Tag Archives: Bob (K4RLC)

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

K4RLC’s December 2022 Adventure at Stone Mountain State Park

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Many thanks to Bob (K4RLC) who shares the following POTA field report from December 2022:

K4RLC’s December 2022 Adventure: Stone Mountain State Park North Carolina

by Bob (K4RLC)

As 2022 was coming to an end, I wanted one last Summits on the Air/Parks on the Air (SOTA/POTA) activation. Stone Mountain North Carolina is around 3 hours away in Northwestern North Carolina, near the Appalachian Trail and the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is a huge state park of over 14,000 acres and some wilderness areas.

A little background about this year might be helpful.

Earlier last year, both Alanna K4AAC and I were diagnosed with COVID, which turned into long serious COVID, lasting almost 3 months of acute illness, followed by several months of recovery. We are both healthcare professionals, and were vaxed and boosted and being very cautious, so it’s somewhat of a mystery what happened. One of us does have multiple medical risk factors which may have added to the complexity.

Nevertheless, we did what a lot of Americans did last winter and spring, with buying RVs and campers, and bought a Winnebago Solis camper van.

The Solis is Winnebago’s smallest van, built on a Dodge Pro Master commercial chassis. What appealed to me is that you can be completely self-sufficient, boon-docking with it. It has a 140 Watt solar panel on the roof which charges two 100 amp hour AGM batteries.

Off the grid, this powers a small refrigerator, house LED lights, water pump,  and a ceiling fan.

The Solis also has a 20-gallon propane tank, which runs a two-burner stove and a really nice furnace for cold nights. It sleeps two comfortably with a Murphy bed. Also has a sitting area with a table for dining, which can be used as a desk or an operating position for the radio.

Since getting the Solis, we have really enjoyed making trips to the beaches and mountains of Virginia,  North Carolina and South Carolina. In addition to enjoying exciting POTA/SOTA activations, we have been replenished by nature’s beauty and feeling safe in the fresh air.

Returning to my Stone Mountain adventure, I guess not many people camp in the middle of the week in December in the mountains. Initially, I was the only person in the large campgrounds. Eventually, a couple with their dog and a trailer set up at the far end. We never had any contact. It was really eerie, especially with the pea soup fog that hung around.

The most prominent feature of Stone Mountain State Park is Stone Mountain itself.

It is known as a “Dome Monadnock,” as it is a large dome of granite/quartz still standing from the Devonian Age about 400 million years ago, while the earth around it has eroded over thousands of years. (Stone Mountain Georgia is the same geologic feature). Continue reading K4RLC’s December 2022 Adventure at Stone Mountain State Park →

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

Bob’s three day POTA camping trip in and around the Dismal Swamp!

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Many thanks to Bob (K4RLC) who shares the following POTA field report from February 2023:

Dismal Swamp Activation – February 2023

by Bob (K4RLC)

The Dismal Swamp is a lovely place !

The goal for this winter was to activate the Dismal Swamp in northeastern North Carolina, both as it is a relatively rare area, and during the summer it is full of critters like snakes, gators, bears, and mosquitoes as big as birds. So, in February I did a three day trip.

First, I activated the Dismal Swamp State Park (K-2727) in Camden County North Carolina, off US Highway 17.

This  state park contains some  historically important lands to the US. In pre-revolutionary times, George Washington actually bought some of the swamp land  and attempted to drain it to make it farmland. His plan failed, but there is still a marker for his house on the Virginia side. Indigenous people lived here 13,000 years ago, and flourished off the rich fish and animal life.

During the Civil War, the Dismal Swamp was an important part of the Underground Railroad, for those escaping from slavery in the South to freedom in the North. Some slaves used ancient Indian villages as the foundation for building communities deep in the swamp. There are still remnants of this rich history. Originally, the Great Dismal was over a million acres, but now is only half that size.

To make this activation more interesting, you first must go to the Gate Keeper and sign in with your name and give the model and color of your car before you can enter the park. This is to keep track of lost souls who might wander off the path in the swamp, never to be found.

The Gate Keeper also controls the bridge over the Dismal Swamp Canal, which is part of the Intercoastal Waterway up the East Coast of the United States, sometimes called a water way Interstate. This canal was also historically important for transporting materials in the 1800s.

During World War II, when German U-Boats torpedoed merchant ships off the coast of North Carolina, the Dismal Swamp Canal became an important waterway for military transport.  Once you enter Dismal Swamp State Park, there are several hiking trails along the Canal and back into the Swamp. One even takes you by a Moonshine Still which unfortunately was not still operating.

I set up the trusty ICOM-706 MkIIG at a picnic table on 20 meters CW, and soon had a nice pile up going. Someone spotted me on the POTA site and RBN. Soon, I was getting emails to my cell phone asking for contacts. Little did I know how rare Camden  County was,  especially on the 40 and 20 CW bands.

I wish I had had more time to explore Dismal Swamp State Park, including walking the 20 mile path along the Canal, but I wanted to go to the Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge (K-0566) which was over an hour’s drive away, with the entrance across the border in Virginia.

On the way, I got an email from a ham in Hungary who needed a nearby county on 20 meters CW – Pasquotank County. Since it was only a bit out-of-the-way, I thought the least I could do was to drive there and help an overseas fellow ham. Continue reading Bob’s three day POTA camping trip in and around the Dismal Swamp! →