On Friday afternoon (August 16, 2024), after dropping off one daughter at her volunteer job and the other at Shakespeare class, my wife and I had about 90 minutes of free time before the next scheduled activity.
We opted to visit the Sycamore Flats Picnic Area in Pisgah National Forest (US-4510) so that I could fit in a POTA activation while my wife caught up on a project she’d been working on.
The picnic area was bustling with activity–the busiest I’d seen it in a while. No doubt, everyone was out enjoying the beautiful weather and the last hurrah before many local kids head back to school. Nevertheless, we found a nice picnic table to set up and play radio.
I did not have all of my camera gear with me, so opted not to film this activation with my phone.
Since there’d be no video, it meant that I could operate with earphones and a minimal amount of extra gear. It’s nice to do this every so often!
On the way out the door, earlier that day, I grabbed my Mountain Topper MTR-3B field kit. The goal was to put it on the air since it had been a few months since I last used it. I like rotating out radios regularly so I don’t forget nuances of operating them while in the field.
The previous day, I also charged the two Li-Ion rechargeable batteries [affiliate link] that are stored in the MTR-3B Pelican case. At least I thought I charged them!
When I checked the batteries, they were both completely dead. Turns out, the USB charging station I’d connected them to the previous day was not plugged into an AC outlet. Doh!
This presented a little problem because the only other battery I had in my GR1 rucksack was a 3Ah LiFePo4 battery which likely pushed about 13.2VDC. The MTR-3B doesn’t care for voltages much higher than 12VDC–at least, if you are higher than 12V, you need to make darn sure you’ve got a great SWR match.
I was a bit bummed because I hadn’t packed a backup radio in the GR1 and I wasn’t driving the Subaru which has a Venus SW3B headrest field kit.
Hang on…
Then it hit me…I’ve got my EDC (Everyday Carry) radio with me: the Elecraft KH1! Woo hoo!
I went back to the car and grabbed my Trakke EDC bag.
Then pulled out the KH1 packed in my Tufteln-modified Pelican Micro M40 watertight case.
It is such a luxury to have a small, lightweight, and versatile radio always at the ready in the backpack I carry with me everywhere.
Since I’d already deployed my K6ARK 40 meter counterpoise-less end-fed half-wave [affiliate link], this was the antenna I connected to the KH1.
I also grabbed the Bamakey TP-III from my GR1 pack and the 3×5 Rite in the Rain Pad and Zebra mechanical pencil [again, affiliate links] from the MTR-3B kit (don’t worry, I returned these to their respective kits post-activation!).
I had announced this activation on the POTA website, so hypothetically, the RBN should auto-spot me.
I turned on the KH1, moved to the 20 meter band, and was tuning around looking for a clear frequency when I heard a station calling CQ POTA. Continue reading KH1 to the Rescue! A postcard field report from Pisgah National Forest.