As I mentioned in previous field reports, the W4G SOTA Campout was amazing fun this year. I enjoyed hanging with Joshua (KO4AWH) as we activated a total of three summits and a few parks–plus it was great meeting so many fellow SOTA activators at the Saturday evening potluck!
On Sunday morning, October 16, 2022, it was time to pack up the campsite and hit the road.
Although I was a little pressed for time, I decided to fit in one more activation as Joshua packed up his tent and before we took down the 40 meter Tufteln end-fed half-wave.
Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest (K-4473)
Fortunately, our campsite was within Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest and since all I needed to do was to connect my rig to our campsite antenna, setup took all of two minutes.
I pulled out the Mountain MTR-3B for this activation. It had been quite some time since I used this wee radio because I had only recently finished a review of the MTR-4B V2 (look for that review on QRPer.com very soon).
The MTR-3B is now permanently at-the-ready inside my MTR-3B ultra portable field kit, but since there was already an antenna and key in place, I only needed the radio, power cord, logging items, and battery.
Many thanks to Brian (K3ES) who shares the following field report:
K3FAZ, K3STL, and K3ES POTA in the Cold with a Bonus Gear Report
K3STL and K3ES at the entrance to K-0621.
by Brian (K3ES)
K3ES Perspective
Saturday November 19 dawned clear and cold in northwest Pennsylvania, but the truth is that I was up well before dawn. The third Saturday of each month, I try to make the 2 hour drive south to help with Skyview Radio Society’s monthly Volunteer Examiner (VE) testing session for new or upgrading licensees. Clear skies (which matched the forecast) meant that road conditions would not be a problem. So, shortly after 5 am I pointed the truck south.
One of the creature comforts I appreciate about our VE session is meeting for breakfast before the test. It was obvious on arrival at the restaurant that the VEs would greatly outnumber the test candidates, but many hands make light work. Coffee and an omelet definitely helped fuel the effort. Since the test sessions normally last less than 2 hours (and that held true this time), three of us VEs had made plans for post-test session POTA.
Before launching into the field report, let me acknowledge that K3STL’s photography was instrumental in providing a report with visual appeal. Personally, I almost always forget to take the pictures.
POTA Plan
John “Tall Guy” K3STL, Steve K3FAZ, and Brian K3ES in the parking lot at K-0621.
The plan for the day was to attempt activation of two POTA sites, Beechwood Farms State Conservation Area (K-0620) in suburban Pittsburgh, and Todd Sanctuary State Conservation Area (K-0621) about 20 miles further to the northeast. John “Tall Guy” – K3STL and Brian – K3ES would do a short activation of K-0620, then meet Steve – K3FAZ at K-0621 for the rest of the afternoon.
Knowing it would be a cold day for mid-November (temperatures peaked for the day just barely above freezing), each of us made plans to adjust for operating from our vehicles. That meant that we would be doing parking lot activations at both locations. While we each normally activate with slightly different operating styles that are suited to outdoor POTA operations, some tweaks made it possible to have wind and weather protection for this outing. In hindsight, it was a perfect choice.
I mentioned in a previous post that I’m quite behind publishing activation videos. Much of this has to do with the fact that I’ve been a pretty busy activator (by my standards) the past couple of months.
While I don’t make field reports and videos for each of my activations, I usually do one or two per week. Two is typically the max I can post because my field reports take 3-4 hours each to write-up and publish; it can be difficult carving that kind of time out of my busy schedule!
In order to catch-up, I’ve decided to post shorter format field reports from time-to-time; especially for reports like this one where I give quite a lot of info and detail in my activation video.
Immediately after wrapping up our SOTA activations on Black Mountain, we decided to hit a park on the way back to the campground. Desoto Falls National Recreation Area made for a short detour and a nice way to relax after a few miles of hiking that day.
We pulled into the parking area of Desoto Falls and set up our stations in the picnic area placing some distance from one another to help with any interference.
I pulled out my trusty Penntek TR-45L and two 28’/8.5m lengths of 24 gauge wire. I extended the radiator vertically and unrolled the counterpoise on the ground. The wires were connected to the binding posts on the back of the TR-45L (red=radiator, black=counterpoise). I used the built-in manual Z-Match tuner to match the impedance in short order.
It was so great to spend an extended weekend camping, hiking, and hopping on the air with other SOTA activators.
I especially enjoyed getting to know Joshua (KO4AWH)–the fellow behind Tufteln products— over that weekend. He needed a campsite and since my buddy Monty had to pull out of the trip due family activities, I was happy to share the tent site with him. It actually worked out quite well since we could then pair up and car pool to our SOTA and POTA activations.
What follows is a field report for two SOTA activations Joshua and I did back-to-back on Friday, October 14, 2022.
The trail head for both of these summits was only a few miles from our campsite at Lake Winfield Scott.
Gear:
Note that I used the same gear during both SOTA activations all packed in my Spec-Ops Brand SOTA backpack.
Black Mountain and Big Cedar essentially share the same trailhead at the Woody Gap Recreational Area parking lot on Highway 60.
We were on site early enough to grab a parking space. Keep in mind that it was Friday during leaf season, so there were quite a few hikers on the trails that day! In fact, by midday, the parking lot was overflowing with cars.
Almost by flip of coin, we decided to hit Big Cedar Mountain first. Turns out, Joshua had actually hiked to this summit in the past and even met a SOTA activator en route (and I believe this might have been his inspiration to try Summits On The Air!).
The first production run of these paddles sold out very quickly, but I just received the following message from CW Morse about the new paddles:
We’ve finally gotten caught up and will be shipping out Monday & Tuesday [Nov 21/22]! Also have a few more in stock. Making another batch as well.
CW Morse sent me a set of these paddles to evaluate at no charge to me (keep in mind, they’re both a sponsor and affiliate of QRPer.com) and I got a chance to use them Thursday afternoon.
In short?
I love these paddles!
In fact, I think these may become my preferred compact paddles.
I like the size of the finger pieces/pads. They’re large for such a tiny paddle, which I believe gives them a solid feel while keying. I prefer a larger contact surface area as opposed to thin finger pieces.
The response is very precise, too, and the action can be adjusted by a supplied Allen wrench.
I agree with a few readers who’ve already received their paddles and noted that the carbon fiber reinforced PETG material make the key grippy and very easy to hold.
The size and design is very similar to the SOTA paddle N0SA sold out of last year in a matter of a few hours.
Bonus POTA Activation!
Thursday afternoon, my daughters attended a two hour meeting not even a stone’s throw from the Blue Ridge Parkway. I had *just* taken delivery of the new N0SA paddles, so grabbed the shipping box from CW Morse, my new-to-me Elecraft K2/10 (more on that later!), and my PackTenna Random Wire antenna.
I only discovered that my daughters’ meeting was so close to the parkway about 10 minutes before leaving the QTH. This was one of those bonus activations that deserved a little happy dance, especially since I could spend a good 1.5 hours on the air–a proper luxury for this busy father!
I’ll post a full field report and activation video in a couple of weeks, but in a nutshell, 30 meters was on fire. I’d planned to work 20, 30, and 40 meters (to test the K2’s internal ATU) but 30M was so dang busy, I never had time to QSY.
I had not put the K2/10 on the air yet, so all of the settings were default and it had been a few years since I used a K2, so had to re-familiarize myself with the settings. Thirty meters was so consistently busy, I didn’t have a breather to tinker with the settings.
The new N0SA SP4 paddles worked flawlessly.
I expected nothing less from an N0SA design, but still–the feel and action is superb.
I think this paddle may become the new benchmark for where price and quality meet.
I feel like CW Morse could be charging $112.95 instead of $82.95 for these and I would still be very pleased with that price. I’m glad they’re not, though, because sub-$100 pricing does give new CW ops an affordable quality mini paddle option.
Based on so many reader recommendations, I purchased a BaMaKeY TP-III paddle recently. It’s also a wonderful paddle, but cost me 157.25 Euro which is nearly twice the price of the SP4 paddles. While I think the TP-III paddles are brilliant (and I’ll soon post a review) I actually prefer the N0SA SP4 paddles (note that this is my own personal preference–both are amazing keys). I prefer the SP4’s larger finger pieces.
The great thing about CW Morse is that they have the capacity to handle customer demand of the SP4 paddles–this is something N0SA couldn’t do as a one-man show. I think CW Morse also has economies of scale working in their favor and, no doubt, this is how they continue to be the market leader in terms of quality for price.
If you’ve been looking for quality mini paddles for your compact field kit or shack, look no further. These are a no-brainer. You’ll love them.
This year, it’s been a challenge for me to keep up with field reports that accompany my activation videos. It’s been a very busy year with a fair amount of travel, DIY projects, and family activities.
I recently realized that I have a number of activation videos from much earlier this year–videos I skipped over in order to post some of my Canadian field reports while I was still in Canada (at one point, I was over 2 months behind posting field reports and activation videos!).
I’ve often said that even if only a handful of people enjoyed my reports and activation videos, I’d still post them. I feel like they could even play a small part in someone’s path to doing field radio or learning CW, it’s wort it.
Plus, I occasionally like looking back at them myself.
In a sense, these reports are my travelogues and they bring back memories of some beautiful spots where I’ve played radio, gone camping, and enjoyed time with my family.
So why don’t you join me as we travel back a few months to…
Springtime
Photo by K4TLI
In late April 2022, I took my family on a camping trip to New River State Park here in North Carolina. You might remember this post and a couple field reports from that trip.
In short, it was an amazing trip and I got to play radio quite a bit!
Each day, I played radio from the morning into the evening. The camp site was actually ideal for playing radio. Until…
Saturday morning (April 30) I woke up, made some coffee at the picnic table, then fired up my radio. It was then I learned that one of the new RVs that joined the campground Friday evening brought some sort of RFI-spewing device with them.
I’ve no clue what it was. If I were to venture a guess, I’d say it was likely something used in electronic warfare. It was intense.
At the campsite that morning, I couldn’t copy a single signal that wasn’t S9+ on my meter. The noise level was S8 or S9.
I decided that I’d need to move to a different part of the park to play radio after breakfast and our family’s morning hike.
Fortunately, there was a large picnic shelter within a short drive of our campsite.
Many thanks to Vince (VE6LK) who shares the following guest post and field report from Alberta, Canada:
#POTAThon1111 – report from the field
by Vince (VE6LK)
My goal is to activate all of the parks I can that have never been activated.
I’m blessed to live in such a beautiful part of the world and see these parks up close. One wall in my shack has a map of all the un-activated parks and routes within a day’s drive of me, and most are already planned with routes. There will be more #POTAThons!
[Click all images to enlarge.]
#POTAThon is what I call it when I plan on getting to more than one park in a day. Usually these things aren’t thought of for weeks in advance, they are more like a “tomorrow morning” kind of thing. Opportunistic, if you will.
But first, a note about the day I chose…
November 11 is called different things in different countries, but what we share in common is we honour our Veterans and we give thanks for the freedoms they fought for. So today I paused to give thanks and think of the lives they gave so that I have the freedoms I do today. I would bundle up that giving of thanks into an urgently needed day away from the office.
And with that, #POTAThon1111 was born.
#POTAThon is what I tag these activities on my Twitter feed and the month and day denote when it happened. By definition a #POTAThon is more than one activation in a day; I’m simple like that. #POTAThon1111 is the third such event.
The first was #POTAThon0930, an ambitious day attempting 8 sites with two operators and most of them in backcountry outside of cellular range. You can see the video from that day when you click on this link. We didn’t get to all 8 but we had a hoot trying.
Just before I departed for #POTAThon0930, Thomas Witherspoon K4SWL (you know him, right?) said words to me I’ll never forget: “Vince, just work CW at a speed where you are comfortable, people will adjust. If you work the sacred language, I will find you.”
With those words of encouragement, I gave it a go. On that day I worked CW and a bit of SSB, but since then it’s been all CW for POTA. While the propagation wasn’t with Thomas and I on 0930, we did connect some weeks later – KX3 to KX3 no less.
The SP4 POTA/SOTA CW Morse Magnetic Iambic Double Paddle – Designed By N0SA.
Super Lightweight, Portable Compact Paddle With An Attached 3.5mm Cable.
Uses Magnetic Tension And Easily Adjustable With Stainless Steel Contacts.
Great for portable operations, and supplied with 3M Dual Lock Velcro for easy mounting and removal of the paddle from base or anything of your choosing.
FEATURES: Small and light weight – only 1.7ozs. WITH BASE: Small and removable from base – 1.25 lbs.
Measures 2.5″ x 1.1″ x 1″
Frame and finger pieces are 3D printed with carbon fiber reinforced PETG.
Levers are solid CNC Machined 6061 aluminum.
3 foot flexible cloth covered cord with molded 1/8” plug stays flexible down to 0 Deg F.
All fasteners used are Stainless Steel.
Allen wrench that is needed for spacing adjustment is also included with the key.
Adjustments stay put when set, so adjust once and forget about it! 🙂
This paddle is available with or without a steel base.
I have not tried this new paddle yet, but I did know it was in the works. I’m so glad it’s now being offered because I’m a huge fan of both N0SA and CW Morse (disclaimer: CW Morse is a proud sponsor and affiliate of QRPer.com).
The price for the new key is $82.95 without a base or $109.95 with base.
On Friday, October 7, 2022, I had a couple of errands to run in/around Morganton, NC. Of course, I always have POTA in mind so squeezed in an activation at nearby Tuttle Educational State Forest that morning. That activation took longer than expected due to swapping out antennas and radios, but it was a success and quite fun.
After Tuttle, I knew I could fit in one more activation if I made it quick, so I set my sights on Table Rock Fish Hatchery (K-8012), but first I had a couple of errands to run in Morganton!
I visited my friend Hamilton at his ceramics studio, popped by another store to pick up a couple of items, then (on Hamilton’s advice) grabbed lunch at the The Grind Café.
I must say that Hamilton was spot-on. My wrap was delicious!
Just what I needed to fuel another POTA activation, right? Right!
After lunch, I drove to Table Rock Fish Hatchery. The weather was ideal and the leaves were beginning to show color.
At our home in the mountains, we were almost at peak leaf color, but the fish hatchery site is much lower in elevation. The weather was simply ideal.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I feel pretty lucky to live in an area that is flush with POTA sites. It’s not that we have numerous individual parks, but the parks we do have encompass massive portions of the area.
One park, in particular, that literally runs around and through Asheville, NC, is the Blue Ridge Parkway. When I’m in town and have a few free minutes, it’s quite easy to hit the BRP; it’s never far away. I can set up along the parkway pretty much anywhere, or go to the Visitor’s Center or Folk Art Center if I want to operate from a picnic table. In addition, the Mountains To Sea Trail runs along large portions of the parkway, so it’s very easy to hit it as well.
On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, I took my daughters to a class and had the better part of an hour to play radio. The BRP’s Folk Art Center was only a 10 minute drive from their class, so I made a beeline for the site as soon as I dropped them off.
I had the amazing Penntek TR-45L packed in my car, and decided to pair it with my Tufteln End-Fed Random Wire antenna.
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