In my last article, I activated Uwharrie National Forest in North Carolina at the Buck Mountain Fire Tower. After that activation, Glenn W4YES and I drove to Charlotte to visit college friends – Jennifer and Mike. So far, the day had been wonderful. However, it was far from over.
Our final night of our getaway trip would be spent at an Airbnb in Camden, South Carolina. I chose to activate Hanging Rock Battleground State Historical Park (US-10470), several miles south of Heath Springs, South Carolina. The park is remote and not well marked. All there was to signify its existance from the road we traveled was space large enough to accommodate two cars and a row of pilings. On one of the pilings was a white sign and, behind it, what looked like a trail.
the trail into the park
The park has historical signifance. An outpost was established at Hanging Rock by the British in the 1700s because of its strategic location on the road from Camden to Charlotte. According to the American Battlefield Trust, a three-hour battle was fought on August 6, 1780 on the site as a “part of a Patriot drive to reclaim the southern colonies after the siege of Charleston, South Carolina”. Fifty-three Americans and two hundred British soldiers lost their lives in this encounter.
Nothing about the site today brings to mind a battle. It is a short hike into the property before one finds giant boulders, some of which appear to be hanging (hence the name, right?).
See how big the boulders are?
We hiked a little further into this property which looked like a little slice of North Carolina in South Carolina. Spots of pincushion moss dotted the ground and leaves crunched under our feet. Sunlight filtered through the foliage. A small creek ran and burbled below the giant boulders above not far from a monument marking the battle.
I think this is pincushion mosswalking beneath the forest canopy
We decided to set up atop the highest and largest of the boulders. On its top, the tree canopy parted, giving my antenna just what it needed. I figured the Chelegance MC-750 would work best here and, given I had a tripod to mount it, it would work fine despite a rocky base.
Glenn atop the boulder on which we setupcloseup of lichens on the bouldersthe view from the top down into the forest below
It was still early enough that 20 meters was an option so I secured 14.048. It wasn’t long after I spotted myself that calls began arriving. Over the next 30 minutes, the calls were steady – 24 to be exact. At 6:00 PM, I called QRT because we had yet to check into our Airbnb and needed to be out of the park by dark.
setting up Chelegance tripodgetting ready to run coaxon the air!QSO Map Hanging Rock Battleground State Historical Park (US-10470) USA 10-13-2024 source: http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/QSO Map Hanging Rock Battleground State Historical Park (US-10470) 10-13-2024 source: http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/
I was especially pleased to have one DX at this activation – Ignacio EA2BD. (Thank you, Ignacio!) I rarely get DX as I don’t chase it. This exchange was a nice surprise.
Tomorrow, Monday, October 14, it was time to head home back to Savannah, Georgia. However, this POTA Babe was not finished! Of course, I would find a park to activate on the drive home. Which park would I choose and would it be successful? Stay tuned…
If you’d like to see the park up close and personal as well as watch Glenn “interview” me afterwards, check out the video on my YouTube channel:
Equipment Used
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Many thanks to John Hartzell (W3HN) and Zach Hartzell (NI4K) who share the following guest post:
Activating Grassy Mountain, GA for SOTA and two POTA parks at the same time (all while figuring out what not to do next time)
by John (W3HN) and Zach (NI4K)
Sometime in early 2024, my son Zach contacted me and said, “Dad, the Georgia SOTA and POTA folks are having a campout in October. Why don’t you visit us in Atlanta and we can go camping, meet some fellow hams, and activate a SOTA peak or two?” It made sense, as Zach had become the most active ham in the family, had taught himself CW, loved an excuse to go camping, was a natural organizer, and had been the impetus for my handful of POTA activations. And it was all easier now that I had retired in December 2023.
The “campout” was the W4SOTA campout, planned for Wednesday, October 2 through Sunday, October 6, 2024, at the Lake Rabun Beach Campground at the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest. Zach got his camping vehicle, Thor the Taco truck, ready for the jaunt. A Taco truck (for the handful of folks out there that don’t know this), is a Toyota Tacoma pick-up.
“Thor” is the name the truck acquired because of its imposing demeanor.
Thor at Wind Cave National Park
It has four-wheel drive, a three-inch lift, the metric equivalent of 33” tires, a Go Fast Camper pop-up camper over the bed, an electric winch, a silly number of extra lights up front, and is equipped for some of Zach’s hobbies. Air compressor for mountain biking? Check. Back-up battery with separate charging system for ham radio and a 12-volt refrigerator? Check. A pullout kitchen with a sink and two-burner stove? Check.
Winter Field Day in Northern New Mexico
Both 2-meter FM and GMRS radios in the cab for communicating with your mountain biking and camping buddies on those weekends on western Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands? Check.
Thor in North Georgia
It even has 12-volt DC available via Anderson power connectors in the cab, because you never know when you might be driving cross country and come to a lonely park in serious need of a POTA activation.
Zach emailed me spreadsheets with gear lists and options. I ignored them, scribbled unintelligible notes on my yellow pads, and ended up bringing everything that might arguably be used for SOTA, POTA, Winter and Summer Field Days, or to run a 1970s era government emergency communications center. Truthfully, that is an exaggeration – I didn’t pack the warm clothes required for a Winter Field Day.
Zach paid for a campsite, and our trip south from Pennsylvania was planned, when everything came to a screeching halt on September 30, 2024. Hurricane Helene had severely damaged areas of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia. Zach soon learned the original campout was cancelled when he received an electronic refund for the campsite. Some of the original attendees were unable to make it, including Thomas (K4SWL) who was reporting regularly on the devastation and challenges to his family and neighbors from his QTH outside of Swannanoa, North Carolina, just east of Asheville.
We couldn’t confirm if there was a substitute campout. Despite this, we decided to push on with a modified weekend. My wife and I drove south to Atlanta, Zach organized his gear, he helped me “sort” (i.e., drastically cut back) my gear from multiple plastic tubs, and we had use of a cabin near Ellijay, Georgia, within a short drive to the summit and parks Zach had mapped out. We decided we could pull this off, and on Friday, October 4, Zach and I loaded Thor and were soon booming north from Atlanta on US-575.
View from overlook on forest road leading to Conasuaga Lake, GA
Ellijay, Georgia is a nice town. After a lovely rooftop dinner, a good night’s sleep in a cabin in the woods, and a great breakfast at a local restaurant, Zach had Thor headed to our destination, Grassy Mountain, summit W4G/HC-007. In addition to having two hams activating this SOTA summit, Zach had determined that Grassy Mountain was located within two POTA parks, Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest (US-4473), and Cohutta Wildlife Management Area (US-7446). So, if we were organized, we could provide a double-triple – two operators and three locations (a SOTA summit and two POTA parks).
In about 45 minutes Thor led us to a parking spot deep in the forest near the locked gate to the Grassy Mountain access trail. We donned our GORUCK rucksacks filled with radios, antennas, coax, water, sundry accessories, and a snack or two (we left the steel plates at home). The route up to the top of the summit was a mile and a half hike on rutted double-track, with a switchback a little over half way to the summit.
View from John’s operating position
Once atop the summit Zach and I assessed the site. It consisted of about one acre of cleared land, with what looked like a former fire watch tower in the corner of the cleared area. Zach and I broke out our KX2 Elecraft transceivers. Zach hooked his to a Tufteln 40-10 EFRW, mounted to a SOTA Beams carbon fiber telescopic mast. I deployed a EndFedz EFT-MTR 20/30/40 antenna in a sloper configuration, and tuned it up using the internal Elecraft tuner. Those were the bands I intended to use. I also had my Mountain Topper MTR-3B QRP transceiver, which might get some use, too. We also used some untested QRP bandpass filters found on eBay. They seemed to work, but will undergo more scientific testing to confirm their functionality.
Trying the Tufteln Kneeboard for the activation
Zach was racking up contacts on CW, but I was having difficulty on SSB. I had been trying to operate the antenna on 20 and 40 meters when it was configured for 30 meters – which we only realized when we took a gander at the antenna manual back at the cabin after we regained cell service. The SMA connector is removed to enable 30-meter operation, not installed. Bing! It is a testament to Elecraft that their antenna tuner is robust enough to handle that mismatch. It is also an excellent example of why you should read the equipment manuals for gear you don’t operate very often before your field effort!
Elevation is our friend to reach 42.5 miles (Grassy Mountain, GA to Blood Mountain, GA) on 2m FM
Zach had suggested we use 2 meter FM for the SOTA activation, in addition to HF, so we climbed the tower as far as we could and called on the 2-meter simplex calling frequency, 146.520 MHz. We each got two or three contacts on this frequency, as there were enough folks activating summits from the original plan for the W4SOTA weekend. Interestingly, they included N5FY, the owner of Tufteln, the manufacturer of Zach’s HF Antenna.
John (W3HN) and Zach (NI4K) at Grassy Mountain, GA Summit
Zach was able to use FT8 for a QSO using an Android Application called FT8 Radio on his phone, which was linked to his KX2 through a Digirig Mobile. My CW was still rusty despite some recent practice, so I stayed on HF SSB. We enjoyed the excellent weather, some good radio conditions, and had satisfied the requirements for all three activations after 90 minutes or so. We soon packed up, hiked down, and were soon buckled into Thor and navigating the dirt roads of the national forest.
Lessons Learned:
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, in discussing World War II, is alleged to have said “plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” Ike was a smart man. A bit more planning (at least on my part) would have made things more efficient.
It was a nice day for not just hams, and we had some visitors to the summit. Zach put on his public relations hat and adroitly educated these folks while I continued to try to contact folks on SSB with a 30-meter antenna tuned to 20 meters. We should have foreseen this and been better prepared (note: see item
Zach thought a good approach would be to contact folks on the 2-meter simplex calling frequency (146.520 MHz), and then to QSY to the 2-meter adventure frequency (which is 146.580 MHz). We did not try this, as we quickly had many QSOs on the calling frequency. It was a good idea, as it would keep the calling frequency from being over used for routine communications. However, I think there are two possible bugs in this ointment: (a) I am not sure hams know of the adventure frequency so that they have it in their 2-meter memory bank; and (b) if not in their memory bank, could hams quickly QSY to the frequency? It is not intuitive to change frequency for me on my HT, and I carry a laminated cheat sheet to help me with frequency changes (note: Zach will attest that radios more complicated than an HealthKit HW-16 cause me challenges, including many with dropdown menus, so this could be a personal hardship and not one shared with other hams).
Logging is important, evidence of the adage: “if you didn’t write it down, it didn’t happen.” I was a bit flustered when we got started, and my log soon looked like a Bletchley Park cipher sheet. A few more minutes at the beginning would have saved a lot of time at the end when piecing together the logs for upload to our friends at SOTA and POTA.
We were without cell coverage on the summit. We prospectively scheduled the activation with SOTA and POTA sites the night before, but we were off by a few hours when we started operating. Would it have been better to not spot ourselves, and then just start operating? I am not sure. Probably the best solution would have been to provide enough lead time in our plan to ensure the times included in our spots aligned with the actual operating times, even if it meant we had to wait on site before starting our activation.
This was the first time we used some of the gear, predominantly the 20/30/40 antenna. We recommend a practice assembly of all the gear with SWR meters, manuals (cell service to access missing manuals), culminating in QSOs using the equipment and modes desired for the activation (note: see again our friend, item 1). This occurred the day after the activation for the HF kits through “trouble shooting,” but we were able to program our 2 meter radios prior to departure which saved some time and frustration at the summit.
We had fun. Pushing yourself in a new direction can cause a touch of anxiety, but it also develops new ideas on how to handle things in the future and provides a sense of satisfaction once you’ve done it. I’m glad Zach had this idea. Perhaps we’ll try it again next year with all the regional SOTA and POTA folks!
As many of you know who’ve been following my Post-Helene updates, I simply haven’t had time to do POTA or SOTA activations. And even if I wanted to, most of the POTA sites around me are temporarily closed due to damage from Helene.
Truthfully, I didn’t start my day expecting a POTA activation. I’d planned, if anything, to make a short field radio video somewhere on my property, chase some POTA/SOTA stations, and make any other random contacts.
However, my daughter’s Shakespeare class decided to meet in person, so after dropping her off at 12:30, I had about two hours of free time. Before leaving home, I packed a couple of radio bags just in case I could find a spot for a POTA activation, or at least visit a local park to play radio for a bit.
I realized I was only a 20-minute drive from the Sycamore Flats picnic site in Pisgah National Forest (US-4510), where I’ve activated many times before. This site is in Transylvania County, which wasn’t hit as hard by Helene.
Google Maps showed the site as open, so I decided to drive over. Thankfully, it was correct! When I arrived, the front gate was open and there were a few visitors around.
I could tell the site had some storm damage—some tree limbs down and evidence of flooding from the Davidson River, which wraps around the area. The park service recently upgraded the picnic table pads, but the gravel had washed away, and many tables had either shifted or washed away.
That said, this site fared well compared to parks in Buncombe County. (Chimney Rock State Park is still inaccessible due to major flooding in the town of Chimney Rock.)
I hopped out, grabbed my backpack and TR-45L, and started recording my activation video.
Since no one was using the picnic shelter at the northeast end of the park (and it had no reservation sign), I set up there. I deployed my MM0OPX End-Fed Half-Wave antenna on a nearby tree, connected it to my TR-45L, and was ready to go!
Gear
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When you have activated the same park nearly 160 times, it starts to get a bit routine. Certainly, any day that you’re alive and able to participate in ham radio is a day to be thankful for, but I have to admit that lately I’ve gotten rather bored with activating from the Presidio of San Francisco US-7889.
Not a bad view from the activation location.
What could I do to spice things up a little bit? Recently, the W6CSN shack welcomed a new member into the QRP radio lineup, the venerable Heathkit HW-8. This got me to thinking about the days when the HW-8 was new, QRP was a niche part of the hobby, and the Internet was something that connected mainframes at universities.
Heathkit HW-8 Front Panel
That’s an idea! Try to activate a park for POTA without using the internet tools on which we’ve come to rely. The rules are: no self spotting on the POTA website and no looking at the POTA spots page to find stations to hunt. If you want to hunt, you’re going to have tune around and listen for stations calling CQ.
The stainless steel vertical mounts to a fence post which provides a good counterpoise.
The HW-8 would not debut on this activation as it’s waiting on a power cord and we haven’t really gotten to know each other yet. Instead, the trusty KH1 would be the radio choice today, coupled to a quarter wave vertical on 20 meters and sending via the Bencher BY-1.
It is only fitting to use the BY-1 on a park bench.
I set up camp on 14.059 MHz and began calling CQ POTA with no prescheduled activation, no spot on pota.app, not even looking at my phone to see what the propagation numbers were saying. In fact, I only used my phone as a camera to take pictures for this field report.
Within a few minutes I got my first call, from Ken VE7HI. The next 40 minutes were spent calling CQ and hunting other stations until I had six contacts in the log. Then came the long, desolate hour of calling with no responses and being unable to break through any of the “pileups” around other activators. The drought ended with a P2P with NR1D/0 at Barr Lake State Park in Colorado and 15 minutes later the activation was complete with K6BBQ coming through for QSO number 11.
Map of “offline” POTA activation QSOs.
While the internet certainly makes it so much easier, this activation proves that the QRPer can be successful in POTA with just a 5 watt radio and a half decent antenna. If you are looking to spice up your POTA routine, why not give an “offline” activation a try?
Many thanks to Bob K4RLC who shares this report on mixing vacation with ham radio with us. If you have an article in your head and want to have it posted here, let’s keep this community going while our friend Thomas continues to help his neighbours in the wake of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Draft up your story in an email with reference points to the pictures you want embedded and their captions, attach photos to the note and send it my way to vincedeon at gmail dot com and note QRPer in the subject line to get my attention.
By Bob Conder K4RLC and V4/K4RLC
Our interest in a trip to Saint Kitts began pre COVID, after my buddy Dale W4AUV and I saw an ad in the back of QST magazine by W5JON, John, for his rental villa with a complete ham radio station on this Caribbean island. What could be wrong with this scenario? Being on a beautiful Caribbean island with a complete ham radio station?
Fast forward almost five years later, when Dale and I, along with our spouses, leave Raleigh for St. Kitts. The timing was really bad for me, as at the same time Western North Carolina was devastated from Hurricane Helene. In the past, I worked with the American Red Cross Disaster Services after hurricanes and tornadoes in my home state, as well as being deployed to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and Louisiana immediately after Hurricane Katrina. We have friends and family who live in upstate South Carolina and Western North Carolina Including my best friend from high school and his family. All we could do was reach out to them with support, and donate money through reputable organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse Disaster Relief and the American Red Cross.
St. Kitts only has three POTA sites and no SOTA sites. I had hoped to activate at least two of the POTA sites. CW is my preferred modality. These POTA sites had only been activated by phone and dubious digital.
Saint Kitts is an unquestionably beautiful tropical island, but it is still a third world nation. The driving is British style, further complicated by having only three stoplights on the island and roundabouts every few miles. We rented a Honda CRV from Bullseye Rentals, recommended by John W5JON, the owner of the villa. Given the ancient small roads where everybody drives like your drunken old aunt with dementia, this was a good vehicle choice. Since my first and primary activation was to be Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a UNESCO site built starting in 1690 with guarded entryways made to fit horse drawn wagons in the 1700’s, we were relieved to have passed up the large Ford Explorer rental in favor of our little Honda SUV that barely made the entryway.
Brimstone Hill Fortress“Stairway to Heaven” at Brimstone Fortress
Brimstone Hill Fortress, also known as the Gibraltar of the Caribbean, is an expansive stone fort originally built by the British in 1690 with African slaves. It has been through many modifications over the years, and different owners, but is essentially British. In fact, its construction reminded me of Edinburgh Castle in Scotland. (I was later told that Brimstone was designed and built by the Royal Engineers from the UK). Now, it is a National Park, a POTA site (KN-0003), and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sometimes you need a break. My sweetie Glenn W4YES booked two Airbnbs, one in North Carolina and one in South Carolina, the second weekend in October as my son’s school was on break for four days. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am a planner. However, it was a nice surprise for me to NOT plan this trip. Glenn picked out the places to stay as well as scouted nearby potential POTA sites. My job was to show up and enjoy the surprise.
Our first two nights were at a property between Uwharrie and Troy, North Carolina. This property borders the Uwharrie National Forest (US-4511). All I had to do for a POTA activation was walk out our front door to the road on the mountain and continue a short distance uphill where the national forest property begins. The road continues past a locked gate to the Buck Mountain Fire Tower, the highest point in the area.
Saturday is my day off from everything including ham radio. However, Glenn and I took a leisurely paced walk to the fire tower just to check it out.
road up to the tower
The Buck Mountain Fire Tower was built in 1936 and is likely the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Given the narrowness of the stairs, it is obvious the structure was not built in modern times. The tower base is covered in chain-link fencing but the metal door into the tower base area to access the tower stairs, is not locked.
We returned to the tower at sunset to climb it . You cannot access the top floor as it is padlocked. But one can see for miles from the stair platform below the top floor. The sliver of color on the horizon as the sun dipped below was worth the climb to the top.
red oak acorns with my hand in the photo for comparisonnuts also covered the ground near the Airbnb
Not being one to squander an opportunity for POTA, the next morning I woke at 6 AM and was out the door at 6:45. Light was just beginning to show in the sky. The walk up to the fire tower was not that difficult despite having a backpack of POTA and camera gear and gaining 152 feet in elevation. This is why I walk the stairs at a local parking garage two days a week – so I am not unprepared for some elevation change.
I arrived at the fire tower right before sunrise and had the site to myself! As I figured out where to set up, I thought to myself no one was likely to hear me due to the tall, large metal structure with antennas in front me. In fact, I didn’t bother setting up any video equipment.
fire tower at first light
I chose a spot off to the side of the tower with my back to the woods so I could see anyone coming up the access road . (When you are a woman alone in the woods, you have to think of such stuff.) I opted for the Chelegance MC-750 as there was not much time to operate. I set the Chelegance for 40 meters. The sun was just beginning to rise (7:24 AM) so I figured 40 would be a better band given the early hour.
Chelegance MC-750woods behind me
I settled into my Helinox chair with a blanket wrapped around my legs (the temp was 49 degrees – cold for this Georgia girl), spotted myself (cell service at a POTA site is always a plus!), and steeled myself for a failed activation. If I encounter noise when I do POTA, it is almost always on 40 meters. I figured with the antennas on site and the large metal object in front of me, no one would hear my QRP signal and there would be too much noise for me to hear anyone who did happen to respond to my CQ. I couldn’t have been more wrong!
operating with blanket wrapped around my legs & wool shirt on for warmth
There was noise on the band but not nearly as bad as I anticipated, partially due to the great filters on the KX2. There was a pulsing noise at 7.056 and some sort of signal on 7.054, but 7.049 was clear. It wasn’t long after spotting myself that Ronny WB2MQQ answered my CQ. That began a steady stream of calls over the next hour. The signal I heard originally on 7.054 moved to 7.049 about 25 minutes into the activation so I switched to 7.054 when it vacated that frequency.
set-up
At 8:27 AM, I called QRT because Glenn and I had plans to meet old college friends in Charlotte later that morning. I had 39 contacts at a location I was certain would result in none! It just goes to show you never know what the bands or a location will give you. Better to set up and try than quit before you start, right?
QSO Map for Uwharrie National Forest (US-4511) 10-13-2024
We had a pleasant drive to Charlotte. Glenn met his friend Mike and I, my friend Jennifer. (I call her Jennaboo and she calls me Teridactl.) Afterwards, satiated from lunch, conversation, and laughter, we headed southward into South Carolina for my next activation. Where? Stay tuned…
Jennaboo & Teridactl!
P.S. Want to get to know Glenn and I a little better? Check out my video from our stay near Uwharrie National Forest on YouTube:
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.]
Gee, the title almost tells the whole story. But not really. The title is where I ended up; how I got there, is the story.
Here’s the story.
Today, I hope to activate Fintry Protected Area CA-3505 in southern British Columbia.
One of my objectives since I started POTA last year is to try to activate as many parks as I can in the Okanagan region of BC that have not yet been activated by anyone. Nothing like a good challenge. I expect that most of them haven’t been activated because they are quite remote and difficult to access unless one has a true off-road all-terrain vehicle. Even at that, sometimes it still requires backpacking-in, to boot (no pun intended). This is in part because many of the Protected Areas and Ecological Reserves are not always directly accessible by vehicle. The roads often do not enter the park boundaries at all. They get you close, and then you need to hoof-it in to be POTA legit inside the park boundaries.
Fintry Protected Area has never been activated before, by anyone. I’m wondering why? Compared to many of my past activations, it isn’t nearly as difficult to access as some others I’ve been to.
The location in Fintry CA-3505 that I will be activating today is located about a 1-hour drive north of Kelowna, BC (where I live) via West Kelowna. The last section of travel is via rough gravel roads.
Many thanks to Rod VA3MZD who shares this five park POTA bicycle rove report with us. If you have an article in your head and want to have it posted here, let’s keep this community going while our friend Thomas continues to help his neighbours in the wake of Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. Draft up your story in an email with reference points to the pictures you want embedded and their captions, attach photos to the note and send it my way to vincedeon at gmail dot com and note QRPer in the subject line to get my attention.
By Rod Murray VA3MZD
Last year I reported, in a guest post here on QRPer, on the five POTA parks near my QTH that are linked by the Elora-Cataract Trailway, a rail trail that runs east from the quaint tourist village of Elora, Ontario, through the town of Fergus, where I live, through Belwood Lake Conservation Area and continues for approximately 45 km to the village of Cataract, on the Niagara Escarpment, well to the east. The trail passes through or near four POTA parks in my immediate vicinity, made easily accessible by foot, bicycle or vehicle, as one chooses. The Trailway is also part of the Great Trail of Canada CA-5082. In one of these nearby parks, Belwood Lake, it’s a 2-fer, making 5 parks in total.
POTA Map showing the location of the four nearby POTA parks near my QTHThe All Trails Map of the Elora-Cataract Trail/Great Trail of Canada from Elora to Belwood Lake
In my original report I had also set a goal of one day activating the one nearby park I had yet to visit, and also to activate all five local parks in one day. With the summer quickly coming to a close here in South Western Ontario, and the fact that the one park I had yet to visit would close for the season in just a few days, it was time to attack my two goals with a rove! So I made plans to rise early, hope for cooperative weather and complete my 5 park cycle trip. Could I do it?
Many thanks to Jonathan KM4CFT who shares this article with us. If you have an article in your head and want to have it posted here, let’s keep this community going while our friend Thomas continues to help his neighbours. Draft up your story in an email with reference points to the pictures you want embedded and their captions, attach photos to the note and send it my way to vincedeon at gmail dot com and note QRPer in the subject line to get my attention.
By: Jonathan Kayne, KM4CFT
About 10 months ago, I took the plunge to design my own Morse Code transceiver. It was a crazy idea, and this was certainly a massive undertaking, but somehow, I managed to pull off this monumental task. The result of the project was the CFT1, a 5 Band CW Field Transceiver specifically tailored for POTA and SOTA operations. Doing this project was a great learning experience and despite the monumental effort and work I put into it, I really enjoyed getting to design a new product. There is something special when you see something you love and put effort into appear in the hands of others and seeing them enjoy using said product.
The purpose of this article is to outline some of the thoughts I put into when I designed the CFT1. It is not meant to go into the meat and potatoes of RF design work as there are plenty of resources out there that go over that stuff. I have yet to see much discussed on design philosophy of a transceiver so I thought it prudent to document these things. That is; what I took into consideration when putting together the radio. And as I learned in this project, when pulled off correctly, can result in a great product.
Editor note – Please enjoy this guest post from Jeff Bourgeois VE7EFF.
Sometimes the elements just aren’t in my favor. I knew activating Echo Lake Provincial Park CA-3459 would be a propagation challenge. This POTA Park has never been fully activated before. Last year one operator attempted it and was only able to log four contacts. Today, I not only had mountains to contend with, but apparently significant solar storms in action as well.
What initially made this activation so challenging is that Echo Lake is located on a valley floor and that it is surrounded by mountains on almost all sides. I picked this particular spot to operate because it is the only location in the park that has a small window of opening to the South or South-South-East. I was hoping I could hit enough stations in the USA to make a successful activation of 10 contacts.
Echo Lakes is about a 2-hour drive NE from my home in Kelowna, BC, and about 45 minutes ESE of Lumby, BC. The last half-hour or so is on gravel roads. Now that we have arrived, my wife Alexis, VE7LXE, helps with unloading the gear,
This photo shows my narrow window of opportunity for southerly HF propagation. Mountains on the left, mountains on the right, and mountains behind me.
As you can see below, the eastern direction is mostly blocked by a mountain and SE is the direction where I typically have the best success of traversing the USA. I generally can’t rely on NVIS propagation; there just aren’t enough Canadian POTA chasers within NVIS range for me to make a successful activation.
Today, I’m using my recently acquired Chameleon CHA Porta-Mount to support the 34’ (really only ~ 32’) carbon fiber telescopic mast.
Once again, I’m also testing my homebrew coaxial sleeve dipole, now cut for the 17m band. I constructed it with RG-8X coax and terminated with a Fair Rite #31, 2.5” core as the RF block choke. My KX3 antenna tuner will take care of any SWR issues on all bands that I operate on.
Because I’m using a carbon fiber telescopic mast, I’ve previously noted that the mast has “significant” detuning effect on the antenna. Thus, I operate it as a slanted coaxial sleeve dipole. This moves the antenna away from much of the mast influence. The slant should also help with raising the propagation angle to hopefully clear the mountain tops (but not enough to make it NVIS).
The weather report was supposed to be mostly sunny. However, it turned out to be just the opposite and was cloudy, threatening to rain, and somewhat cold. It’s colder outside than I care for and the fact that it is threatening to rain, I decide to operate from inside my 2016 Subaru Forester. I only operate from inside my car when it isn’t viable to operate outside. Besides, I don’t want to risk getting wet today.
Now that my KX3 is fired-up and connected to the Bioenno 4.5 Ah battery and the antenna, I’m all set to see if anyone can hear me. I should mention that I’m operating at 10W today so I guess that disqualifies me as a QRP operator. 😊
Here is the play-by-play report:
I started calling CQ on 20m at 16:55 UTC (09:55 PDT). My first contact came 15 minutes later with KN7D in Utah. It took another 15 minutes to snag my next contact with WM2V in Arizona.
There’s not much happening for me on 20m, so I switch up to 17m. At 17:40 UTC I log N5RLH in NM. That’s it for 17m. Moving up to 15m, I snag a contact in NC with N4EX at 17:52. That was my only 15m contact of the day.
I went on to try 12m, 10m, and even 30m. Absolutely nothing over the next hour of calling CQ on those 3-bands. Back down to 20m. One contact with KE4KE in Minnesota. It took an hour and 15 minutes more to land just one more contact on 17m with KB6FPW/P in California at 21:00.
I’m definitely not breaking any speed records today. A tortoise could probably log more contacts than this.
Another hour passes until I land a contact with K0SX in Colorado on 20m. Suddenly, 20m picks-up steam and I land 4 more contacts on 20m – two in California and two in Colorado between 22:00 and 22:47. I’m almost at the end of the POTA UTC day for this park, but I’m determined to try to pick up more contacts before 00:00 UTC.
Last crack at 17m band. At 23:13 I land KJ7BS in Arizona. As my final contact of the UTC day, I snag KD7DUG in California at 23:15. I keep calling CQ for the next 45 minutes with no more results. It is now 00:00 UTC and the POTA day is over.
But something drives me on to keep calling CQ. I keep thinking propagation will get better.
At 00:05 I log my last contact of the day on 20m – a P2P QSO with AF0E in Colorado. I realize that this contact will have to go into the next day’s POTA log, but a contact is a contact. At the end of the day, I logged 13 valid POTA contacts, plus 1 into the next UTC day.
Tip: Click on the map for a larger image view.
The Contacts Map above does seem to confirm that my narrow corridor of propagation was primarily due-south or SSE – squeezing through the mountains opening. Some magic of propagation handed me North Carolina and Minnesota.
This is by far the hardest I’ve ever had to work to get sufficient contacts to activate a new park. I was determined to get this park activated, though. It took 7 hours of calling CQ to log 13 contacts. That’s a record 1.8 contacts/hour!
I don’t think the antenna is the real culprit for today’s weak results, especially considering that 6-days earlier I logged 68 contacts including 8 DX stations in Europe via Inonoaklin Provincial Park CA-3626 using this same antenna configuration. I wont get any awards for logging the most contacts per hour – but perhaps I qualify for an award for the least number of contacts per hour! They could call it the Snail Award. 😊
Between being surrounded by mountains and muffled by solar storms, it was a challenging day. Time to pack-up and make the 2-hour drive back home before it gets dark.
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