Tag Archives: Dogs

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

Brian Activates Allegheny National Forest and Remembers a Dear Friend

January 4, 2024 Thomas Witherspoon 8 Comments

Many thanks to Brian (K3ES) who shares the following guest post:

Activation at Allegheny National Forest: Remembering a Friend

by Brian (K3ES)

The last few weeks have been rough for the K3ES household. In past activation reports, I introduced you to our two Boston Terriers. Molly and Jojo came to us as rescue dogs in October 2022, and we have worked hard to help them feel safe and loved. Unfortunately, both came to us with unexpected health problems. We were able to get Molly through treatment for heartworm, and she is thriving. Jojo always had something holding her back, but we were never quite sure what. We lost her just before Christmas, and that was a real punch in the gut.

Jojo was a special dog. When we brought her home, she barely weighed 15 pounds. Even after we managed to build her weight up to 25 pounds, she was still thin for her frame. She also came to us hunched, cowering, and emotionally traumatized. It took months for her to start coming out of her shell. We got glimpses of her as a feisty, and loving dog, who took real joy from laying in the sunshine. We were hopeful that she would one day come into her own, and give our jubilant Molly a real run for her money. Sadly, it was not to be. She had increasing problems with mobility. We treated her for a bone infection, for possible tick-borne disease, and for joint inflammation. Steroids and pain medication helped her quality of life a lot. It was only near the end that the likely culprit was identified as cancer, but even expensive diagnostic tests failed to confirm that. Finally, her body just crashed, and we had to let her go…

Jojo supervises a truck activation of Allegheny National Forest in March 2023.

Looking back through pictures of Jojo, I discovered some that were taken during a never-reported “truck activation” of Allegheny National Forest (K-0619) back in March, 2023.

I have never thought that my vehicle-based activations were terribly interesting, so I never spent the time to report them. Suddenly, that particular activation held new meaning, because one of the few times I got Jojo out with me for a POTA activation happened because I was doing a low-impact drive-up, working from the truck. She rode shotgun, and sat happily in the passenger seat while I made contacts. Molly sat in the back seat, napping from time to time. After the radio gear was packed away, the three of us even managed to take a short trail walk along a Forest Service Road that starts at the parking area.

Jojo and Molly lead the way on the Forest Service Road after the radio gear was packed away.

Last week, I found myself in serious need of radio-therapy. Since Molly is always ready to go for a ride and a POTA, I decided to take her along to re-create the prior activation that we did with Jojo. So this is the story of our salute to a departed friend, a tribute activation, as it were.

Activation

Molly and I packed her blanket, picked up my KX2 field kit, and jumped in the truck for a 20 minute drive to the trail-head parking area that we had activated with Jojo last March. It has trees, a decent driving and walking surface that would not be too muddy from recent rain, and the Forest Service road where we had walked after the previous activation. This time, Molly rode in the passenger seat, alternating between napping, and looking at the scenery as we drove. Upon arrival she stayed put, while I used a throw line to put up my Tufteln 35 ft EFRW as a sloper. I hooked the unun around my 2 meter mobile antenna, and ran coax into the truck through the lower part of the driver-side door seal. I set up the KX2 on the center console/armrest, prepared my log, and got on the air to start the activation.

Tufteln 9:1 unun was clipped to my 2m mobile antenna, with the 35 ft radiator sloping up to a tree, the 17 ft counterpoise dropping down to the ground, and the RG316 feedline leading into the truck.

Results

As with almost all of my activations, I ran this one entirely CW QRP. Beginning just after 1900z (2 pm local), I decided to start on 15m and work my way down the bands. The HF bands were in good shape, and 15m netted 2 quick contacts, then 17m yielded 6 more. The pace picked up when I moved to 20m (12 contacts in 22 minutes), and got even faster on 30m (17 contacts in 19 minutes, before it was time to call QRT). While I was on the air, Molly did some supervising and some super snoozing.

Working steadily for an hour and a quarter, and finishing with 37 contacts was just the kind of break that I needed. I want to sincerely thank the hunters who made this activation a success. For just a short while, I was focused on CW, call signs, and signal reports, and the sense of loss receded a bit from my consciousness.

Equipment

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Elecraft KX2 with internal battery.
SideKX end-panels and cover for the KX2
Tufteln 9:1 unun random wire antenna with 35 ft radiator and 17 foot counterpoise
15 ft RG-316 feedline (BNC male to BNC male)
Bioenno 3 Ah LiFePO4 battery
Homebrew VK3IL-designed, pressure paddles
Generic earbuds
Rite in the Rain No. 946 notepad
Pentel Twist-Erase mechanical pencil in 0.9mm
Arborist kit with 2mm Marlow Excel line and Petzel 9 oz (250g) throw bag
US M7 Army Light Weight Service Mask pouch. WWII vintage, canvas construction.

Molly and I walked along the Forest Service Road. We felt incomplete…

Conclusion

After I packed up the station, Molly and I repeated our walk along the Forest Service road. With just the two of us, it was definitely a bittersweet experience. I think Molly felt our loss, too. I like to think that Jojo would have been fine with missing this activation. The weather, while not raining, was cool, overcast, and a bit gloomy. The sunshine that she treasured was absent for us that day. Hopefully, she has found a place in perpetual sunshine, and is soaking up the rays. Good bye sweet pup.

We will always remember Jojo in her natural element, bathing in sunshine…

Hold on tight to those you love, and do something special with your four-footed companions. I wish you all the best in 2024.

Best 73 de Brian – K3ES

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

K3ES’ Hike with Molly: The POTA Dog In-Training!

August 13, 2023 Thomas Witherspoon 7 Comments

Many thanks to Brain (K3ES) who shares the following guest post:

“Hey! I can be a POTA Dog. Let’s go on a hike!”

A Hike (and Activation) with a POTA Dog In-Training

by Brian (K3ES)

A plan for a Hike and an Activation

A couple of Wednesdays ago, I decided to take a hike along the North Country Trail. It would not only provide some needed exercise on a beautiful day, but it would also take me into Pennsylvania Game Land #024, enabling a 2-fer activation of K-4239 and K-8725. I had hiked this stretch of the trail several times before, so I figured it would be safe taking one of our dogs along for the trip.

Jojo (front) and Molly (back) are not happy about this staged picture.

Molly and Jojo are two rescued Boston Terriers, who have made our home their own since October of last year. Each has her own character. Molly is exuberant, very friendly, and frankly, a bit of a bulldozer. Jojo is pure sun bunny, preferring to find a bright patch of lawn, then lay there soaking up the heat. Once installed in a sunny spot, Jojo doesn’t like to move. So, it seemed natural to invite Molly along for the afternoon hike. The only potential issue was the planned stop for a park activation. I was almost certain that Molly would enjoy the walk, but how would she handle the period of inactivity? There was only one way to find out.

Jojo in her natural habitat: sunbathing in the back yard.

Since solar conditions had been keeping the radio bands rough and unpredictable, I decided to start my QRP CW activation in the middle of the afternoon. Beginning the activation at 3pm EDT meant that my first hour would overlap with the popular CWT sprint, so I planned to start on the 30m band to avoid trying to compete with my 5 watt signal. More importantly, the timing would let me finish on the 40m band later in the afternoon, when I have always found it to be productive.

The plan was set and an activation was scheduled in POTA.app to begin at 3pm EDT, so detection by the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) would assure automatic spotting. We left home just after 1pm, drove to the trail head, and started our hike to the activation point. Our travel and the station setup went quicker than expected. Even after securing Molly on her leash, with space to move around and drinking water in reach, all was ready to begin by 2:30pm. Fortunately, there was sufficient cell coverage to let me directly enter an early spot. Despite the early start, I stayed with my original plan to begin on the 30m band.

Activation

Contacts on 30m came slowly, but I was able to confirm the activation with 11 contacts in just over an hour. Since the CWT sprint was continuing, I moved over to 17m to see if I could pick up some more distant contacts, but it was not to be. I heard one strong signal on 17m – calling CQ over me. I am confident that the operator did not hear me on the frequency, particularly since he did not pick up my call when I responded to his CQ. Not only that, but my 5 watt signal did not even manage to attract the notice of the RBN. I took that episode as a sign that it was time to QSY.