennas I brought along on our summer trip to Canada.
It had also been a while since I’d given the FT-818 some love and I’ll admit: I think it’s a brilliant, solid little QRP machine. A joy to operate.
Thank you
Thanks for joining me during this activation—I hope you enjoyed the field report and video as much as I enjoyed putting them together.
And to those supporting the site through Patreon, and the Coffee Fund—thank you! While my content will always be free, your support keeps the lights on and helps me keep publishing.
Thanks for spending part of your day with me & be good humans, everyone! I know you will!
Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)
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Funny, I was looking over old pictures and wanted to take mine out as well. The universe works in of ways. Maybe we are all connected by the game energy.
I think you’re right!
Each time I take the FT-818 out I realize how much I enjoy operating this fine little radio!
That’s exactly it!
Tom-
I’m fairly sure that’s a tribble on top of your rig.
I’m going with ‘simple’ for Field Day. Two 5W homebrew rigs and inverted-Ys for 40 and 20M. 1B-Battery. Some of that at a POTA site.
Good luck to all this weekend! 72- Dave, K1SWL
Ha ha! So glad there wasn’t a second tribble nearby!
Your FD plans sound great, Dave! GL & 72, Thomas
It’s amazing what POTA has done to the hobby. Not only has it brought more operators to the table (pun intended), it’s brought a lot of innovation as well. It’s amazing how many different antennas there are that do the same thing, just in different packaging. To a new ham or someone just getting into POTA the antenna front can be quite intimidating and costly if you’re one who feels they need to have or try them all. An EFHW is an EFHW just as a loaded vertical is a loaded vertical. I think it’s important to point out that one is really not a better performer over the other, that the packaging and sometimes quality is really the only difference.
Enjoy your Canadian vacation Tom!
All great points, Mark. And honestly? For things like POTA, optimal antenna performance isn’t as important as it would be, say, at the QTH or during a contest.
The FT-818 is like a reliable old friend. It’s not the latest technology, and not perfect but it has all the bands, modes, and is quite forgiving in less than ideal field conditions.
I had mine out just the other day while doing some antenna adjustments.
The ‘818 was my first QRP field radio (not counting Dave’s RockMites) and I will never sell it.
VY 73 and peace to all.
Hear, hear! I fully agree about the ‘818. It’s a tank of a little radio, and it’s a pleasure to operate.
After buying 4 CB radios on the way to the Spooltenna booth first thing Dayton Friday morning I secured my antenna
This was going to be sold out
I love the form factor, the ease of deployment and tangle free as a feature and benefits and has become my first pick antenna for parks
I like using it as an inverted V
It makes perfectly with the 818 or 705 tuner less radios
CW ops wil enjoy the simple plug and play with a BNC jumper cable
I am telling you PCB material does not melt in the sun like 3D stuff
The Ham Radio Dude mast pairs well with this for backpack deployments.
John ve3ips
Field-tested and Approved by VE3IPS
Thank you, John! And you’re right: the Spooltenna is a solid antenna!
The Spooltenna just from the perspective of the construction concept reminds me of my “YoYoTenna” dipole from several years ago. Each leg of the dipole lived in its own yo-yo-like winder and while it was not the most robust of antennas, it was pretty quick and easy to deploy and with a little perseverance, gave pretty good matches across multiple bands. To my knowledge, they are no longer commercially available, I’m sure that there are people doing the same concept, mine still gets to go out and play every so often.
It’s always so interesting to see every designer’s twist on what are fundamentally simple antenna concepts.
David W7CDT
I remember seeing a yo-yo design before, and I bet it was the same antenna. I agree, it’s fun to see all of the various designs people come up with.
Do you have the CW filter? How important is it when looking at used FT-817/818/857 for a novice with CW? Thanks!
Yes, I do have the CW filter.
This is the tricky part if you’re primarily a CW operator and you want an FT-817 or 818. Without the filter, you’ll hear any adjacent signals 1 kHz on either side of you. I will actually run mine with the filter wide open even if there’s an adjacent signal sometimes (I don’t think I did in this activation, though, because I didn’t check the filter width); however, it does require your brain to do some filtering. It can be quite difficult in crowded band conditions, say, on a weekend.
The CW filter makes a massive difference in the usability of the 817 or 818 in CW. If you’re looking to purchase one, I would try to focus on models that the owner can confirm has either a mechanical CW filter, or the SOTAbeams DSP board. The radio is usable without a filter, but it is much more pleasant to operate in crowded band conditions *with* a filter.
Thank you for confirming! That’s how I was understanding it. I almost bought a used one and I asked, the seller said yes it has the filter(it wasn’t mentioned in the post). That was one of several flags that exposed a scammer.