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From Customs to Summits: Steve’s KH1 journey into Wales and onto summits!

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Many thanks to Steve (MW0SAW) who shares the following guest post:

Getting a KH1 into Wales and activating a couple of SOTA summits

by Steve (MW0SAW)

I suspect like many QRP enthusiasts, when the brochure of the KH1 surfaced on the Elecraft FTP site, and the YouTube videos appeared, I worked myself into a frenzy of radio desire for the KH1. I knew I had to have one, end of story!

I was so keen to place my order, I totally missed the small print about not being able to ship to the UK or EU because of the lack of CE certification. Or UKCA for that matter. So I placed an order online with Elecraft on 21st Oct 2023 and later it was cancelled because of my location.

Waters and Stanton used to be Elecraft dealers in the UK, in fact I got my KX2 from there a few years ago. But sadly they no longer sell Elecraft products.

Looking on the dealer list, I turned my attention to Rene and Carine at Lutz Electronics in Switzerland. Although a more expensive route to ownership, Lutz have an agreement to buy the KH1 in as a kit and assemble the unit as a service before shipping on to the customer.

So after quite a few emails back and fore with Carine, I learnt I had reserved one of a batch of 40 units destined for the Swiss border. This was around early April.

A few weeks later, on 26th April, I got the email from Lutz requesting international bank transfer payment.

It felt I was really close to getting a KH1 in my hand now, or so I thought!

2nd May I got the tracking number, and by this time I was about to pop with excitement. I was checking the tracking at almost an hourly basis by now! It arrived in London Heathrow and that’s exactly where it stopped for a week. 🙁

The unit was held by customs and I just could not find any information on who to talk to. So after a week of radio silence, a letter from UK Borderforce arrived requesting I assign myself a customs agent to get my parcel cleared. There was even a mention that the parcel would be returned or even destroyed!

Long story slightly shorter, after several more stressful days of worry, I managed to find an extremely efficient company called UK import services. It did cost me a fee, but within a couple of days of providing the invoice and seller information, they got the parcel cleared.

Saturday the 25th May 2024…the big day! I remember pacing around the house looking up the street for the postman. The parcel was handed over and I dashed inside my home to open the box.

OMG there is was, in my hands, wow so small and such a thing of radio QRP beauty!

My friend Lee (M0VKR) also received his that morning and immediately packed his car to head for his nearest SOTA summit: High Willhays (G/DC-001).

Conditions had been terrible with the solar activity, but I managed to get my first QSO with Lee on 40m, in fact KH1 to KH1. I did have to plug it into my home QTH ZS6BKW to make the trip.

So two days later, I was presented with the opportunity and decided to grab a local summit: Craig yr Allt (GW/SW-037).

Conditions weren’t great but I wasn’t put off trying. I managed to qualify with the whip antenna and 17m came up with the goods to qualify.

I was struck by how small and light the unit is, and just how quick the station is to deploy.

In the distance the Bristol Channel and the islands of Flat Holm and Steep Holm. Flat Holm being the place where Marconi sent his first oversea radio signal to Lavernock Point.

The following weekend I took the KH1 out to the SOTA summit of Mynydd Y Glyn (GW/SW-027). Another day of terrible radio propagation. This time I deployed one of my MW0SAW EFHW antennas and the Bamatech TP-III key.

So despite the difficulties getting the radio, and despite the poor radio conditions it was great to be out with the KH1.

I absolutely love it.

It now goes everywhere with me, it’s insane how quick you can deploy it. Even managed to chase a German SOTA station from the office carpark, on 30m with the standard whip and 13 foot counterpoise!!

73 from Wales.
de MW0SAW

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

Joe’s Adirondack Adventure: POTA activations in the Independence River Wilderness

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Many thanks to Joe (N0LSD) who shares the following guest post:

Independence River Wilderness – Adirondacks, NY

by Joe (N0LSD)

A recent family engagement offered me the perfect opportunity to travel to a part of my state I rarely get the chance to visit.

This trip would be a single over-nighter, but allow for the activation of three POTA entities by hitting two different locations.  One stop would be a two-fer, while the other location would be a single-park activation.  Additionally, this trip would offer the potential for ‘late-shift’ contacts:  always a nice feature of overnight activations.

The Planning

In northern New York lies a vast, 6-million acre (over 2.4 million hectare) area that has been set-aside in the State’s constitution as protected land, and half of this area contains wildernesses that are meant to be kept ‘forever wild’.  This area, known as the Adirondack State Park, is fully 20% of the land area of the state of New York, and constitutes the largest area of state-protected land in the United States.

By way of comparison, one could fit Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Everglades, and Great Smoky National Parks all within the Adirondack State Park boundary – at the same time.  (Wood-Tikchik State Park, in Alaska, has more *contiguous* protected land, at 1.6-million acres, and the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge is the largest Federally-protected area.)

My goal was to probe the very western edge of this region.  Situated east-southeast of the town of Lowville, NY are two parks that straddle the Blue Line, which serves as the official border of the Adirondack Park itself.

To the west is the Independence River State Forest (POTA US-5067):  this park falls outside the Blue Line.  Bordering this park to the east is Independence River Wild State Forest (POTA US-10295) – which falls within the Blue Line, and thus within the border of the Adirondack Park (POTA US-2001).

My Amateur operations over the last number of years have been primarily utilizing digital modes; however, because the destination is a place I can seldom travel, and solar activity has been unkind to the HF bands as of late, I’d not leave anything to chance.

This meant having the ability to activate these parks via SSB Voice, if necessary.  I’ve been activating parks with the TruSDX, because it is a light-weight radio.  In addition to carrying this, however, I also took the Xeigu G90, and a Bioenno 12Ah battery.  A good bit of extra weight, but it provided a bit of insurance against the possibility of a failed activation attempt.

On Arrival

In Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey, one of the great writers of the 20th Century, wrote, “In the first place you can’t see anything from a car; you’ve got to get out of the [G.D.] contraption and walk, better yet crawl, on hands and knees, over the sandstone and through the thornbush and cactus.  When traces of blood begin to mark your trail you’ll begin to see something, maybe.  Probably not.”

Map reconnaissance showed it would probably be feasible to drive through the Independence River State Forest park on a forestry road, then hike a couple miles further into the Independence River Wild State Forest along established trails to make camp on Little Otter Lake.  This would be my overnight location and first activation opportunity – a two-fer, as this place lies entirely within the Adirondack Park border.  This would put my vehicle at a midpoint between the two POTA entities.

I tend to pour over maps in preparation for trips like this, but I know better than to trust maps implicitly, especially in the wilderness.  A couple enterprising beavers can turn a whole forest into a pond; and a stroke of a pen in a far-away capital can make a road disappear back into the woods within a few short years.  Topology rarely changes, but what is on that topology can only be trusted once one sets eyes on it. Continue reading Joe’s Adirondack Adventure: POTA activations in the Independence River Wilderness →

Articles, Field Reports, Guest Posts, Kits, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, QRP Radios, QRPers, Travel

Sam’s Thunderbird Mk 1 Takes Flight: A Homebrew Radio Field Report from the American Southwest

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Many thanks to Sam (WN5C) for sharing the following guest post:

Homebrew in the Field

by Sam (WN5C)

What a week it’s been!

I have the opportunity to spend a month traveling through and camping in the American Southwest (specifically, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado) doing archaeological work. And of course, that means the prospect to operate portable at weird times and in lots of places.

I’ve been planning for this trip for a couple of months, about the same length of time that I’ve been trying to achieve my amateur radio dream: to build a complete transceiver. So why not try to do both things at once?

This is just a quick note of my experiences in the first quarter of my trip of taking a homebrew rig into the field.

First off, I have absolutely no background in RF engineering, or electronics at all. But the literature is good and Elmers are priceless (thanks Kenn KA5KXW!). I started small, with kit projects, and then very basic transmitters.

I’ve always appreciated how much satisfaction my father gets by building things by hand, and finally I have a similar hobby. I called the radio I designed the Thunderbird Mk 1 based off the fact that I cut my CW and POTA teeth at Lake Thunderbird State Park in Oklahoma and will probably continue to work there the most. It’s a 6-band (40, 30, 20, 17, 15, 10) CW QRP transceiver with SSB receive.

The receiver is direct conversion and is an amalgamation of VU2ESE’s DC40, KK7B’s Classic 40, and W7EL’s Optimized QRP Transceiver. The VFO is an Arduino/si5351 combo based on the schematics and code written by VK3HN (who has helped me from afar, thanks Paul!). It’s crude, but I use a 6-position rotary switch to manually switch between the band-pass filters.

The transmitter is based on W7ZOI’s Updated Universal QRP Transmitter, married with VK3HN’s Arduino code that acts as the oscillator, keyer, and side tone generator. I get about 3 watts output for 40, 30, 20, a little less for 17 and 15, and about a watt on 10 meters. Like the receiver, I manually switch the low-pass filters.

Here’s a picture of the digital parts (ignore the second Arduino Nano, I thought I would need it but did not), the power board, and the filters. It’s on the bottom:

On top is the main board with the receiver, the transmitter, and T/R switching. Also, you’ll notice the green PCB. I *really* wanted to build NM0S’s Hi-Per-Mite from scratch but I couldn’t get the circuit to run right before my trip so I opted to install one that I built from a kit. It’s a fantastic CW audio filter that I can switch in and out (everyone should have at least one!).

I can switch in a little speaker and added a straight key jack. I printed the box on a 3D printer at the local library. It works great for the shack. In the sun, it’s starting to warp in the heat, so I’ll have to address this, but things still work!

Getting out the door on time with a finished radio was tough! I had finished right before I left on my trip (end of May 2024) and had no time to field test. The best I got was taking the rig to the table in the back yard and firing it up during the WPX contest.

I made amazing DX contacts on all the contest bands I had and called it good. But working superstations isn’t real life, and over the next week I’ve had to MacGyver the radio (rigging a car jump pack, an inverter, and a soldering station together at a picnic table to replace a bad transistor, for example). I think I’ve finally shaken out (literally) all of the loose solder joints and bad grounding. Continue reading Sam’s Thunderbird Mk 1 Takes Flight: A Homebrew Radio Field Report from the American Southwest →

Field Reports, New Products, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, QRP Radios, Videos

The New Xiegu X6200: First POTA activation in CW with a production unit!

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If you’re following the new Xiegu X6200 closely, you might recall that I took a prototype version of the radio out two weeks ago for a POTA activation. Propagation was so challenging–as in, a complete radio blackout in North America due to an X-Class flare–it took about 90 minutes of calling CQ POTA to snag the ten needed for a valid park activation.

I had planned to post the activation video on YouTube, but learned shortly after the activation that this particular unit was a proper prototype instead of an early production run radio. This is a detail I misunderstood prior to the unit shipping.

I only shared the 2+ hour video to Patreon supporters, but not on my YouTube channel for this reason.

Production

This past weekend, I received a second Xiegu X6200: this time, a production run unit!

Again, this unit was supplied to me on loan by Xiegu via their distributor, Radioddity who (in the spirit of full disclosure) is also a QRPer.com sponsor and affiliate.

[Note: Also check out Steve’s channel if interested in the X6200. He’s been testing power output, OS accessibility, and other aspects on the bench.]

POTA Time!

Two days ago–Tuesday, June 11, 2024–I took the new X6200 out for a POTA activation on the Blue Ridge Parkway (US-3378).

I had a couple of hours that morning to fit in the activation, including a round trip from the QTH. The best site for a quick activation was the Folk Art Center picnic area.

Thanks to the early hour, there was no competition for picnic tables.

I decided to pair my PackTenna 9:1 End-Fed Random Wire with the X6200. This provided a chance to test the ATU with a readily matchable antenna (in the future, I’ll make it sweat a bit more by using a transformerless random wire antenna).

This production run X6200 has the same firmware (version 1.0) as the prototype, but the hardware has received noticeable updates. I spotted two changes–one cosmetic and one that had a positive impact on performance–almost immediately.

In the activation video below, you’ll see that I spent a few minutes doing an overview of the X6200.

One of the first things I did was set up the X6200 for CW Message memory operation. I demonstrated (after a bit of head-scratching) how to input the CW message using the X6200’s built-in on-screen keyboard. (If the CW Message Memories confuse you, check out the short primer in my previous post).

Gear:

Note: All Amazon, CW Morse, ABR, Chelegance, eBay, and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

On The Air

The last time I hopped on the air with the X6200, it was proper work making any contacts. It was a struggle and it wasn’t the X6200’s fault. It was our local star!

I decided to start on 40 meters since it was still mid-morning. After calling “QRL?” and hearing no reply, I pressed the second CW message memory button where I loaded “CQ POTA DE K4SWL” and the radio started transmitting. Continue reading The New Xiegu X6200: First POTA activation in CW with a production unit! →

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

The POTA Babe Reaches the Halfway Mark!

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by Teri (KO4WFP)

It is said that all good things must come to an end and a POTA trip is no exception. Packing up camp at Reed Bingham State Park the morning of June 3rd was an easy endeavor.  Daisy and I were soon headed toward Savannah with a POTA planned along the way at Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area (US-7881). We passed through the communities of Tifton and Ocilla, Georgia.

As one travels through Georgia, you see a variety of crops along the road – cotton, peanuts, corn, pecans, blueberries, soybeans, etc. – as well as cattle in fields and poultry houses. As I worked my way toward Alapaha River Wildlife Management Area (WMA), I came across a processing plant for peanuts in Tifton, Georgia.

Peanuts are big business in Georgia. According to the Georgia Peanut Commission, the state of Georgia produces 52% of the peanuts grown in the United States which translated to 1.45 million tons in 2022. That is a boatload of peanuts!

Peanuts are planted April through June and then harvested about five months later in the fall. One fact I did not know is there is a “peanut belt” in Georgia, an area south of the fall line but omitting the coastal counties, where peanuts are planted in the state. I was driving inside this belt.

Peanut crop in the field. source: georgiagrown.com
source: Georgia Peanut Commission

Nuts aside, it wasn’t long before Daisy and I arrived at Alapaha River WMA. This WMA opened in 2016 and contains nearly 7,000 acres. According to a Georgia DNR article, the site has an estimated 2,000 gopher tortoises, the most for any state-owned tract of land in Georgia. This is not surprising given the density of sandhills on the property, a habitat in which gopher tortoises thrive.

The dirt road into the property was nicely groomed. I drove past areas of young planted pines as well as more mature pine stands. However, neither of these areas were conducive to an activation, partially because the trees offered no shade and partially because the branches were either too low or too high for me to install my EFRW antenna.

Entrance into Alapaha River WMA
Young pines

I continued on Jacks Creek Road and headed toward a dove field (the brown area on the map down below) at the point the road dead-ends. I  figured there may be trees along the edge of the field offering what I needed. I turned left onto North Bugle Trail and, off to the right hand side, saw an area with both shade and trees I could use.

source: Georgia Department of Natural Resources
The shady area for my activation QTH
Trees with good branch options

After donning my blaze orange attire and installing the Tufteln EFRW, I attached the new hitch system to the hubcap of one of Kai’s front wheels and the rope to the clip on Daisy’s harness so she could make herself at home along with me in the shade.

While checking out the shady area, I noticed several things – dandelions with their sunny, yellow faces and animal tracks in the sand. The set of tracks for deer were easy to identify. However, another set, not so. I think the second set belonged to a raccoon.

Deer track
Raccoon track (I think)

Today’s activation would be short as I had a three-hour drive ahead of me and needed to be home in time for my son’s evening driving class. (Yes, we’ve reached that stage of life in the POTA Babe household.) In 45 minutes, I logged 19 contacts including one park-to-park with Charles AB9CA at US-2275 and a QSO with Ronald N7WPO in Washington state! That QSO on 5 watts and a wire is part of the magic I mentioned near the end of my previous article.

QSO Map for Alapha River WMA Activation

During the activation I had watched the sun creep closer and closer to Daisy and me. When the time reached 11:15 AM, we were nearly out of shade. It was time to call QRT and head home.

This overnight POTA trip turned out well. I learned more about my camping set-up and the beautiful state in which I live. I had time to do what I love – ham radio in the outdoors. And, with these three activations, I now have 30 parks toward my 60 new-to-me park activation goal for 2024!

I am halfway there.

Thank you to all of you who have supported me thus far. However, my journey is far from over and the fun will continue. Where will I activate next as I work toward 30 more new parks? Stay tuned…

Equipment Used

[Note: All Amazon, CW Morse, ABR, Chelegance, eBay, and Radioddity links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.]

Field Reports, Hams, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Travel, Videos

From Hamvention to History: A POTA Excursion with friends through Indiana’s Past

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You might recall that my friends Eric (WD8RIF), Miles (KD8KNC), Brian (K3ES), Kyle (AA0Z), Charlie (NJ7V), and Joshua (N5FY) all played hooky on the final day of the 2024 Hamvention (Sunday, May 19) and instead activated a couple of POTA sites.

I wrote a short field report about our first activation at Pater State Wildlife Area (US-9492). It was a lot of fun despite the rough bands.

Our next stop was Whitewater Canal State Historic Site in Metamora, Indiana, about an hour’s drive from the first park.

Only four of us continued to the next park; Kyle and Charlie needed to head to the airport, and Joshua needed to start his drive back to Georgia.

Whitewater Canal State Historic Site (US-6977)

I was excited about visiting Whitewater Canal because it would be my first official POTA activation in Indiana.

We arrived around 1:00 PM and opted to grab lunch at a nearby pizzeria before activating.

Around 2:00 PM, we grabbed our gear from the car and walked across the road to the park grounds.

The Whitewater Canal State Historic Site offers a glimpse into the 19th-century canal era.

Built between 1836 and 1847, the Whitewater Canal was a 76-mile waterway that connected the Ohio River to Hagerstown, facilitating the transport of goods and agricultural products.

This engineering feat played a vital role in the economic development of the region, contributing to the growth of towns and industries along its path.

Today, the preserved section of the canal, along with the historic grist mill and other structures, stands as a testament to Indiana’s rich industrial and transportation heritage.

I’ve always been fond of railroads and canals, so this site was brilliant as it featured both running parallel to each other!

Eric, Brian, and I (Miles didn’t activate) were careful to set up within the actual park boundaries.

In this case, it was a little difficult to determine the exact boundaries because the town and park blend together.

I used the Parceled app on my phone to confirm our location.

Eric set up his Elecraft KH1 station at a picnic table under a large tree.

Brian set up his KX2 on a covered bench next to Eric, using his Elecraft AX1 antenna mounted on a clamp secured to the bench.

Brian’s site was super stealthy behind the sign–since he operated with earphones, you couldn’t hear him and barely could see him!

Can you spot K3ES in this photo?

I wanted to put some space between my station and theirs, so I set up under the shade of a tree (it was blazing hot that Sunday) and deployed my Helinox camping chair.

Local ducks enjoying the shade–I picked a different tree.

I then deployed my Chelegance MC-750 vertical for 20-meter operation since Brian and Eric were on other bands.

I connected the MC-750 to my Elecraft KX2, which I mounted on my kneeboard, and was ready to play radio! My hope was that band conditions would be decent. Continue reading From Hamvention to History: A POTA Excursion with friends through Indiana’s Past →

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

Overnight at Reed Bingham State Park for the POTA Babe

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After a valid activation and exploration of Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area, Daisy and I headed to Reed Bingham State Park (US-2195), roughly a two hour drive. Along the way, we passed a huge lumber mill and drove through the communities of Douglas, Nashville, and Willacoochee.

Lumber mill
Train Depot in Willacoochee, Georgia

Courthouse in Nashville, Georgia

Reed Bingham State Park, located in southwest Georgia, is named after Amos Reed Bingham, who envisioned a dam on the Little River to provide electricity to the rural community. Even though the flow of the river was not sufficient for that purpose, Colquit and Cook counties purchased 1,600 acres along the Little River and deeded the land to the state of Georgia, creating the park. A 400-acre lake was created in 1970 by the current dam and provides recreational opportunities for park visitors.

source: Google maps
The lake at Reed Bingham State Park
Overflow from the dam into the Little River

Besides working toward my 60 new-to-me park activation goal, the trip to Reed Bingham served another purpose – refining my camping set-up and routines before my twelve-day POTA trip this summer. I made quite a few notes about equipment that would make camping life better and realized I need to think through where to keep certain items so I can lay my hands on them more easily and quickly.

The tent at the campsite

A new item I purchased for hiking and camping  trips is a hitching system for Daisy. I want her to be able to “free range” while I set up camp, make meals, or visit the bathhouse but still be contained. Ruffwear makes a hitch system with a daisy-chain (aptly named, don’t you think?) on one end and a kermantle rope on the other.

I ran the daisy-chain around a large pine and then, as there was not another tree close enough, the kermantle rope to the rails on the top of Kai. A large carabiner slides up and down the rope and Daisy’s six-foot leash attaches it to a clip on the back of her new harness. The system worked well and eliminated her getting tangled in a lead line while in camp.

After setting up camp and eating supper, it was time to fit in an activation. There were two trees near the campsite – a large oak and shorter-than-usual pine tree. I opted for the pine tree as it was closer to my tent. (I longed to sit in the comfort of my tent on my Thermarest chair for the activation.) Continue reading Overnight at Reed Bingham State Park for the POTA Babe →

Field Reports, Hamvention, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Travel, Videos

Overcoming Band Conditions: A Challenging (But Rewarding) POTA Activation at Scioto Trail State Park!

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On the morning of Wednesday, May 15, 2024, I woke up, grabbed breakfast, and headed to Strouds Run State Park in Athens, Ohio. (You can read about that activation in my previous field report.)

Once I returned to Eric’s (WD8RIF) QTH, Eric, his son Miles (KD8KNC), and I packed up the car for the drive to Dayton—roughly 2.5 hours from Athens. En route, we decided on an activation of Scioto Trail State Park (US-1990) which also happens to be a two-fer with Scioto Trail State Forest (US-5448).

I’d hoped band conditions would remain as favorable as they were in the morning, but the sun had other plans! (Indeed, this would become a recurring theme throughout the following week.)

Scioto Trail State Park (US-1990) and Forest (US-5448)

We arrived at Scioto Trail around 2:00 PM, under scattered clouds and after passing through some rain. We hoped the weather would hold!

I’d never been to Scioto before and was pleased to see a small island on the lake accessible by a footbridge.  It had a gazebo, perfect for a POTA station.

Reunited

A highlight of this trip was giving Eric a chance to operate my Index Labs QRP Plus. Eric had owned one for 13 years as his first field radio. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, when I first met Eric in 1997, it was while he was operating a QRP Plus during FYBO!

Since the QRP Plus is better suited for tabletop use, I recommended Eric set up in the gazebo.

I provided my Chelegance MC-750 for him to operate on 20M.

POTA in the Shade

I set up under a tree at the edge of the island—as far from Eric as possible to minimize interference. In reality, the island is small, so I was only about 15 meters away—not ideal!

The tree offered some shade and potential rain protection. I deployed my Helinox Chair, my “no-transformer, no feedline” Tufteln random wire antenna, the Elecraft KX2, and my Tufteln/N0RNM kneeboard.

When I turned on the radio, I could hear Eric’s signal bleeding through on 30 meters (a band I chose to avoid harmonic interference with 20M).

The KX2 is sensitive, so this wasn’t unexpected. Eric never experienced interference from my station, likely due to the QRP Plus’s less sensitive receiver.

Gear:

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On the air

This turned out to be an activation where I’d really put my KX2 ATU to work! Continue reading Overcoming Band Conditions: A Challenging (But Rewarding) POTA Activation at Scioto Trail State Park! →

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

The POTA Babe Embarks on an Overnighter

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by Teri (KO4WFP)

It is summer break and I’m getting stir crazy. Earlier this year, I scheduled an overnight trip to Reed Bingham State Park. However, given the chaos of my personal life, it was necessary to reschedule the trip. The earliest weekend available was Sunday, June 2nd.  My son would be out of school for summer break and riding lessons would move to weekdays.

Sunday rolled around and this POTA Babe was ready to hit the road again. Out came the camping gear with a few tweaks. I ditched the DEET insect repellant replacing it with a 20% picaridin spray and added a Thermacell unit. I purchased a hitch system for Daisy as well as a harness to replace her collar. The North Face sleeping bag would stay home and, in its place, I’d use a Sea-to-Summit bag liner for the warmer night temperatures.

Gear – camping, ham radio, video
Food for the trip

With my gear loaded, Daisy and I hit the road a little after 8 AM. Before arriving at Reed Bingham State Park, I planned an activation at Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area (US-3737). (Yes, I should just become the poster child for wildlife management areas as they’ve become my favorite place to activate in Georgia!)

The drive through rural Georgia was a pleasant one.

source: Google Maps

We passed through towns familiar to us (Pembroke, Claxton – the fruitcake capital of the world, and Reidsville) as well as new places like Daisy, Georgia. It was a pleasant trip and before I knew it, there we were, crossing the Altamaha River a stone’s throw from Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Actually, Apple Maps routed me to Bullard Creek itself and not the WMA. After a little sleuthing, we were headed in the correct direction and accessed the WMA via a back route. (I knew we were in the right place when I began seeing WMA boundary signs!)

Bullard Creek WMA consists of over 17,000 acres in two tracts along the Altamaha River. One can hunt as well as fish, view wildlife, and use the public shooting range. This WMA was among one of the nicer properties I visited so far.

Shooting range on site

Not far after entering the WMA, I found a clearing off the main road and decided to set up there. Present in the clearing were pine trees with branches low enough to reach with my arbor line. (I knew the WMAs allow wire antennas and figured Reed Bingham would as well so I left the Chelegance MC-750 at home.)

After donning my blaze orange vest and hat, I had the Tufteln EFRW in the tree, the coax attached, and was settled to begin.

The road beyond our clearing for the activation
Pines with lower branches
Daisy’s checks out the surrounding woods

Two things happened in short order. (Remember, ALWAYS expect the unexpected with POTA.) I couldn’t access the POTA site to spot myself due to variable cell service. My partner Glenn W4YES came to the rescue and spotted me on 30 meters. I worked a few callers and then…the sun came out. Literally. Continue reading The POTA Babe Embarks on an Overnighter →

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

The Adventure You Get

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Many thanks to Matt (W6CSN) who shares the following post from his blog at W6CSN.blog:

The Adventure you get is not always the adventure you expect. Recently I’ve been plotting a unique activation of the De Anza National Historic Trail, but that particular POTA activation is going to need a good antenna and just as importantly, time.

This day afforded a few hours in the morning for outdoor radio but not enough to retrace the steps of the De Anza expedition. Instead, I headed down to the San Francisco Bay side for a quick outdoor amateur radio session.

Marina entrance light from years gone by

Since it was was a Saturday, my usual spot at Presidio East Beach was heavily impacted by weekend recreation enthusiasts, so I continued for a quarter mile to the practically empty parking lot east of the St. Francis Yacht Club.

Small dry beach on the marina side of the jetty

Thence on foot past the old stone light tower and the clubhouse of the Golden Gate Yacht Club, you find yourself of the path to the end of the breakwater where a unique art installation sits.

Alcatraz Island at anchor off the point

The Wave Organ is a curious sculpture that uses tubes and cavities between old cemetery stones to channel and amplify the watery sounds of waves as the tides move in and out of the Bay.

Surrounded by saltwater at the end of this jetty, which by my reckoning is within the boundary of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (US-0647), this location was perfect for the “no impact” operation afforded by the Elecraft KH1.

This granite wall served as the operating bench

My plan was to see if I could complete an activation of making 10 contacts entirely by hunting other POTA activators, perfectly reasonable given it was a weekend with no geomagnetic storms to disrupt radio propagation.

An entire station in the palm of your hand

What I did not count on was that it was a contest weekend with both 20 and 15 meters wall-to-wall with rapid fire contesters. As a QRP station, finding the POTA needles in that haystack was going to be tough.

The wave organ is a naturally contemplative environment

I retreated to 17 meters which should offer good daytime propagation and no contesters. There on 18 MHz, I was was able to collect five park-to-park contacts in a span of 23 minutes.

At that point I’d exhausted all of the 17m active CW stations on the POTA spots page and didn’t really have time to wait for more to show up. Therefore the “all hunting” activation strategy was abandoned and I commenced calling “CQ POTA.”

A fresh charge delivers nearly 6 watts into a matched antenna on 17m

The activation was “validated” with a call from Dave, AA7EE as the 10th QSO and then completed with one more park hunted, K9DXA in US-1001. Most of the contacts were with stations east of the Rockies.

http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/

One thing I learned from earlier outings with the KH1 was to not cut the log sheets too small, as might be suggested by the lines printed on the page. Without enough paper under the top and bottom tabs of the logging tray the sheets can easily be caught and snatched away by the wind.

Leave enough margin on the logging sheets and they are easily secured in the tray, even in the face of brisk Bay breezes.

Looking across the marina entrance toward Fort Mason

The “hunting only” activation plan didn’t quite work out but it was a great time out playing radio at scenic spot in San Francisco Bay.

Sailing season is well underway on SF Bay

While I didn’t expect to activate from the wave organ today, it turned out to be a fun adventure and an excellent spot from which to get on the air with the KH1.

73 de W6CSN