Category Archives: Portable

VA2NW at Chillycon

Many thanks to Tom (VA2NW) for this report on Chillycon, aka Chilicon – Vince.

Canada’s capital, Ottawa, is the home of the Ottawa Valley QRP Society. The group holds an annual weekend camp-out at the Rideau River Provincial Park (POTA CA-0365) in early fall and it’s affectionately called Chillycon (also known as Chillicon). This year’s camp-out ran from September 20th through 22nd with some folks arriving a few days earlier. It’s a low key gathering which largely consists of casual operating, socializing, sharing tips and tricks, and checking out everyone’s portable radio gear.

On Friday morning I packed up my van with radio gear, camping equipment, and enough batteries to get me through a weekend of operating and cell phone recharging. Rather than tent camping, I decided to set up a sleeping pad in my minivan. The trip from Gatineau Quebec took a little under an hour, and I arrived just after 2:00pm local time.

Entrance to Rideau Provincial Park in Kemptville Ontario Canada

I brought my new toy with me, the Venus SW-6B (metal case + internal battery configuration). In just a few minutes I was on the air with the radio, an AlexLoop Hampack antenna, American Morse Equipment Mini-B paddle, and Apple EarPod wired headphones. I made several POTA contacts before it was time to start my shift as the Straight Key Century Club’s Canadian Straight Key Month special event station VC3Y/VE3. Conditions weren’t great and there wasn’t a lot of SKCC activity in the middle of a work day, so I only made one SKCC contact that day. After SKCC hour, I joined in on the weekly K1USN Slow Speed Test (SST). I contacted a few regulars, and then I returned to POTA and made another dozen or so contacts to bring the total up to 17 QSOs.

Reading ‘The CW Way of Life’ by Chris Rutkowski by the (citronella) candlelight

Continue reading VA2NW at Chillycon

QRP POTA: Pairing N3CZ’s Homebrew Transceiver with the TennTennas 49:1 EFHW!

On Monday, September 2, 2024, my good friend Vlado (N3CZ) and I spent Labor Day morning playing POTA.

Our first activation was at Lake James State Park, using the new CFT1 QRP transceiver. It was a lot of fun–you can read the field report and watch the video by clicking here.

For the second activation, I wanted to take Vlado to a site I’ve activated numerous times—one of my favorites—that he had yet to visit:

Table Rock State Fish Hatchery (US-8012)

We arrived on-site around 11:00 AM and, no surprise, had the place to ourselves. Honestly, I was hoping we’d see the three dogs that often pop by for a visit, but I believe they were on vacation with everyone else!

We both figured 20 meters would be our bread-and-butter band for this activation. More importantly, our transceiver was a 20-meter monoband (more on that below), so I deployed my new 20-meter end-fed half-wave antenna.

This particular EFHW is built on a  transformer by Walter (NE4TN) at TennTennas.

TennTennas 49:1 QRP Transformer

I may have mentioned before that Walter gave me this little 49:1 transformer at Hamvention this year when I met him in person. Walter is one of my top hunters in POTA, and I can often count on hearing his call when I’m on 40 meters.

Walter handed me this little transformer as a thank you, with no obligation to promote it—in fact, he didn’t even tell me where they could be purchased.

But I’m a sucker for home-grown mom-and-pop ham radio businesses, so of course, I’m going to plug it! He sells these on eBay (partnership link) for $39 each as a small side business. Not a bad price for a solid little 49:1!

As I mentioned, I trimmed this one for 20 meters, but I’ll likely make it a linked antenna with 30 and/or 40 meters as well someday.

Vlado’s Homebrew Transceiver

I was also excited that Vlado brought along his homebrew 20-meter QRP transceiver.

I had seen this radio in his shack during various stages of development, but I had never had an opportunity to use it in the field.

I’m not sure if Vlado had used it for a POTA activation yet, in fact.

His little transceiver is super simple but sports proper filtering, an OLED display, and, despite the large battery he connected to it, has modest power requirements.

He built it into an old Kenwood VHF radio chassis he found at a hamfest. I’ve been with Vlado before when he’s hunted for chassis for his various homebrew projects. The OM is always building or repairing something in his shack.

We were really looking forward to putting this little transceiver on the air!

Gear

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On The Air

As with our first activation that day, we decided to take turns with one radio instead of setting up two stations. Vlado was the first op to start calling CQ POTA! Continue reading QRP POTA: Pairing N3CZ’s Homebrew Transceiver with the TennTennas 49:1 EFHW!

Trekking into POTA Heaven: Wrinkly Face Provincial Park Activation

Many thanks to Jeff (VE7EFF) who shares the following guest post:


2.5 km Trek into Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, BC, CA-4307

by Jeff (VE7EFF)

My goal this summer is to do more backpacked-in POTA activations. This is my 3rd POTA outing over the past week.  Being in Canada, I don’t have much time left this season to do this before the weather turns too wet, cold or snowy for my liking.

I attempted to activate Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, CA-4307 last summer.  However, I couldn’t get there because the FSR forestry service road was washed out about halfway to the park.  My Subaru Forester is an amazing SUV on outback FSR roads, but this washout was too much to even attempt.

So, this year I decided to attempt to hike to the park on foot which turned out to be a 2.5 km trek with about 653 ft elevation gain.  As always, my wife Alexis (VE7LXE) is my travel companion.

Our trailhead starts about an hour’s drive north of Kelowna, BC which is where we live.  We park on the side of a gravel road near the trailhead. We will be following a 2.5 km segment of the Okanagan High Rim Trail, which will take us to our destination in the middle of Wrinkly Face Provincial Park.

We aren’t sure exactly where the trail starts from here.  But just around the corner ahead of the car, is an adjoining FSR road. Here we find a sign and map of the Okanagan High Rim Trail (OHRT).

A closer look at the sign shows the OHRT trail starts near the sign.  I have circled our starting point and ending point on the map photo, marked in yellow.  (We ended up setting down about midway in Wrinkly Face Prov. Park.)   So, off we go.

We found the trail!

Apparently, there was a heavy rain downpour early this morning. So, the trail is quite soggy and damp for most of the trek up.  It’s also feeling quite cold this morning.  We actually felt the need to put gloves on.

The beginning of the trail is a steady uphill trod.  However, it also crosses a couple of FSR roads, which gives us some flat areas to walk on.  While most of the trail is well marked with small markers, there were a few areas where we got off track for a short distance and had to backtrack.  There are also free-range cows up here and they tend to create their own network of trails which often crisscross the OHRT trail, which causes periodic confusion as to which one for us to follow.

Thank goodness, I pre-plan these trips on my Garmin GPS and Google Maps to help with navigation.

I don’t think the OHRT trail is very heavily traveled.  In some areas, the pathway is almost overgrown with vegetation.

Along with overgrown vegetation, fallen trees can also create an occasional obstacle.  Often, the trail doesn’t amount to much more than a game trail.

Finally, some open views to the south!  This could be a viable operating area.  One problem though – we haven’t crossed the park boundary yet.  Good news – the sky is starting to clear!  Onwards and upwards…

Making good progress.  We are now crossing into the park boundary.

Welcome to Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, CA-3407.  You won’t find any parking stalls, camp sites, picnic tables, or outhouses here.  But what I do hope to find here is… POTA heaven!

After trekking about halfway into the park, we finally came across an open meadow.  Looks like this could be our POTA ops spot.  In the far distance is a glimpse of Kelowna and part of Lake Okanagan.

It’s nice to finally offload our packs.

Time to start breaking-out my shack-in-the-pack. Continue reading Trekking into POTA Heaven: Wrinkly Face Provincial Park Activation

Bob and Alanna’s POTA Adventures Along the Cabot Trail!

Many thanks to Bob (K4RLC) & Alanna (K4AAC) for the following field report:


Cabot Trail Activations on Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia  – August 2024

 By Bob K4RLC & Alanna K4AAC

In August 2024, K4AAC, my YL Alanna and I took a trip to magical Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It was Alanna’s suggestion to celebrate my 74th birthday in July. She knew my “Bucket List” had a goal to visit and hopefully activate the two Marconi sites east of Sydney, the Parks Canada Marconi Memorial Site and the original 1905 Marconi House National Historic Site, both POTA sites.  Thomas K4SWL kindly published the write up of this adventure a few weeks ago.

After initially activating the Marconi Park station at Glace Bay, we decided to drive the beautiful 300 kilometer Cabot Trail, which circles Cape Breton Island and parallels the rugged Sea coast on both the East and West sides, allowing you to have the steep mountains on your left and the Sea coast on your right – if you make the decision to drive the trail counter-clockwise.

As this was a last minute trip and we had complications with Air Canada delaying our trip by a day, we decided to follow the major points of a clock, and visit sites at the 3:00, 12:00, 9:00, and 6:00 PM positions. The major problem is that there are so many wonderful sites, it’s hard to decide where to visit.

The first day after we left Sydney (see Marconi write-up), we drove to Ingonish Beach Campground on the East, an easy drive from Sydney. You take the the Trans Canada Highway to pick up the northward Cabot Trail in South Haven. The Ingonish area has many places to visit. Alanna had done much Internet research and really wanted to visit Ingonish Beach at the campground. This is a very pleasant white sandy beach, bordered by smooth, rounded glaciated stones and views to the south of Cape Smokey Provincial Park.

As someone who lives part time in North Myrtle Beach SC, I was pleasantly surprised to see a lifeguard but even more surprised to see lots of people enjoying the very cold waters of the north Atlantic, with water temperature almost 20 degrees cooler than SC. It’s not even that cold when we do the Polar Bear Plunge on New Year’s at North Myrtle!

Less than a mile north of the beach, you enter the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, an almost 1000 sq KM park that spans from the east side to the west side of the island and has some of the most pleasant  hiking and camping possible,  including 27 different hiking trails.

We decided to hike the Middle Head Trail starting near the historic Keltic Inn. The trail is on a mile plus long narrow finger of land that juts into Ingonish Bay, separating its North and South parts. Middle Head is a rocky, up and down trail, very similar to parts of the Appalachian Trail back home in North Carolina. (While the Scots settled in Cape Breton, many also settled in Western North Carolina, as both areas reminded them of their Scottish Highlands home).

The trail ended in a high rock outcropping. We spent time there enjoying the beautiful ocean view and seeing one lone seal, but it is very popular so we went off to the side and set up the radio on a flat-top boulder. The radio was again Rhett KB4HG’s KX2 (as mine was in the shop), with the modified MP1 base loaded coil Vertical on a camera tripod. Unfortunately, our timing was bad as there was another major solar flare. We only had a few contacts on 20 CW. Nevertheless, the beautiful view and hike was well worth it. We spent the night at a country inn there, overlooking the Bay, and enjoying fresh local lobster tacos.

Figure 1 Middle Head Trail Cape Breton Highlands National Park
Figure 2 K4AAC at Middle Head Trail
Figure 3 Middle Head Trail End Ingonish Bay

The next morning, we resumed driving north toward Bay St. Lawrence with a few possible activation sites in mind.  The first was in the very small fishing village of Neils’ Harbor, where the 1899 Lighthouse is both a POTA site (Neil’s Harbour Lighthouse National Heritage Site) and a Canadian Heritage Lighthouse. There is a small fenced in area around the Lighthouse, keeping you from falling over the cliff to the ocean below, and two picnic tables.

While picturesque, this area had the worst electrical noise I’ve ever heard, ranging from S 6-8. Consequently, I only made two 20CW contacts with Ontario, using the stock KH1. Some may consider this as “failed” activation but, to me, it’s a success to operate in a beautiful, historic site by the ocean. On the positive, inside the Lighthouse is an ice cream shop, selling local flavors, but Cash only.

Figure 4 K4RLC & KH1 Neils’ Lighthouse

Driving 10 KM north off the Trail, we stopped at another POTA site (CA-0454), Cabot’s Landing Provincial Park,  on the shore of Aspy Bay. The park has a white sandy beach coastline, and a monument to John Cabot, who allegedly landed there in 1497. The location also marks the 1856 western terminus of the proposed Transatlantic Telegraph cable from Cape Breton to Newfoundland. It was another Kodachrome day by the ocean, with a scenic vista of the steep face of the Pollets Cove-Aspy Fault Wilderness Area to the north of the coastline.

Having gotten there before lunch, I was really happy to see few beach-goers and several high posts around where I hoped to erect an EFHW for 20 meters. Unfortunately, just as we began setting up, the park became filled with sunbathers, of course walking through the planned antenna area. Thankfully, the trusty KX2 and Modified MP1 on the camera tripod by the picnic table did fine. Propagation was decent for a change, and I soon was working a pile-up of other Canadian stations and into the US on 20 CW. But the most amazing aspect was that there was absolutely no electrical noise to interfere with this activation. It was a wonderful experience to operate in a really quiet and picturesque area, so far off the electrical grid. Continue reading Bob and Alanna’s POTA Adventures Along the Cabot Trail!

The POTA Babe Spreads Her Wings at Pinckney Island

by Teri KO4WFP

Friday, September 13th, I headed to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge (US-0265) for a POTA activation and was without Daisy as dogs are not allowed at this refuge. Pinckney Island is a 4,000+ acre wildlife refuge off Highway US 278 on the way to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The refuge consists of four islands and numerous small hammocks with Pinckney Island being the largest of the islands and the only one open to the public.

The refuge is named after Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and is one of seven refuges managed by the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in Savannah, Georgia. Prior to my time as a ham radio operator, I volunteered for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and spent time at four – Savannah, Harris Neck, Wassaw Island, and Blackbeard Island – out of the seven refuges they manage. I never made it to Pinckney Island so I was excited to finally see this property.

Portrait by James Earl. Source: Wikipedia

Most of Pinckney Island is accessible by foot or bicycle only. After parking my car in the designated lot, I began hiking to my destination – Ibis Pond, a large pond for waterfowl about a mile from the parking lot.

Just before I reached the information kiosk, I got a great look at an armadillo doing what most gardeners and lawn aficionados hate – tearing up the ground in search of food. This mammal eats mostly invertebrates including insects and especially likes grubs. They have horrible eyesight but keen hearing and I was surprised this guy or gal let me get as close as he or she did.

information kiosk

Pinckney island is an important link in the chain of wildlife refuges along the Atlantic Flyway and attracts thousands of migratory birds each year, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Atlantic Flyway is a major north-south route for migratory birds and it generally follows the Atlantic Coast of the US.

source: North Dakota Fish & Game Department

I saw and heard many birds while visiting the refuge including a flock of White Ibis feeding in the marsh and tidal flats, a Great Blue Heron fishing with a Snowy Egret walking nearby, American Coots, a molting male Painted Bunting, crows flying overhead, and I swear I heard a pair of Sandhill Cranes calling to one another at Ibis Pond. I could have spent all day watching the comings and goings of the refuge inhabitants let alone do a POTA activation.

White Ibis feeding in the marsh
American Coots at Ibis Pond
White Ibis in the trees at the pond during my activation
Trail into Pinckney Island

However, I was here for POTA and, in short order, arrived at Ibis Pond. It is one of five manmade ponds on the island and exists to preserve feeding and nesting areas for birds. The pond has cattails around its edges and much of the water is covered by duckweed.  I figured I would be less likely to have any human visitors if I followed the trail around the pond to the far side. But I was wrong. Ten to twelve people walked by my station while there, more than I usually encounter at any park. Continue reading The POTA Babe Spreads Her Wings at Pinckney Island

Xiegu X6200: Does version 1.0.1 firmware fix CW keyer timing?

I’ve had a production unit of the Xiegu X6200 since June of this year and have made several field reports using it for both SSB and CW.

You may have noticed, though, that I haven’t used it much in the field since June.

The reason? I’m primarily a CW operator, and the original firmware had some frustrating CW keyer timing issues.

These keying issues are most noticeable when operating in iambic mode, especially when trying to form letters like C, R, or K by squeezing the paddles. Often, when I try to send a “C,” as in “CQ,” the keyer produces a “B” instead. If you’ve watched any of my previous X6200 videos, you might have seen this happen a few times.

After some time using the radio, I can adapt and reduce the miskeying, but it still happens occasionally. I suspect part of the issue is related to the keyer timing in relation to the transmit/receive switching.

While these keyer issues aren’t severe enough to prevent me from completing an activation, they are certainly annoying.

As I’m reviewing the X6200 (thanks to Radioddity for the extended loan!), I reported the issue to Xiegu back in May and hoped the first firmware update would address it.

The first firmware update, Version 1.0.1, was released in early August. There was an earlier release, but it was retracted due to other issues.

I checked the release notes and didn’t see anything specific about CW keyer timing in the long list of fixes. I had hoped another update would follow soon, but none has been issued yet. Meanwhile, several readers and subscribers have asked me if the keyer issue was resolved.

I decided to update the firmware and take the X6200 out for another field test.

If you follow QRPer.com daily, you may have already seen the spoiler alert: unfortunately, the keyer timing issue was not fixed in this release.

Still, I had a great time squeezing in a quick activation with the X6200, and I thought I’d share the video and a mini field report with you now!

Pisgah National Forest (US-4510)

My wife and I were out while one of our daughters was in Shakespeare rehearsals in Mills River, NC on Friday September 6, 2024. We had a number of errands to run, but my wife kindly worked with me to carve out 30 minutes for a quick activation.

The most convenient POTA location was the Sycamore Flats Picnic Area in Pisgah National Forest.

By mid-afternoon, the park was busy, but most of the picnic areas were open, giving me plenty of options for setting up.

With limited time, I turned on the camera to start my real-time, real-life activation video and got straight to work.

Since the X6200 has a built-in ATU, I decided to use my PackTenna End-Fed Random Wire, as it’s quick to deploy with its 31’ long radiator—any nearby tree would do.

Next, I paired the X6200 with my BaMaKeY TP-III, plugged in the antenna, and found a spot on the band to start operating!

Time to POTA!

Gear

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On The Air

After tuning up on the 20-meter band, I spotted myself and started calling CQ POTA. Fortunately, hunters quickly responded.

In just twelve minutes, I logged thirteen contacts. Thanks to all the hunters!

My activation was brief, and I was so focused on making contacts and packing up that I forgot to take any photos of the radio in action. I’ve included some screen captures from the video instead.

I did manage to take photos of the logs:

QSO Map

Here’s what this five-watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map:

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.

CW Keyer Timing

As I discovered during this activation, the CW keyer timing issue has not yet been addressed in the firmware update.

After returning home, I made some notes and reached out to Xiegu to confirm that the CW keyer timing is still on their radar. They assured me that it will be addressed in the next firmware update. I’ll definitely test it and let you know once it’s resolved, so stay tuned!

If you’ve already purchased an X6200, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this all-in-one radio in the comments!

Thank you

Thank you for joining me during this short 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 a brilliant weekend!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

CFT1 QRP: Labor Day Morning POTA with Vlado at Lake James State Park!

Labor Day weekend turned out to be full of labor here at QTH K4SWL. My wife and I had numerous projects to tackle, and my daughters had various activities scheduled as well. By Sunday, my wife looked at me and said, “You need a break. Why not spend tomorrow catching up on POTA?

That was music to my ears.

I messaged my buddy, Vlado, to see if he might be interested in joining me, and he quickly replied, “Of course!

So on Monday, September 2, 2024, Vlado packed his radio gear in my car, and we discussed where we should go. We had most of the day for radio, but we needed to decide if we’d head north, south, east, or west. In the end, we chose to travel east, as it offered the most options, including one site Vlado had never activated.

We decided to start at Lake James State Park. Since Vlado had only activated Lake James for the first time the previous day at the Paddy’s Creek Access, we opted for the Catawba River Access.

Lake James State Park (US-2739)

It was Labor Day, so we knew Lake James would get busy around lunchtime, which is why we hit it early. I also knew Paddy’s Creek Access would be much busier today because it has the beach, and I remembered how full the parking lot was during my Labor Day activation in 2023!

At 9:00 AM, when Vlado and I arrived at the Catawba River access, we were among the few people there, so we had our pick of spots to set up the POTA station.

For convenience—especially since there had been a deluge of rain the night before—we chose a spot close to the car, where I’ve activated a number of times in the past.

I also took this opportunity to show Vlado how to use an arborist throw line.

While I didn’t record the antenna deployment—frankly, I didn’t think about it at the time—I wish I had. Vlado was a natural!

On his second-ever throw, he snagged the perfect branch to deploy a 40-meter end-fed half-wave antenna.

CFT1 Time!

The CFT1 with Tufteln cover/stand, audio cable and pack with battery.

I knew exactly which radio I wanted to operate during this activation: the CFT1 by Jonathan (KM4CFT).

I had only recently swapped out my Beta unit for a production CFT1. As a thank-you to Beta testers, Jonathan let us keep the units we tested. I worked with Jonathan and Dan to return the Beta unit and compensate them for the difference.

In truth, there were only a few changes, mostly cosmetic, between the Beta and production units. The biggest improvement for me was that the Beta unit lacked a way to adjust the sidetone level independently from the AF gain. The production unit has this feature, which was my primary motivation for upgrading.

In addition, I prefer using radios that match what my readers and subscribers have. When I use a Beta unit, even if the changes are purely cosmetic, it generates more questions.

Interestingly, this wouldn’t be Vlado’s first time using the CFT1. He must have been one of the first people outside the Beta testing team to try it because we used it on Field Day alongside the TR-45L and X6200 (although you won’t see it in my report since it was still somewhat of a secret project at the time).

We paired my MW0SAW 40-meter EFHW and Bamakey TP-III with the CFT1. I also used my Anker Soundcore Mini speaker for audio.

Time to POTA!

Gear:

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On The Air

Beforehand, Vlado and I decided to set up just one station and take turns activating.

Vlado went first! He called CQ POTA, and hunters started replying. Continue reading CFT1 QRP: Labor Day Morning POTA with Vlado at Lake James State Park!

Jeff’s Backcountry POTA Adventure: Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve Activation

Many thanks to Jeff (VE7EFF) who shares the following guest post:


Off The Beaten Path – Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve, CA-3925

by Jeff (VE7EFF)

This is the 2nd backpacked-in POTA activation outing that my wife and I have done this summer.  I’m the 2nd person to have ever activated the Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve (CA-3925).  Last year was the first time I activated this eco reserve and that was also my first ever backpacked-in POTA activation.

After studying my GPS and Google Maps/Satellite view of the area, my goal this time is to trek about twice as far and twice as high as last year’s outing.  There are no documented trails here.  Access is a mixture of old overgrown and abandoned forestry road (or fire break, not sure which) and some crisscrossing animal game trails.  The actual mileage/Km’s isn’t really that far, but it’s all uphill and a mixture of bushwhacking and scaling slippery grassy slopes.

The reserve borders along the busy highway 97, between the cities of Vernon and Kelowna, BC.  The area overlooks the beautiful Kalamalka Lake, as you will see in some of the photos.  There’s no actual parking lot, just a small gravel pull-over spot just off the highway.  There is no formal pathway into the reserve either, so we had to scale the gated fence to start our journey.

I’m a little bit familiar with the route we took last year, but I heavily rely on my Garmin 66sr GPS and Google Maps/Satellite view on my Pixel phone.

My wife Alexis (VE7LXE), accompanies me on all my POTA outings.  She packs the food and water while I pack the ham gear and other outdoor essentials.  We both carry IC-V80 VHF handhelds for comms in the event we ever get separated.  And of course we always carry bear spray when doing backcountry treks.

We do have some relatively flat areas in sections, but there are also a lot of deadfall trees to either step over, climb over, or go around.

This grassy meadow is where I activated last year.  Actually at the top end of the meadow.  But today’s goal is to find another open grassy meadow higher up the mountain.  Higher usually means better radio propagation, not to mention spectacular views.

Beyond the grassy meadow, we followed some semblance of a trail.  But it wasn’t long before I realized that it wasn’t taking me where I really needed to go. So, according to my GPS and Google Satellite, we needed to head straight up-hill.

This was actually a real slog uphill (especially for us 73 and 72 year olds). 🙂

We decided that we have gone high enough.  Time to off-load our packs. Continue reading Jeff’s Backcountry POTA Adventure: Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve Activation

Navigating Quetico: Rod’s POTA Adventure with the (tr)uSDX

Many thanks to Rod (VA3MZD) for sharing the following guest post:


Operating POTA from the interior of Quetico Provincial Park CA-0359 with a (tr)uSDX

By Rod Murray (VA3MZD)

In a previous guest post here on QRPer I gave a brief history of my introduction to Ham radio and specifically POTA and my experiences activating local parks by bicycle. My initial excitement about POTA was inspired by the YouTube channels of some noteworthy field operators, Tracy VE3TWM, Julian OH8STN, Adam K6ARK, Stuart VE9CF, and Thomas K4SWL of course, just to name a few.

Tracy VE3TWM’s experiences on a canoe trip to Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, a place he and I know well (although we’ve never met) were particularly inspirational. In this video from 2021 Tracey activated Algonquin Provincial Park CA-0138 from a lake that I’d previously paddled to on a canoe trip. I wanted to do that too! But it would take quite a while. Let me tell you.

In 2022, with my regular paddling buddy Tom, we planned to take our wives to one of the premier canoe tripping parks in North America that we’d never visited.  We’ve been paddling together since we were teenagers at an Ontario summer camp and had been taking our partners along on canoe trips for over 30 years.

Quetico Provincial Park in North Western Ontario, Canada, one of the province’s crown jewels, stands as a legendary wilderness area that can only be accessed by canoe or kayak in summer and ski or snowshoe in winter, with one exception. There is one road accessible campground and visitor centre in the park’s northeast corner. The Park, which is over 4700 square kilometres, is also surrounded by thousands more square kilometres of wilderness public land, known in Canada as “Crown land.” Numerous First Nation communities are also adjacent to the Park.

To the south is the equally famous Boundary Waters Canoe Area in Minnesota, USA. Indeed, one can start a canoe trip in one country and finish in another, or paddle a route along the International Boundary (hence the name!), crossing the border numerous times as you go, with the required documentation of course.

Location of Quetico Park, Ontario,The Boundary Waters, MN, and Algonquin Park, Ontario in North America from ottertooth.com

We had a successful trip to Quetico in 2022 and I vowed to return when the opportunity arose. Meanwhile, I’d since become very active in POTA, and was more determined to complete a POTA activation from a wilderness park while on a canoe trip.

Quetico Park close up map from the Ontario Parks Master Plan

That determination was finally put in motion in early 2024 when another Quetico canoe trip was planned for August. But the challenge would be to put together a radio, an antenna and battery light enough and compact enough to pack in a canoe trip barrel.

Canoe Trip Barrels and Waterproof Eureka Pack ready to go!

Our plan was to enter the Park at one of the north east access points, travel south across immense Pickerel Lake, then paddle and portage our way as far as Fern or Olifaunt Lakes, depending on our progress and the weather, and return via the same route. Or, if we were feeling adventurous, to complete the circle route made possible by the historic Deux Rivière and Pine Portages. See Map below:

Canoe Route across Pickerel Lake into Bud and Fern Lakes with Start, Campsites and Portages marked and possible Circle Route

Either way would require 8 portages totalling more than 7 km. Everything has to be small and light because a portage is a rugged trail between lakes where you must carry everything on your back.

Because my wife and I have four packs in total for a 10 day trip, plus the canoe, each portage must be walked 3 or more times, back and forth, until all the gear is carried over. Incoming History lesson: From my university days as a researcher for the Kanawa Canoe Museum, now the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, Ontario, I learned that “portager” is a French verb that translates “to carry” and has its origins with the French Voyageurs who paddled the continent trading furs. Therefore “portage” should always be pronounced in French.

At 67 years young, I now own a Swift Kevlar canoe that weighs under 14 kg, about 30 pounds. The food and equipment barrels are about 20kg each. I wasn’t about to pack or portage much more in the form of radio equipment. It had to be light!

It so happened that a new member of my club, the Elmira Radio Club of Ontario, Hagen VE3QVY, had recently built a (tr)uSDX radio. The radio is a masterpiece of miniature hardware and brilliant software thanks to Manuel DL2MAN and Guido PE1NNZ.

Hagen is an electronics whiz, to say the least, and he knew of my interest in this radio (I was on the original list for the Canada group kit build). He lent me his (tr)uSDX back in April and after making an easy trans-Atlantic QSO with it on 5W, I immediately ordered a Classic band kit. I was already thinking about activating Quetico from the park’s interior when I started my build.

My (tr)uSDX build in progress

Hagen offered considerable help with my (tr)uSDX since the last time I built a kit was in 1970 when I worked on a Heathkit SW receiver I got for Christmas. Hagen installed some improved MOSFETS, precisely rewound all the toroids, tested and improved the radio’s performance and measured all the specifications, to the point where the radio was transmitting a minimum 5W on all bands with very high efficiency. And it only weighed 150 grams, perfect for my needs!

It was time to gather the necessary accessories to complete this rig keeping it lightweight and portable. I added a short length of thin RJ-316 BNC coax to my kit and included the high performance Tim Ortiz N9SAB Nano QRP 20m dipole that I’d been using for POTA with my FT-818. At only 100 grams and a reliable performer, it would fit the bill, but limit my operation to 20m.

I already had a small Bioenno 3Ah battery that could power the radio through more than a few activations, which added another 400 grams. With a few extra accessories and cables and a N6ARA mini paddle, just in case (I’ve never made a CW contact but might try if needed) my lightweight kit was well under 1 kg and complete. The rig and accessories easily fit inside the soft pouch with my fishing reels, so no extra space was required.

I started to think about how I could get spotted while in the wilderness far away from any cell towers. Perhaps, I thought, if I could add a few FT8 contacts while in the Park I could surely make 10 QSOs to confirm an activation without a spot on POTA.app. I solved the spotting quandary for an SSB activation after much deliberation.

I also tested a number of mobile phone apps that run FT8. I tried both iOS and Android apps and settled on FT8CN for Android. After updating the (tr)uSDX firmware to run CAT and audio through a single USB cable to an Android phone, I gathered a few of the USB micro to USB-C cables needed to connect the radio to a phone running the FT8CN App. Eventually, after considerable trial and error, it all worked! To be clear, the FT8CN software has a bit of a learning curve, but that is another story. It works well with some practice.

In early August, the barrels were packed and ready to go. After two full days of driving north and west 1500 km on the Trans-Canada Highway from our QTH in South Western Ontario, we arrived at Quetico Provincial Park. Yes, the province of Ontario is that big!

Map of Ontario showing the 1500 km driving route to Quetico from SW Ontario

We camped overnight at the Park’s Dawson Trail campground and set off on our canoe trip the following morning crossing the expanse of Pickerel Lake in breezy, warm, pleasant summer weather. A few open stretches of the lake required that we paddle behind islands to avoid the bigger waves. But all that would change, dramatically.

Continue reading Navigating Quetico: Rod’s POTA Adventure with the (tr)uSDX

The POTA Babe Learns Some Lessons

by Teri (KO4WFP)

After an interesting and successful activation at Fort McAllister, I turned my sights southward and further back in time to Fort Morris Historic Site (US-3717).

source: gastateparks.org

Fort Morris Historic Site contains earthen fortifications that date back to the Revolutionary War. The site is simpler than that of Fort McAllister. Fort Morris was built to protect the town of Sunbury. Sunbury was a thriving, cosmopolitan community on the Medway River. In fact, three signers of the Declaration of Independence came from Sunbury. The river has a naturally deep channel that allowed the town to compete with the city of Savannah for commerce.

Fort Morris was attacked by the British in late 1778 and told to surrender. Colonel John McIntosh told the British, “Come and take it.” The British left but returned later with reinforcements and did take the fort, renaming it Fort George.

The capture of Fort Morris was the beginning of the decline of Sunbury. The British burned the town after its capture. Sunbury lost economic significance, suffered from hurricanes in 1804 and 1824 as well as yellow fever and malaria epidemics, and was abandoned by 1860. There are no remaining ruins of the historic town except for a cemetery in which many of the tombstones were destroyed by the 1870s.

I arrived at Fort Morris early, September 2nd, on an overcast day. The trees next to and over the entrance road formed a welcoming green canopy. I left Daisy at home as I planned to walk through the small museum on site and dogs are not allowed inside. What I didn’t know is that the museum is only open Friday through Sunday.

the entrance road with green canopy
parking lot
the museum

I had the site to myself nearly my entire visit. I walked to the fort first to see if I would be allowed on top of the embankments. Nope! So I walked out of and to the right of the fort along a path that runs around the entire structure. The path is dotted with live oaks whose Spanish moss flitted in the nonstop breeze.

the fort from the parking lot
sweet pea flower on the embankments

These trees were perfect for the Tufteln EFRW I so often use. I wanted to run my antenna northeast which would put it on the path I walked to get to this spot. In short order, the antenna was installed and I added some more flagging tape for visibility.

live oak tree I used – EFRW antenna attaching to Thom Bihn bag on path. you can barely see the flagging tape in the photo

I first thought to set up at the sole picnic table behind the fort. (How convenient for an activation!) But, on second thought, that would put my back to the path and, though I’d have a lovely view of the Medway River, I would not be able to watch for pedestrians who might walk into my antenna. Instead, I set up my Helinox chair on the opposite side of the path. This way I could still view the river but also look up and down the path.

picnic table with a nice view
Helinox chair – note the POTA flag blowing in the steady breeze

The bands were kind to me today. I began with 40 meters and had two callers, both from Georgia, on that band. I moved to 20 meters where the bulk of my QSOs happened – 29 in total! I also logged one QSO on 15 meters and six QSOs on 17 meters, though none of those were DX as I had hoped for.  All in all, I was pleased with this activation.

QSO map for Fort Morris Historic Site 9-3-2024  source: http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/

This activation was also my second using an app on my iPhone for logging – Ham2K PoLo. What I like about Ham2K PoLo is that it is easy to use and the name and location of the op remains on the screen while you are logging the QSO. The app provides a way for me to compare the QTH in the record to the one I copy. It also allows me to thank ops by name at the end of the QSO which I have always liked to do but stopped doing when I used paper unless I could recall the name associated with the callsign.

Ham2K PoLo screenshot

There are a few downsides from my perspective on using the app. First of all, I cannot type the callsign as fast I could write it. But that is because I haven’t become accustomed to using the app yet. Also, if I hear a partial call during a pile-up, I can’t note it unless I write it on a piece of paper.  Lastly, when I hunt other activators, I like to write down their information since the POTA app moves everyone’s information on the screen as it updates spots. To get around this difficulty, I started taking a screenshot of an activator’s information and saved it to my photos so I could enter the information in PoLo at my leisure while I hunted the activator.

An interesting sidenote – After I wrote this article, I put together a video of the activation itself which I usually don’t do. I found two busted call signs which is not typical for me. I think there are four reasons for what happened.

First, I am still becoming accustomed to using the new app and that is a distraction while trying to copy information in the QSO. Second, I relied on the app to confirm the QTH. In both instances where I copied the call sign incorrectly, the incorrect call sign also had the same QTH so it didn’t help me in those situations. Third, I need to brush up on my Instant Character Recognition. Last but not least, instead of confirming the callsign at the end of the QSO, I used the op’s name after “TU” since I had it available from the app. I think thanking someone by name is a nice touch; however, many ops who hunt POTA are probably not conversant with conversational CW and may therefore not recognize their name in CW.

To avoid a repeat of what happened, I’ll make several changes. First, I will return to pencil and paper. Sure, having the data logged in the app saves me time; however, my activations have maybe 40 or so QSOs at the most which doesn’t take much time to enter back home. Second, at the end of my QSOs, I will return to using the callsign behind “TU” and only include the op’s name if I remember it. Third, I need more work with Instant Character Recognition – both working with the Word List Trainer tool but, more importantly, spending more time in on-the-air QSOs, especially those using conversational CW. I’ve had less in the way of code buddy QSOs over the summer due to propagation and busy schedules. That changes this month as I resume regular QSOs with two code buddies – Caryn KD2GUT and Gary K4IIG.

So there you have it – my activation at Fort Morris Historic Site – #39 on the list as I work toward 60 new valid park activations this year. Will I continue my streak of historic properties or return to wildlife management areas next? Stay tuned…

Activation Video

If you are interested, here is the link for the activation video on POTA Babe YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/naqWlAatnIs

Equipment Used

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