Tag Archives: Alan (W2AEW)

POTA activation with Alan (W2AEW) and WCARS Hamfest Photos

August 9, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 11 Comments

On the weekend of July 29, 2023 we had a very special guest visit the Asheville area: Alan (W2AEW).

You likely know Alan because he has an amazing YouTube channel where he takes deep dives into a wide variety of ham radio, test equipment, and other technical topics. Alan is also an avid POTA (Parks On The Air) activator and a regular contributor here on QRPer.com.

Alan reached out in early July and mentioned that he would be in town to see his nephew’s band (Safety Coffin) who would be performing to celebrate the release of their new album.

Fortunately, that weekend was the one free weekend in my schedule during July because I had cleared it in anticipation of the 2023 WCARS Hamfest. Vlado (N3CZ) and I had planned to reserve a few tables to sell some gear, but both of us were so busy leading up to the hamfest, we skipped the idea of being vendors and decided instead to simply enjoy the hamfest without all of the prep.

Early Saturday morning, I picked up Alan and we made our way to the hamfest.

The WCARS hamfest is always a good one. There’s a large indoor area and loads of outdoor spaces as well.

It seemed to me that there were even more vendors this year than I had seen in the past. I don’t think there was one free spot indoors.

My buddy Philip (N4HF) is a regular at the WCARS hamfest.

Alan and I browsed all of the vendors and both of us ended up buying a few adapters and other small items.

I wasn’t too tempted to make a major purchase, but there were some real goodies, like an Elecraft KX2 and Elecraft KX3 package. Gil (KS4YX) tried to convince me I needed his KX2 as a spare, but I resisted the temptation! (Good try, Gil!)

After all, I needed to show Alan that I had some measure of restraint. Right? [Don’t worry: the following weekend I picked up not one, but two small QRP radios from a friend–more on that in a future post.]

We also spent some time with my buddy Dave (K4SV) who gave us a proper deep-dive into his Tesla Model Y (thanks again, Dave!). My wife and I are planning to buy a used EV and the Model Y is high on the list.

It was brilliant seeing so many friends at the hamfest, but Alan and I didn’t hang around too long. Alan needed to be back with his family around 12:30 and both of us hoped to squeeze in a POTA activation. I was especially keen to get Alan on the air because he had yet to add North Carolina to the list of states he’d activated. We needed to take care of that quickly!

POTA on the Blue Ridge Parkway (K-3378)

The easiest spot to activate, without a doubt, was the Blue Ridge Parkway Folk Art Center in East Asheville. We parked, set up an end-fed half-wave, and Alan was on the air within a couple of minutes. Continue reading POTA activation with Alan (W2AEW) and WCARS Hamfest Photos →

News, POTA

Alan’s POTA Mapping Tip!

July 20, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 7 Comments

Many thanks to Alan (W2AEW) who shares the following tip:

Thomas,

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to locate maps for the national and state parks. Some of the parks have good maps on their websites, some do not. Others have maps, but they aren’t detailed enough sometimes to definitively determine if you’re within the boundary or not.

I’ve found that one of the best sources for the national, state and local park boundaries is OpenStreetMap.org. This is a free mapping site. One missing piece is that it does not map National or State Trails very often. But, for park boundaries, it is great.

For example, this map clearly shows that most of Barnegat Light State Park (K-1609) is also within the boundaries of the NJ Pinelands Reserve (K-6609). From experience, I know that this also falls within the NJ Heritage Coastal Trail (K-6544) – thus making it a 3-fer.

At my early activations from this park, I did not know that it was part of Pinelands and thought it was only a 2-fer.

I have also used an app called “onX road” on my phone which can show owners of properties, but in order to see that, it isn’t free.

Just another tool for your toolbox.

Thank you for the tip, Alan! I have not used OpenStreetMap.org as a POTA tool, but I certainly will moving forward.

I have been using the free app, Parceled, on my iPhone to discover the owners of land parcels–it works brilliantly and is free (so far).

Thanks again, Alan!

If you have a mapping tip you’d like to share, please comment!

Field Reports, Guest Posts, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Guest Post: Alan’s Jersey Shore Vacation POTA-Fest

July 1, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 4 Comments

Many thanks to Alan (W2AEW) who shares the following guest post:

Jersey Shore Vacation POTA-Fest

by Alan (W2AEW)

One of our favorite vacation spots is Long Beach Island (LBI), NJ. It’s not hard to imagine since my XYL and I are both born & raised in NJ near the shore. Our late-spring / early-summer vacation was an extended family affair with a few celebrations and long-distance relatives coming to visit the beach rental house on this 18 mile barrier island off the southern coast of New Jersey.

The vacation rental house we stayed in is in the town of Surf City. It is situated on the bay side of the island, overlooking Manahawkin Bay.

In addition to setting up my Penntek TR-45L and a 40m EFHW at the beach house, I also brought along my POTA kit – complete with the Elecraft KX2 and a small variety of antennas. The entire island and surrounding area are part of the NJ Coastal Heritage Trail (K-6544). Two other nearby parks are the Edwin Forsythe Wildlife Management Area (K-0453) and Barnegat Light State Park (K-1609). These latter two parks also fall within the boundaries of the NJ Pinelands Preserve National Conservation Area (K-6609).

My first POTA activation was a simple walk across the street to one of the public benches along the bay shore. This qualifies as public area within the Trail (K-6544).

The antenna is the SuperAntenna MP1 equipped with a 10’ stainless telescoping whip on top from MFJ. I used a deep-reach locking clamp to fasten the antenna to the aluminum bulkhead. The salt-water made a nice counterpoise. The rest of the setup was resting on the park bench with me. I only had a limited time to operate, but conditions were pretty favorable and I logged 11 QSOs in 20 minutes on 20m CW running 5W.

The next day, I had another short window to play POTA and planned a short trip to the Edwin Forsythe WMA. Just as I was heading out of the door, I received a phone call from my nephew that was out running. He had come across a mother duck and some ducklings that were hanging out near a storm drain. It turns out that some of the ducklings had fallen through the grate. We tried to lift the grate ourselves and couldn’t. We called the local police and they arrived a few minutes later. They called the water department. Together, we were able to lift the grate, and with 30-40 minutes of coaxing, were able to rescue the trapped duckings from the storm drain and reunite them with the mother. Needless to say, I didn’t get to the park for the activation.

I was able to finally head out to Cedar Bonnet Island, which is a small island that sits between LBI and the mainland. This island is part of the Edwin Forsythe WMA, and also lies within the boundaries of the NJ Pinelands Preserve and the NJ Coastal Trail – making it a 3-fer! Continue reading Guest Post: Alan’s Jersey Shore Vacation POTA-Fest →

News, QRP, QRPer Notes, Reviews, Videos

QRPer Notes: Alan Reviews the FX-4C, Common Mode Chokes, and Kitchener Waterloo ARC Hamfest Tour

June 8, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 4 Comments

Because I receive so many tips from readers here on QRPer, I wanted way to share them in a concise newsletter format. To that end, welcome to QRPer Notes, a collection of links to interesting stories and tips making waves in the world of radio!

Radio Review: FX-4C SDR QRP Transceiver

Many thanks to Ron who shares this excellent review of the FX-4C by our friend Alan (W2AEW):

Click here to view on YouTube.

Common Mode Chokes

Many thanks to David (WK4DS) who shares the following post about common mode chokes.

Click here to read.

Kitchener Waterloo ARC Hamfest 2023

Many thanks to John (VE3IPS) who shares his quick video tour of the Kitchener Waterloo ARC Hamfest:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Hacks and Hints, How To, Kits, News, Skills

Video: Alan’s method for winding toroids

April 9, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 10 Comments

After posting my article about the K9DP BCI filter kit build, Alan (W2AEW) commented:

If you dislike winding toroids, the method I show in this video makes it a lot easier!

This is an excellent way to handle the toroid while winding. Check out his video below:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Alan has a massive library of instructional videos on YouTube. If you haven’t already, subscribe to his channel!

Antennas, Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Alan’s window-mounted Elecraft AX1 POTA activation!

February 5, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 23 Comments

Many thanks to Alan (W2AEW) who shares the following guest post:

New AX1 POTA Activation

by Alan (W2AEW)

I have to admit, I have been bitten “hard” by the POTA bug! (I blame Thomas!) It started for me in August 2022 while I was on vacation at the Jersey shore. Since that time, I have completed 48 activations at 19 different parks. All of these have been QRP, and almost exclusively on CW. This story is about one of my recent activations, which was unique for a couple of reasons. Read on…

The Park

My job puts me on the road, covering a large portion of the northeastern United States. When my schedule permits, I’ll hit the road earlier than needed in order to potentially stop for a quick activation along the way (usually giving up a lunch-on-the-road stop in favor of a bit of QRP CW operation at a park).

This particular park was not your typical state park. It wasn’t a nature preserve, or a mountain lake, or a hiking or picnic paradise. No, this park is decidedly urban, occupying 2 blocks in the city of Holyoke, MA. This is K-2439, Holyoke Heritage State Park. According to the state park website, this park celebrates the rich industrial heritage of the city of Holyoke. The park also includes a Children’s Museum, a Volleyball Hall of Fame and a restored antique Merry-Go-Round.

The park is situated along a canal that once powered some of the mills that were located on the property.

It certainly is not like any other state park that I’ve been to!

One of the reasons I chose to stop at this park is that it had only been activated 4 times in the past. In retrospect, I suppose this could’ve been because of the city/industrial setting. Was it going to be noisy? Maybe this was a bad idea.. Thankfully, it wasn’t… Another thing that appealed to me is that it had not been activated on CW before. So, my activation would be a CW ATNO (All Time New One) for this park, which is kind of cool.