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POTA with the Penntek TR-45L and importance of quality cable assemblies!

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On the morning of Wednesday, June 14, 2023, I left the QTH with a goal in mind: fit in a POTA activation before taking my sweet mom to an appointment that afternoon. As I’ve mentioned in the past, there are about four park options that are easy detours off the 1.5 hour drive to my parents’ home, so it was very much doable.

I decided to go to Tuttle (K-4861) since it would be very close to one of my favorite lunch spots (Food Matters in Morganton). I figured I could fit in an activation, then grab lunch after, and still make the appointment with time to spare.

In almost every case, this is how I do POTA these days: it’s all about fitting in activations with weekly travels and errands. It’s rare that I simply plot out an activation or two the day before. More often than not, I schedule my activation a max of 30 minutes before I arrive at the park.

I arrived at Tuttle around 11:30 AM and had the park to myself. There were no other guests there, just park rangers. And lots of birds.

PSA: Buy/Build quality cable assemblies!

A couple days prior, I received a cable assembly sample in the post: a 25 foot RG-316 cable with BNCs on both ends and three series 31 in-line ferrites from ABR Industries. These slim in-line chokes are a new option ABR is offering, hence the reason they send me the assembly.

I speak about this at length in my video below, but I’ve been a customer of ABR Industries for well over a decade now. ABR is a USA supplier of high quality cable, cable assemblies, and other cable components. I’m a huge fan. In fact, I wrote about them separately on the SWLing Post a couple years ago.

Full disclosure: ABR Industries sent me this cable assembly (and one other I’ll feature in a future report) free of charge. They are not a sponsor (although I’d love for them to be) and I’ve no other relationship with them other than being a customer.

I go into greater detail in my video, but I learned a while back just how important it is to use high-quality cable assemblies, adapters, and connectors in the field and at the QTH.

As a field operator, I know my cable assemblies are essentially consumables. With all of the winding, deployments, packing, being outdoors, rough handling, etc. they will eventually fail. (In fact, Alan made a point of this in his latest field report when a mishap in the field broke a good assembly.)

High quality cable assemblies will not only provide better longevity and better durability, but also less loss and overall higher performance. It’s worth the cost because when I hike to a summit, the last think I want to discover is that my cable assembly has failed.

Note that I also build my own cable assemblies (indeed, I feel like all radio ops should learn this simple skill) and try to use quality components and best practices to make the best assemblies I can.

Take-away is: don’t skimp on your cable assemblies. I no longer buy my cable assemblies from random suppliers on eBay or Amazon, I buy them from companies that build and test their assemblies within our hobby; companies like PackTenna, Tufteln, Messi & Paoloni, and ABR Industries.

Here ends my PSA…let’s get on with the activation!

Tuttle Educational State Forest (K-4861)

I spent quite a bit of time talking about cable assemblies, then I moved straight into setting up my field gear. I launched a line and deployed my cannibalized 40m EFHW again and connected it to the Penntek TR-45L. Continue reading POTA with the Penntek TR-45L and importance of quality cable assemblies! →

Digital Modes, Field Reports, FT8, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, SSB

Part 3: N2YCH and K1PCN’s Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove

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Many thanks to Conrad (N2YCH) who shares the first of a three-part field report series outlining his 2023 Hamvention rove with Peter (K1PCN). Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

Part 3: Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove

By Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH

The Bonus State

Welcome to part three of a three-part POTA rove story where Peter, K1PCN and I decided to activate six state parks for our Parks on the Air Activated States Award on the drive to the Dayton Hamvention.

In installments one and two we activated Delaware, Maryland, West Virgina, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. I thought we had exhausted all our state activating possibilities for this trip, until…Peter said, “you know, Kentucky is not that far away. And, by the way, there is a park down there that has never been activated digitally…”

Really? I’m in.

We decided that on day two of the Hamvention, we would leave in the afternoon and make our way to Kentucky, which was just over an hour away. While we were standing on the line to get into the Hamvention on Saturday morning, one of the people near us mentioned that the Voice of America Museum was open until 9pm that night and he was considering going.

I stopped at the VOA booth in the Hamvention and picked up a brochure and on our way to Kentucky, Peter suggested that maybe on the way back, we stop in.

Kentucky

Our best bet for a Kentucky POTA activation, which was recommended by a fellow digital activator at the South West Ohio DX association dinner we attended the night before, was Big Bone Lick State Historic Site (K-3779).  According to the Internet, it was named Big Bone Lick because of the “mammoth artifacts that were found and because of the salt springs that animals drank.” I found that it was impossible to tell anyone the name of the park without a smirk or chuckle in return.

When we arrived in Kentucky, we drove around Big Bone Lick park looking for a place to activate. Apparently, there are buffalo at the park…however, we did not activate near the buffalo. We found an unused picnic area and split up.

Literally about five minutes after I set up and got on the air, a group of moms with five-year-olds celebrating one of their birthday’s showed up. One of the mom’s apologized and explained that I had found her secret place in the park…but by then, I had almost completed my activation and was ready to break down.

I don’t mind it when people come up and ask about what I am doing, I’m always happy to explain ham radio to anyone who’s curious. Activating a park surrounded by a group of five-year-olds was a new experience that I hope to never repeat. Here is a photo of my setup at Big Bone Lick.

Given that it was later in the day by the time we arrived, Peter chose 40 meters, and I took 20 meters. 22 QSO’s later, here’s my coverage using the Buddipole with the 17’ MFJ whip and the Elecraft KX3 at 10 watts.

VOA

On our way back, Peter called the VOA museum to confirm they would be open late that night and then that became our next destination since we had to pass right by on our way back to Dayton. Continue reading Part 3: N2YCH and K1PCN’s Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove →

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

Guest Post: A most enjoyable weekend of SOTA and POTA in the Italian Alps!

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Many thanks to Simone (IU3QEZ) who shares the following guest post:

An enjoyable  weekend

by Simone (IU3QEZ)

I’m part of a Club that promotes QRP activities in the mountains (Mountain QRP Club), in a minimalistic way – small power, small battery, small radio, simple DIY antennas and a lot of friendship.

So what’s better than a full outdoor weekend? Easy peasy, 10 friends together in the Italian alps – Monte Grappa, 1775 meters elevation.

Cars were well packed with QRP gear, tents and sleeping bags. Our place of choice was the nearby area with a mountain hut. We asked for permission to place our tents nearby so even those who are not used to sleeping in tents could participate.

Before starting radio operations we had breakfast. Local salami, cheese and, why not, a  sip of good wine.

You can see here that Riccardo (IU3GKJ) is ready and strengthened from a good breakfast! It’s radio time.

We started with the activation of I-1484 “Massiccio del Grappa”.

To avoid interfering with one another we spread out along  the radio spectrum: from HF to VHF/UHF, magic band included, each of us managed to get contacts on almost every band. Almost everybody was close to getting the 10 QSOs on 10 different bands required by POTA N1CC in just one day. Continue reading Guest Post: A most enjoyable weekend of SOTA and POTA in the Italian Alps! →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, News, Portable, QRP, QRPp, SOTA

Guest Post: “It Was Bound To Happen…”

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

It Was Bound To Happen…

by Matt (W6CSN)

You’d be safe to guess that Mt. Davidson would have been my first SOTA activation seeing as it’s the closest SOTA summit to my home QTH. However, it actually took me a little while to get around to heading up W6/NC-423.

The trail begins near the corner of Dalewood and Lansdale.

Today was the day! I dropped my hiking buddy off at work at 8 AM then drove up Market Street, over Portola Drive and wound my way around Mt. Davidson, finding easy parking on Dalewood Way near Lansdale Ave.

The easy trail up Mt. Davidson.

From the trailhead near the bus stop, it a short and easy hike up to the activation zone. On this route you reach the east end of the summit, opposite the large cross, which is a well known landmark.

Except for the occasional exercise enthusiast, I had the place to myself this morning. Not wanting to lug the fiberglass mast up the hill, I deployed the Gabil Radio tripod and loading coil, using a 3 meter collapsible whip antenna. This is an easy setup and not too much of a compromise on 20 meters.

While I can do a lot of back and forth the get the loading coil set just right for a good match, I find it easier just to get the coil close enough and touch it up with a tuner for a low SWR reading.

I sent a spot via Sotamāt and started calling CQ SOTA on 14.058 using the QCX-Mini. My first call was from JG0AWE from Nagano City, Japan. This was followed quickly by several more stateside calls and I was able to gather the four QSOs needed within a span of five minutes.

QCX-Mini on 20 meters.

I continued working stations and chasing some Summit-to-Summit contacts for another half hour. It was at that point I noticed that I failed to throw the switch to the “Operate” position on the ZM-2 tuner. This whole time I had been operating in “Tune” mode with the 50 ohm absorptive bridge in circuit! It was almost like using a dummy load for an antenna!

Oops! I left the ZM-2 in the “tune” position!

Later, at home, I measured this tuner configuration with this radio using an actual 50 ohm load instead of an antenna and found that I was most likely operating with an effective power to the antenna of only 300 milliwatts!

Despite this extremely low power I was able, using CW, to complete the activation with no difficulty. This is a testament to the effectiveness of the CW mode, and not so much this operators skill.

Sutro Tower and Twin Peaks to the North.

After logging 10 contacts, I called it quits, packed up the station and headed back down for some breakfast. Next time I’ll try to remember to set the switch correctly after tuning up, but I make no promises. I’m guessing pretty much everybody that has a ZM-2 has at one point or other forgot to switch into “operate” mode, It was bound to happen.

Articles, Digital Modes, Field Reports, FT8, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, SSB

Part 2: N2YCH and K1PCN’s Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove

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Many thanks to Conrad (N2YCH) who shares the first of a three-part field report series outlining his 2023 Hamvention rove with Peter (K1PCN). Click here for Part 1, and look for Part 3 next week!

Part 2: Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove

By Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH

Pennsylvania

Welcome to part two of three of the Hamvention QRP POTA Rove. If you missed part one, you can find that installment here.

Early on Thursday morning, May 18, 2023, Peter, K1PCN and I headed from Morgantown, West Virginia north to Pennsylvania to activate K-8920, the PA 223, Pennsylvania State Game Lands. While the park covered a large geographical area, we were able to find a parking lot not far off the highway that made it easy for us to get to and activate.

Peter spotted a nearby gazebo which was also a viewing area and hiked over to it to activate. If you look closely in the photo below, you can see it in the distance behind the sign and my antenna.  I stayed with the Jeep and set up on the tailgate using the Buddipole vertical.

Since it was early in the day, we used our frequency strategy of Peter on 40 meters and me on 20 meters. My QSO map here shows some decent DX for QRP on 20 meters at 8am ET.

Ohio

We traveled North towards Pittsburgh on Interstate 79 and then West on Interstate 70, passing through West Virginia again and then stopped at K-1934, Barkcamp State Park in Ohio.

I tuned my antenna for 17 meters and Peter activated on 20 meters.

I managed to activate the park, but it was slow going for me on 17, so when Peter finished up on 20, I changed to 20 meters and got a few more on that band just for good measure. Thinking that the slow QSO’s could have been the radio, I did switch to the IC-705 here, but that did not make any difference. It could have been conditions or our location. I did have better luck on 20 meters than 17. And I don’t know about you, but I can never go for just ten QSO’s. I feel like I need a few extra ones just in case. Here is a photo of me set up at a picnic table next to my antenna. Continue reading Part 2: N2YCH and K1PCN’s Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, SOTA

On Top of Germany: Activating the Highest Mountain with my KX3 and the PAC-12

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

During the past couple of months, I stumbled upon two or three documentaries about the mountain Zugspitze and the surrounding area. One day I thought, what it is that is preventing me from activating the Zugspitze (DL/WS-001) for the SOTA-program? The answer was rather short: a 3-hour drive. So, I waited for a good opportunity and accepted the challenge on a sunny and warm Saturday in June.

The Zugspitze, with an elevation of 2,962 m / 9,718 ft, is the highest peak in Germany and I think it is fair to say that it is also one of Europe’s highest mountains. Located in the Bavarian Alps near the German-Austrian border, the Zugspitze offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surrounding mountain ranges and picturesque landscapes. It is a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, attracting hikers, climbers, skiers, and snowboarders throughout the year. The Zugspitze is accessible via cogwheel train, cable car, and hiking trails. At the platforms on the summit, visitors can enjoy a range of facilities, including observation platforms, restaurants, a simple accommodation option, which specifically caters to hikers, and the international border between Austria and Germany across the platforms.

The lake in front of the mountain is called Eibsee. With its crystal-clear, but ice-cold waters, the lake is a popular destination for swimming, boating, and other water activities during the summer months.

Surrounded by majestic mountains and dense forests, like in a fairy tale, the Eibsee offers a picturesque and tranquil setting.

I started early in the morning on a nice Saturday. I must admit that a 3-hour drive for a SOTA summit might sound a bit extreme, but this is a special mountain for me, I have never been even close to such a high altitude – except in a plane. If you have ever been in the Alps, you probably remember the typical residential buildings that you see all around.

I arrived late in the morning at a parking place that is next to the cable car station.

Before going to the summit, I wanted to walk around the lake Eibsee. The hike around the lake is 7 km / 4.4 mi but took it longer than expected. The tour provides numerous opportunities to make incredible pictures.

Although I am a photographic noob and make pictures with the camera default settings, I quite like the results – all picture of this blog post are taken by me. Continue reading On Top of Germany: Activating the Highest Mountain with my KX3 and the PAC-12 →

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

This seven hour road trip calls for a QRP POTA break at Yatesville Lake State Park!

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On Tuesday, May 23, 2023, I had one main goal in mind: drive from my buddy Eric’s QTH in Athens, Ohio, back to my QTH in Swannanoa, NC.

This was the final leg of my one week Hamvention journey and I was ready to get back home and rest up before yet another road and camping trip only a few days later.

Before leaving WD8RIF’s QTH that morning, I consulted him about possible POTA sites I could easily activate on my journey.

On the return trip, I chose to drive through Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, then North Carolina.

Eric knows regional parks very well because he’s activated nearly all of them. He suggested Yatesville Lake State Park as it was an easy detour off of Highway 23 in Louisa, Kentucky.

Before leaving Eric’s house, I scheduled the activation and put the address in my car’s GPS/Sat Nav.

Yatesville Lake State Park (K-1272)

I arrived at the Yatesville Lake around 10:45 AM EDT and drove to the campground entrance where I met the campground host. I introduced myself and told her I was looking for a picnic spot to do a POTA activation (explaining to her, of course, what POTA is).

She couldn’t have been more helpful. She pointed out a roadside picnic spot beside us at the campground entrance, she also noted some covered picnic shelters nearby (that seemed to be in use), and even told me I could drive into the campground, find an empty camping spot and just set up there! A very generous offer, but I opted for the roadside picnic table next to me at the campground entrance since I was already parked in the right spot.

There wasn’t much to this particular site; just a picnic table and corn hole game next to the road in full sun. I had my sun gear on (wide brimmed hat and long sleeve lightweight hiking shirt) so the lack of shade wasn’t an issue.

There were plenty of trees on the perimeter of the site, but none would be an easy snag for my throw line because there were no branches overhanging the perimeter. Still, I knew if I launched the throw weight as close as I could to the tree line, I should be able to snag a small branch without having to search in the woods for the end of the line.

As long as I could suspend my mostly homemade 40 meter end-fed half-wave, I’d be a happy activator. Continue reading This seven hour road trip calls for a QRP POTA break at Yatesville Lake State Park! →

Antennas, Field Reports, Morse Code, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Beating the POTA propagation blues at Stonelick State Park!

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As mentioned in my previous POTA field report, I had the great pleasure of playing POTA on May 21, 2023 with a number of friends. We all played hooky on the final day of Hamvention. The first two activations of the day were with Vince (VE6LK/AI7LK), Charlie (NJ7V), Eric (WD8RIF), and Miles (KD8KNC).

Charlie and Vince had to leave us after the second activation of the day because both of them had travels in store that afternoon.

Eric, Miles, and I grabbed lunch at a nearby town, then made our way to our final park of the day.

Stonelick State Park (K-1993)

We pulled into Stonelick State Park a little after 3:00 PM and found the best open area to set up our stations. This park was a new one for me and, I believe, for Eric as well. (FYI: Miles didn’t hop on the air that day, but helped his dad set up his POTA station.)

Eric’s station

Eric set up his station on a bench overlooking Stonelick Lake. He supported his 28.5 foot vertical wire antenna on a 31′ Jackite fiberglass telescoping pole which he strapped to the bench. His transceiver of choice was the Elecraft KX3.

Note that Eric writes detailed field reports for all of his activations and field activities on his website.

For more details on this activation from Eric’s perspective, click here!

Working with poor propagation

Instead of using a vertical, I opted to deploy my recently cannibalized 40 meter end-fed half-wave. I felt a full 40M EFHW, properly deployed, would increase my chances of logging stations on a day where contacts were few and far between. Continue reading Beating the POTA propagation blues at Stonelick State Park! →

Digital Modes, Field Reports, FT8, Hams, News, Portable, POTA, SSB

Part 1: N2YCH and K1PCN’s Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove

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Many thanks to Conrad (N2YCH) who shares the first of a three-part field report series outlining his 2023 Hamvention rove with Peter (K1PCN). Look for Part 2 next week!

Part 1: Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove

By Conrad Trautmann, N2YCH

Peter, K1PCN and I are both avid Parks On The Air activators here in Connecticut and neither of us has ever been to the Dayton Hamvention in Xenia, Ohio. At the urging of others who have attended in the past, we made the decision to attend this year and while we were making the trek out, we wanted to activate parks along the way to add to our activated US states award. We originally planned to activate six states and ended up with one bonus state for a total of seven. This is how things looked before and after the trip.

 

I would like to begin by saying that attending the Hamvention was a great experience. If you have not been to it, I would like to encourage you to attend if you can.

You may have heard about the flea market, the vendor booths, the forum sessions or the food trucks, which are all good, but the best part for me was being in the presence of other hams with similar interests. I struck up conversations and shared stories with many other hams. Everyone was very nice and willing to share their experiences, which is a great way to pick up some good tips.

I am extremely glad I went. If you are on the fence about going, I would recommend you plan to go next year. Oh, and I got to meet this guy in person….

Now on to the rove…

I planned the trip to get as many states as possible. Both Peter and I had already activated CT, NY and NJ, so we did not need to stop in those states as we passed through. I had scoped out some parks near the Delaware and Maryland border, so I looked at those first.

My main criteria on park selection was to pick parks that would be easy-off/easy-on to the main highways we would be traveling to save time on driving. Here is the route map we followed.

We strategized on how we would activate the parks when we got to each one. Peter is an SSB activator, and I am a digital activator. We would not be colliding on the mode of operation. We did need to be on different frequencies though.

In the mornings, Peter took 40 meters and I used 20 meters. Later in the day when the bands opened up, Peter moved up to 20 meters and I bumped up to 17 or 15 meters. Using this strategy, we had no problems getting our minimum ten QSO’s to activate while operating at the same time. Peter also reminded me to bring a handheld and we did park to park QSO’s on 2 meters and 70cm.

As for equipment, I used my Elecraft KX3 transceiver, but I did bring an IC-705 as a backup.

On the first stop in Delaware, I used an Elecraft AX1 antenna but for the rest of the trip I used a Buddipole tripod equipped with a Versa-T with a 17’ MFJ whip tuned to the frequency I was operating on with 50’ cable and an above the ground counterpoise. Continue reading Part 1: N2YCH and K1PCN’s Dayton Hamvention Trip QRP POTA Rove →

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

Exploring History and POTA: My Second SOTAbeams Bandhopper III Adventure

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by Thomas (DM1TBE)

As I mentioned in my recent activation report, I was very impressed with the SOTAbeams Bandhopper III antenna and was eager to test it again. While browsing through the maps of WWFF, SOTA, and POTA, I stumbled upon a new, unactivated POTA park that was not too far from my location – the Bucher Stausee Recreation Site (DA-0414). In the immediate vicinity of the new park, there are several archaeological sites containing the ruins of approximately 2000-year-old Roman buildings.

If you are not interested in the history part, just skip to the Activation section.

The world in Europe was relatively straightforward after 0 AD. From a political, military, and economic standpoint, there was the Roman Empire and then there was everything else.

The following map illustrates the Roman Empire at its greatest extent and the location of the Roman province of Raetia, which encompasses present-day southern Germany and parts of Switzerland and Austria—the very region where I live and where the park is located. This region shared borders with the former territories of Germanic tribes.

UNDP, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

To the northeast, a wall called the “Limes” was constructed to separate from the unconquered territory of Germanic tribes. The Limes was a fortified border system of the Roman Empire, primarily constructed during the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. It served as a defensive line, marking the outer boundary of the Roman territories.

Interestingly, the Limes passed nearly through the POTA activation zone, adding a historical significance to the area.

One, maybe the main reason why the Roman Empire ceased further conquests in Germania and constructed defensive positions was the Battle of Teutoburg Forest.

The Battle of Teutoburg Forest, occurring in 9 AD, was a significant event in the Roman history. It resulted in a major defeat for the Roman Empire against an alliance of Germanic tribes led by Arminius. The battle led to the loss of three Roman legions, which constituted approximately an eighth of the entire Roman army. This defeat served as a turning point, prompting the Romans to recognize the challenges of conquering Germanic territories and shifting their strategy towards defense by constructing fortifications like the Limes.

Therefore, my journey began by visiting the ruins of a Castra, a Roman fort. The fort housed an infantry unit with a cavalry attachment, consisting of around 500 soldiers. The fort and neighboring civilian structures were eventually abandoned around 260 AD with the withdrawal of the Romans from this region.

The fort had a size of 140 m x 150 m / 460 ft x 490 ft. On an information panel, a reconstruction is displayed.

I walked around the perimeter and thought about the histories that this place could be telling me. Then I proceeded to visit the civilian structures. Continue reading Exploring History and POTA: My Second SOTAbeams Bandhopper III Adventure →