Tag Archives: POTA

Accessories, Guest Posts, Hacks and Hints, News, POTA, SOTA

How “No Fly Zone” Clothing Changed My POTA Activations

June 5, 2025 Thomas Witherspoon 7 Comments

By Conrad Trautmann (N2YCH)

QRPer.com is a great resource for all of us field activators. Thomas (K4SWL) posts about all kinds of nifty tools and things to help us while doing our field activations. He recently posted a story about Red Oxx bags (I think I need one), also a recent post about insect repellents, which made me wonder if he’d consider a guest post about “No Fly Zone” clothing. These are clothes made of insect repellent treated fabric. I asked, Thomas said yes, so here’s my story…

A few years ago, I decided to try and activate all of the parks in the State of Connecticut. During my quest, I was out in the parks a lot…often coming home complaining of bug bites, and covered with and smelling of Deep Woods Off bug spray. If there are 100 people in a room with me and one mosquito, it will find and bite me first. I simply attract any flying, biting insect. I’m a bug magnet. I just accepted the fact that getting bit up and dousing myself in bug spray was going to be part of my quest.

Then, my very supportive XYL, Dianne, decided to gift me two shirts from LLBean’s “No Fly Zone” collection. That was a game changer. These shirts work. Bugs hate them. The shirts are long sleeve to cover your arms with a collar that can be turned up and used to cover up your neck.

Conrad, N2YCH wearing an LLBean No Fly Zone shirt and Peter, K1PCN at POTA park US-1815, Little Beaver State Park in West Virginia

My first outing with one of these shirts was amazing. I called my wife from the park to tell her that the mosquitos were leaving me alone, except for my head. I said, “I wish these guys made a hat out of this material.”

Voilà, Dianne found me a hat, too!

Conrad, N2YCH, wearing an LLBean No Fly Zone hat and shirt at POTA US-1716, Silver Sands State Park in Connecticut

The web site for Burlington Fabrics, the company who manufactures the fabric, says this:

“No Fly Zone® Insect Repellent Technology is a permethrin-based technology that converts gear and garments into long- lasting, effective, and convenient insect protection.

The main ingredient, permethrin, is a man-made, contact insecticide, structurally similar to a naturally occurring chemical derived from the dried flowers of the Crysanthemum.”

The web site claims it will remain effective for 70 washes. So far, mine are still working just fine after a few years. Seeing how effective these clothes have been, Dianne has gotten me more shirts to add to my collection, including some short and long sleeve Tee’s and even a pair of socks.

Connecticut is home to the town Lyme disease was named for and we do have ticks here. I’ve been bitten once, thankfully not by one with Lyme disease. To combat this, I wear the LLBean insect repellent socks along with Merrill Moab 3 boots to discourage them from jumping up on me. Recently, I discovered that Columbia Sportswear makes “Insect Shield” clothing, including pants. I bought a pair of their Cargo pants and they worked great paired with my LLBean socks, shirts and hat.

Conrad, N2YCH wearing Columbia Insect Shield Cargo pants, Merrill hiking boots and a light gray LLBean No Fly Zone long sleeve T-shirt. With Peter, K1PCN at POTA US-0020, Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

One nice thing about the Columbia pants is that they have an adjustable elastic drawstring at the ankle cuff that you can pull tight to keep critters out. Insect Shield’s home page says that their fabric is also treated with permethrin. On a recent POTA outing on our way to the Dayton Hamvention, I was completely left alone by the hoards of flying insects at US-1815, Little Beaver State Park in West Virginia. No bug spray necessary.

Conrad, N2YCH wearing a gold LLBean No Fly Zone long sleeve T-shirt with the Connecticut POTA Activators Support Your Park Spring gathering at POTA US-1728, Wharton Brook State Park in Connecticut

Activated all Connecticut Parks

Thanks to my wonderful and supportive XYL who supports my hobby (and probably enjoys the peace and quiet when I’m off doing POTA), I did finally get to and activate all 150 parks here in Connecticut, most of them while wearing my No Fly Zone shirts and hat. They really work and I recommend them for a bug free activation.

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

James’ first POTA activation with the IC-705

June 4, 2025 Thomas Witherspoon 13 Comments

Many thanks to James (KI5OEB) who shares the following field report:

My First POTA Activation with a New Radio

by James (KI5OEB)

I decided, thanks to the influence of many people, mainly Thomas K4SWL and Steve KM9G, to purchase my first-ever new transceiver. I purchased an ICOM IC-705 from a retailer that had an open box item for sale. This was just before the 2025 Dayton Hamvention, when the new Yaesu FTX-1F was to be premiered. Many hours of evaluating specifications and performance numbers went into my decision, with a bit of influence from other videos as well. Most of the video footage that is available is actually from four years ago when this radio was first released.

Before going into the field, I unboxed the transceiver and made a few clicks on the new transceiver. I charged the attached battery during the week prior to use. A few other things I did were to prep an Apache Case and make sure I had the appropriate external batteries. I wanted to be ready to take this out for a successful first park activation.

Last Saturday, Memorial Day Weekend, I had some free time at about noon to go to a park, POTA US-7687 Drummond Flats Wildlife Management Area, to give this radio its maiden activation. It takes less than 20 minutes to drive there from my house, so this is my second most frequent location for activating. The site is a zero noise floor site on any band, which I have observed in the past, and today was no different.

Some quick history, I have a few years under my belt using both ICOM and Yaesu transceivers. I still ask others about things, but I can usually figure it out if given enough time. I have regularly used IC-7600, IC-7100, IC-706 MKIIG and IC-703+ transceivers with success. My standard antenna setups are 40m-10m EFHW from Coffee and Ham Radios with a 10m mast for a sloper configuration, 17’ Chameleon Whip on a Spike, and if I’m going to be activating for a longer time I use a DX Commander Classic 40m – 10m.

Today was only going to be a short, 1 to 3 hour activation, giving plenty of time for the QRP Single Side Band propagation to get out and be heard, much like I have done with the IC-703+ in the past. I set up the CHA-17 on the spike like normal, driving the 18” spike into the hard dirt with a hatchet from the truck. Nothing difficult, just spread out the nine radials on two crimped alligator clips, raise the mast for 17m to start, connect the RG-8x, and I was ready.

Next, I hooked up the external battery to the new transceiver, but wait, I need to make sure the nanoVNA has the perfect tune for 17m. Let me think, the IC-705 has an SWR sweep function like the IC-7100, let’s try that first and see. Bam, first try I was near 1:1 throughout the entire 17m band.

I placed the microphone and transceiver on the table where I’m set up and ready to go. Opened the screen to start the logging software on the laptop. Opened my phone to the POTA APP and self-spotted. I’m ready, but I’m not. In the 10 minutes it took to set up all the things I wanted to use, I got warm in the midday sun. So, I put the tailgate down, slid the canopy out, and proceeded to put up my 10×10 Sun shade, to include 16” nail spikes on each corner for the wind. Placed the beverage tote next to my chair, and now I was ready.

I turned the transceiver back on and listened. Okay I don’t know how to really run this new gadget, but it probably needs AF gain and RF gain, that is the same knob on this radio. Yes, they were nearly zero; now, with a flick of the knob, they are at 60% each. I am concerned that the waterfall is not showing signals. Well, it was learn as you go day here in the park, but the gain being raised made a difference on the waterfall, too. I saw a few faint signals; this will be okay. I hit the center/fix button and have the entire 17m band in view. Looking at the POTA APP, there are only two stations besides me on the band.

I zeroed in on an open spot that wasn’t being occupied and listened for about a minute. I asked a few times, like I’m supposed to, to find if the frequency was in use, but I heard nothing. Spotted that frequency, and we are off. I called CQ for over five minutes, and no reply. Then, I got two contacts back-to-back! Cool! This is going to be easy. Nope, someone moved in 1k below me and made it impossible. I moved up 3k and listened. Spotted on The POTA APP and started calling. Then, I get a few more contacts, and another intruder moved in above me this time by 2k. So I moved down 7k, to complete my activation. Frustrated a bit, but i now had 10 contacts and that was an activation.

So, I decided to move into the 20m space and hunt there for a bit. Went and extended the 17’ whip and got back to the radio to verify. I did something wrong on the screen, so no worries, I still have the nanoVNA handy, and Bam SWR near 1:1 again this time on the 20m band.

I was ready to hunt now. I did a little fiddling with the screen to let me see the Center instead of the fixed view from 17m. 20m band is packed with signals from 14.225 MHz through the top of the band edge at 14.350 MHz. This should be easy, but I’m hunting QRP!

After zero contacts, I wound up selecting a frequency between two QRO stations and parked on 14.291 MHz. I managed to make quite a few contacts here for the next 30 minutes. Great fun, and I had an ‘almost’ pile-up. Then, for 15 minutes, I used the spots page to find other stations.

In the end, I had made 38 contacts in two hours and twenty minutes. The real takeaway, though, was a realization that this is the finest receiver I have ever used. Through the front-firing speaker, I heard stations that I know no other radio in my collection would receive. I had to adjust my AF gain many times due to the fact that a 100-watt station sounded like they were sitting next to me, yelling. Then, I would hear a whisper, turn up the gain, and talk to a station in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan from Oklahoma, that is a big ask for 10 watts. In those 38 contacts, I was amazed, learning new things about the technology that allows a serious communication jump. This only took 38 contacts and a little over two hours.

If I am asked which transceiver I recommend to an amateur operator, I can’t say any other transceiver than the IC-705. This was a huge eye-opener for me. I hope other people in our hobby/service get the opportunity to use such modern equipment. Please, folks, take the time in the near future to peel the plastic off something new or at least go to a retailer or hamfest to try something new!

James Popham KI5OEB

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

En Route To Dayton: WD8RIF and I Activate Great Seal State Park near Chillicothe, Ohio

May 30, 2025 Thomas Witherspoon Leave a comment

This field report picks up where we left off after my last post earlier this week at Lake Alma State Park (May 14, 2025).

Eric and I planned to hit two parks en route to Dayton, Ohio. Lake Alma was a successful park number one. The next park we planned to activate—another new-to-me park—was Great Seal State Park.

The skies opened up beautifully during our Lake Alma activation, so the drive to Great Seal was under clear, sunny skies.

Great Seal State Park (US-1954)

We arrived at the park around 11:45 AM EDT.

Great Seal State Park is tucked away in the hills just outside of Chillicothe, Ohio, and it’s steeped in early state history. In fact, the park gets its name from the Great Seal of the State of Ohio, which was inspired by this very landscape. Back in 1803, when Ohio was becoming a state, early leaders—including Thomas Worthington—looked out over the sunrise from Mount Logan and used that iconic view as the backdrop for the state seal: rolling hills, a rising sun, a bundle of arrows, and a sheaf of wheat symbolizing Ohio’s natural beauty and agricultural roots.

This area also has deep Indigenous history. Before statehood, the Scioto River Valley was home to the Shawnee, with several towns named Chillicothe located nearby. Later, Chillicothe became Ohio’s first state capital. These hills have seen a lot of history, and today I’m sure they make for some incredibly scenic and rewarding hikes.

Eric and I didn’t have enough time in our schedule for a hike that afternoon, but if I pass by here again, I’ll make time for one.

We first made our way to the main picnic area of the park but quickly discovered a large outdoor gathering for local utility workers. They absolutely filled that part of the park, so we checked out the campground area instead.

The campground was completely void of campers, so we felt it would be safe to set up without any issues. It was a beautiful site with numerous options for station setup.

I found a camping spot and parked there.

We decided I would set up at the picnic table at the site while Eric would use his folding chair and my Chelegance MC-750 antenna in the central island of the campground.

Poor Eric, though. When I started filming my activation video, I realized just how close we were to each other—and how much interference that could cause. I walked over to him (camera in hand) and helped him move a bit farther away.

As I was setting up my gear, Eric came back to my site and said the fellow doing the lawn mowing was about to work in the area where he had originally set up. So, Eric moved—again—a few campsites down from me. This time, he decided to use his fiberglass Jackite pole to support a random wire antenna.

This actually worked out quite well—the distance between us was just enough that we didn’t interfere with each other at all.

Gear

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Radio

Penntek TR-45L “Skinny”

Antenna System and Throw Line

MW0SAW’s Homebrew 40M EFHW built on a SOTAbeams Winder
ABR Industries 25’ RG-316 cable assembly with three in-line ferrites (Use Coupon Code ABR10QRPER for 10% Discount!)
Weaver arborist throw line/weight and storage bag

Key/Cable

Pack/Cover

Red Oxx Micro Manager
TR-45L Transport Cover

Battery

Bioenno 3 Ah LiFePo Battery (Model BLF-1203AB)

Logging

Camera and Audio

DJI OSMO 4 action camera with Joby Telepod Sport Tripod
DJI Wireless Microphones

On The Air

I hopped on 20 meters and started calling CQ POTA. Fortunately, as with our earlier activation, the band had a little life in it. Continue reading En Route To Dayton: WD8RIF and I Activate Great Seal State Park near Chillicothe, Ohio →

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

QRP POTA: A Pre-Dayton Activation at Lake Alma State Park with WD8RIF!

May 27, 2025 Thomas Witherspoon 3 Comments

On Wednesday, May 14, 2025, my good friend Eric (WD8RIF) and I started our drive from Athens to Dayton, Ohio. We left Eric’s QTH early that morning—not because it’s a long drive (it’s only about 2.5 hours)—but because we wanted to activate at least two new-to-me parks en route and still arrive early enough to stop by the Commissary at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, check into our hotel, and meet up with friends for dinner.

The day before, I wasn’t able to activate a park in West Virginia as planned due to thunderstorms in the area. I also heard that propagation was incredibly poor—something we’ve seen off and on lately—so if you’re planning to validate an activation, be sure to budget extra time to reach your ten contacts.

That Wednesday morning started off foggy and misty, but the clouds quickly burned away and gave way to a beautiful day.

Amish farmers are not an uncommon site in rural Ohio.

Since I was firmly in WD8RIF’s activation territory, I let him do all of the planning for us that day. (Let’s be honest—I tend to let Eric do all of the planning no matter where we’re roving! Don’t tell him that, though.)

Lake Alma State Park (US-1967)

Our first stop was Lake Alma State Park near Hamden, Ohio.

Lake Alma is a beautiful park with large parking areas, great lake access, and numerous ideal spots for a POTA activator to set up.

Eric suggested we check out the gazebo, but I was keen to use one of the picnic shelters because it sat right beside an old-growth hardwood tree—just the kind I like to use to support my antennas!

Often when Eric and I do joint POTA activations, we activate at the same time to save time. In this case, we decided to take turns—me first at the key.

I knew Eric had never used a Penntek TR-45L, so I brought along my “skinny” version of this magnificent little rig. Paired with a 40-meter EFHW deployed next to the shelter, I figured we’d have nearly ideal conditions—even if propagation wasn’t.

Setup was quick and easy!

My Red Oxx Micro Manager has become the TR-45L Skinny’s pack of choice!

Somehow, I managed to go first, so I prepped my log and aimed to get ten contacts to validate this new park.