Tag Archives: QRP

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

More of the Unexpected at Collier-Seminole State Park

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by Teri (KO4WFP)

It was Tuesday, December 26th, the third day of my winter-break Florida POTA trip. As my brother Joseph and I were moving at a leisurely pace this morning, I decided to work in a quick activation at the campsite as the antenna was already in the trees from the prior night’s activation.

Even though this second activation at Little Manatee River wouldn’t count toward my 2024 goal, it was still a valid activation. POTA is like eating potato chips – You can’t do just one! I had five QSOs on 40 meters to begin and then 14 on 20 meters before calling QRT. We needed to get on the road and head south.

QSO Map for Little Manatee River SP Day Activation http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/

My brother desperately needed a new Thermarest as the old one he brought on the trip was not working for his back. He had always wanted to visit an REI store. We found one in Sarasota-Springs and stopped by. He found a better sleeping pad and I found a few items I needed to add to my arsenal – a small brush for cleaning sand off items, a camp pillow so I didn’t have to lug my pillow from home in the future, more bug-repellant wipes, and a smaller quick-dry towel. Happy with our purchases, we resumed our journey southward.

We had lollygagged enough in the morning there wasn’t sufficient time for an activation on our way to the next camping destination – Collier-Seminole State Park (K-1847). The drive was nearly all interstate and not that exciting. It never ceases to amaze me how many people live in Florida!

Google Maps

Collier-Seminole State Park is located in southern Florida as you head toward the Big Cypress Wildlife Management Area and Everglades National Park. The Big Cypress Swamp was the last refuge of the Seminole Indians. Collier-Seminole State Park lies along the Tamiami Trail, a road from Tampa to Miami that was constructed in the early 1900’s and runs through the Big Cypress Swamp. An advertising mogul Baron Collier (for whom Collier County and Collier-Seminole State Park are named) was a significant investor in the Tamiami Trail and, in fact, bankrolled the completion of the east-west portion of the road.

After you enter Collier-Seminole State Park, on the right is the last existing Bay City Walking Dredge. This dredge was used to build the Tamiami Trail and would follow drilling and blasting rigs. The dredge dug a canal which provided rock fill for roadbed drainage of the completed road. It is a unique and huge piece of equipment.

Some parks are easier to activate than others. This was not one of the those. My first hint should have been when I was asked to read the rules when checking in. The first rule is nothing in the trees. I mentioned I am a ham radio operator and asked if it be ok to put an antenna up with an arborist line that won’t damage the tree. That request was met with an immediate and emphatic “No!” Rules are rules and, as I brought my hitch mount and SOTABeams mast on the trip, I could work around that restriction.

I planned to set up my antenna and get on the air in the comfort of my tent as I had at the previous park – Little Manatee River State Park. However, running right in front of our site and all through the campground were power poles. This campground was also much larger than our previous one. I wasn’t sure how much RFI I might get from the surrounding RVs and power lines as we appeared to be the only tent at this site. Continue reading More of the Unexpected at Collier-Seminole State Park →

Antennas, Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

W6CSN: Activation 72 of the Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Site

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

Activation 72

by Matt (W6CSN)

Today’s activation of the Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Site (K-7889) was pretty standard for a mid-winter POTA outing. Normally, I wouldn’t bother to write it up on this blog. After coming here 72 times there is not much new to say about it. Nevertheless, maybe somebody will find value in this field report.

Even though the weather was dry this afternoon, the radio operating began in the car where I used the FT-818 to net 14 contacts on 17 meters. I must admit being warm while doing a POTA activation is not bad!

The Bencher is a breeze to operate on the center console.

After a while, the calls started to dry up so I extended the antenna fully to get on 20 meters, but the best SWR I could get was 3:1. I suppose the lack of good bonding of the coax shield to the car body, which I’ve read about in other blog posts on qrper.com, was responsible for the less than optimal antenna match.

After taking down the badly matched roof mount antenna , I flipped the car around and backed into the parking space to set up my usual 20 meter station on the trunk lid with the antenna clamped to a steel post.

The trunk lid is where I usually operate from when at this park.

At the same time, I switched radios to the Mountain Topper MTR-4B. Previously the current draw of the FT-818 had dropped the battery voltage to 12.6v, but with the lighter load of the MTR, the voltage rebounded above 13v. The MTR-4b is designed to accept 13v, something the other radios in the MTR series are not recommended for. However the SWR in this antenna configuration was 1.0 to 1 so I felt okay to run the radio at the full 5 watts with the higher voltage.

The Wolf River coil provides a good match on 40 meters.

Unfortunately, 20 meters wasn’t performing all that great, yielding a mere four contacts. The POTA website showed several JA’s activating parks on 40 meters, so I added the Wolf River coil to the base of the antenna in hopes of hearing them. Alas, no copy, so I put out a few CQ POTA calls of my own on 7.062 MHz. W6OOD responded from Southern California, but my report was not particularly strong. And, with the light fading I decided to call it a day.

QSO map by http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer

Activation #72 netted a total of 19 QSOs on three different bands, coast-to-coast. Not bad for an unremarkable Friday afternoon ham radio outing.

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

Expect the Unexpected with POTA

13 Comments

by Teri (KO4WFP)

It was Monday, December 25th, the second day of my POTA winter-break trip in Florida. I chose Florida for this trip to avoid bone-chilling temperatures. What I didn’t and couldn’t avoid, though, was rain. The weather forecast before I left Bloomingdale, Georgia promised rain off and on during the first part of the trip.

Google Maps

I had two park activations planned for Monday, December 25th – Dade Battlefield Park (K-3615) in the morning and Little Manatee River State Park (K-1898) in the afternoon. After breaking camp at Paynes Prairie State Park and getting on the road early, a steady rain began as I drove southward toward my first activation. Well, phooey. I scrapped the Dade activation and headed instead for Little Manatee River State Park, the location of our next campsite.

Little Manatee River State Park is named for the Little Manatee River which flows 40 miles from a swampy area near Fort Lonesome snaking through the landscape before emptying into Tampa Bay. It is one of the few Florida rivers that were never significantly dredged or altered therefore it is one of the most pristine blackwater rivers in Southwest Florida. Park visitors can fish along or paddle in the river. There are also hiking and horseback trails in the park.

We arrived early at the park and, as it rained off and on, killed time in the car (much to Daisy’s dismay) until our campsite was available. The weather forecast had promised rain all day; but by 1:30 PM the worst of the rain appeared behind us.

We are stuck in the car!

My brother wanted to hike in the park and I figured why not work in an unexpected activation to make up for the one I planned but scrapped earlier in the day. The closest park not requiring an entrance fee was Moody Branch Wildlife and Environmental Area (K-6317). Daisy and I loaded up and off we went.

The 960-acres of Moody Branch was formerly used for grazing cattle and farming. It was purchased as a gopher tortoise mitigation park when developers needed an off-site alternative to on-site protection of rare species being negatively impacted by development. The site features hiking and horseback trails for the public and is managed with gopher tortoises and the Florida scrub jay in mind.

The drive was a pleasant one. We passed fields and fields of strawberries as well as plant nurseries. By the time we arrived at Moody Branch, the sun played peek-a-boo from behind the clouds and the wind vigorously whipped across the open fields and pastures across from the preserve.

Next to the parking lot was a small covered pavilion with a picnic table, but that was exposed to the wind. Walking past it and around a large oak tree presented a sheltered area. I snagged a branch, set up the EFRW antenna, and put my Helinox chair near the feed-end with Daisy lying down nearby. By this time, the sun was out and removing my hoodie and donning my goofy hat for the sun was a necessity. Continue reading Expect the Unexpected with POTA →

Articles, Field Radio Kits, Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, QRP, Videos

Radio Therapy: Fresh air and a little backyard QRP portable

37 Comments

So far, my favorite thing about the Elecraft KH1 is this: it’s a constant radio companion.

Since 2020, I’ve always had a small field radio kit in my vehicle.

My Venus SW-3B kit, which is packed in a headrest pouch, is one example.

When I’m traveling, or just find an opening in the day, I can deploy that field kit and do a little POTA or even SOTA. I know I have a full field radio kit ready to go.

As many of you know, I do a lot of traveling back forth from my QTH to my hometown each week to do caregiving for my mom and dad. Most of the POTA sites I activate are along that corridor between Asheville and Hickory, North Carolina. Having a radio kit in the car at all times makes impromptu activations effortless.

Until the KH1, though, I never had a field radio kit that could so easily live in the backpack/shoulder bag I carry with me everywhere…my EDC bag.

EDC (Everyday Carry)

Linus understands.

Since 2000 or so–back in the days when I was living and traveling extensively in Europe–my EDC bag (sometimes a laptop bag, messenger bag, or backpack) has become a bit like a safety blanket.

I feel lost and unprepared without it.

When I have my EDC bag, I know I have my basics and essentials for working on the road, taking care of small repairs, administering first aid, and even coping with unexpected overnight trips. My EDC bag has the basics for taking care of all of these things and more.

And now, my EDC bag has a tiny QRP field radio kit.

Healing waves…

I’ve been staying with my parents a lot lately–most of the week–doing caregiving for my sweet mother.

This week in particular, I’ve been grabbing my KH1 and using it for a little backyard “radio therapy.”

You see, there has been no time in the schedule this past week for even short POTA activation forays, as much as I’d love that (more on this below).

Instead, I’ve been catching quick radio sessions in my parents’ back yard.

If I worked you this past week, this was my station:

On Sunday afternoon, January 7, 2024, I grabbed my KH1 from the backpack and took it on two short POTA hunting sessions.

In both cases, I walked to the very back of my parents’ yard to distance myself from most of the QRM that surrounds their house.

During the late afternoon session, I decided to grab my camera and make a video.

Video

Here’s a real-time, real-life (short) video of my late afternoon POTA hunting session.  As with all of my videos, I haven’t edited this one. In addition, I have monetization turned off on YouTube, although that doesn’t stop them from inserting ads before and after my videos.

Note that Patreon supporters can watch and even download this video 100% ad-free through Vimeo on my Patreon page:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Being Present & Thank You

We admitted my mother into Hospice care on Monday (the day after I made the video above) and we don’t expect her to be with us much longer.

Because of Hospice, she is at peace, pain-free, and surrounded by her family. Mom made it clear to all of us that she is ready for the next adventure.

All of my energy is going into being present with her, my wife and daughters, my father, and my sister during this time.

Our community here on QRPer.com has lined up some amazing field reports and articles that will allow me to take a break from writing and, frankly, give me something to read and enjoy as well.

Thank you all for your support and kindness during this time.

72,

Thomas (K4SWL)

News

A Journey Through Florida Begins

10 Comments

by Teri (KO4WFP)

It was Sunday, December 24th around 7:30 AM and my brother Joseph, my dog Daisy, and I were on our way to Florida. The purpose of the trip was to knock out nine or ten parks toward my goal of 60 new-to-me park activations in 2024. The trip was also designed to test my camping skills and adjust my equipment and set-up for future POTA camping trips. The first park on the itinerary was Olustee Battlefield Park (K-3642).

The drive to Olustee was straight forward: I-95 south to Jacksonville, then I-295 to I-10. We stopped at the Florida Welcome Center and snapped a quick picture despite the rain, then bundled ourselves back into the car and on our way.

Are we there yet?

Olustee Battlefield Park commemorates the site of Florida’s largest Civil War battle. Florida was important to the Confederacy in the Civil War because of its material contributions. In fact, Florida was a vital contributor of beef and salt. The battle of Olustee was fought to repel a Union attempt to disrupt Florida’s food-producing supply routes and recruit African-American soldiers. In fact U.S. African-American troops took part in the battle including the famous 54th Massachusetts regiment featured in the movie “Glory”.  A re-enactment of the battle at Olustee is held each February.

Joseph and I arrived at Olustee Battlefield Park under cloudy skies. Right after our arrival, a gentleman pulled up from the local area and began chatting with us. He owns some of the timber plantations in the surrounding area and was killing time at the park while a relative visited someone at the nearby prison.

I located a pine tree and installed the Tufteln EFRW antenna. Meanwhile, Daisy found a pine cone or two to deconstruct. It was nice to be at a location at which she could be off-leash and wander.

I began with 40 meters as usual but the noise on that band was horrendous – S7! So I moved to 20 meters figuring that would be quieter. NOPE! Again, S7! Well, shucks! I told myself to just call CQ and see what I could hear. Only the strongest calls broke through the noise and even then, I sometimes lost a hunter as the band appeared to be shifting. After twenty minutes on 20 meters, I switched to 17 meters hoping the noise might be better there. Nope – S7 AGAIN! I needed a few more contacts for a valid activation so I hung in there for five more minutes getting four contacts and then called it QRT.

QSO map for Olustee Battlefield HSP http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/

What the heck could have caused such noise on all three bands I tried? There were power lines but I was nowhere near them. There were no other sources of noise I could see at the site. And then I remembered the nearby Baker Correctional Institution, the prison the gentleman’s relative was visiting. It was a large facility. Surely there was a lot of electric equipment with surveillance cameras, etc. That must have been the noise source.

It was time to move on. We drove secondary roads which took us through pine forests in the Osceola Wildlife Management Area and Gainesville, FL, home of the University of Florida. Continue reading A Journey Through Florida Begins →

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

Pairing the Elecraft KH1 and my Tufteln No-Transformer (aka, Speaker Wire) Antenna

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On Thursday, November 30, 2023 I had a chunk of afternoon open to fit in some Parks On The Air time. My travels took me near one of my favorite local parks: the Zebulon Vance Birthplace Historic Site (K-6856).

As I packed my car that morning, I brought along some of my Mountain Topper transceivers as well. The plan was to first shoot a video comping the new Elecraft KH1 to these venerable SOTA machines, then do a POTA activation with the KH1 and a new-to-me kit antenna.

The Mountain Topper comparison took a bit longer than I had anticipated (surprise, surprise) so my POTA time was actually somewhat limited. If interested, my KH1/Mountain Topper comparison was posted several weeks ago–click here to check it out.

Tufteln No-Transformer EFRW

One goal of my afternoon activation was to finally put my new-to-me Tufteln “No-Transformer” end-fed random wire antenna on the air.

You might recall that I shared a campsite–during the W4 SOTA campout last year–with good friend Joshua (N5FY) of Tufteln fame and fortune. Being the antenna guy he is, Joshua brought along a full antenna building station and set it up on our picnic table. That first afternoon at camp, he gave me a kit to build this random wire antenna. Thanks again, OM!
These “No-Transformer” random wire antennas are designed to be paired with a good ATU–either external or internal. This type of antenna couldn’t be more simple.

Since there’s no transformer (no 9:1, etc.) the ATU does all of the heavy lifting to make a match. While this might not seem like an efficient way of doing things, one benefit of this design is that there’s no feed line: the radiator and counterpoise connect directly to the radio if your radio has a built-in ATU.  I’ve found that there’s some inherent efficiency in this approach.

Just two wires (radiator and counterpoise) connected directly to a BNC with a little strain relief.

The antenna is identical to the speaker wire antenna I built in the field and have used so extensively over the past few years. Joshua’s design is just much lower-profile and more compact.

When I built this particular antenna, I decided to go for a much longer length than any other random wire I’ve made to date. The idea was to have an antenna that might possibly match 80M. Joshua might correct me, but I believe we cut something between 70-80 feet for the radiator.

At Vance, I deployed this antenna into some short evergreens that surround the picnic shelter. It wasn’t an ideal deployment, per se, but adequate for a quickie activation!

I’ve learned that the length I chose for this radiator isn’t ideal for most of my ATUs to hit some bands. I will end up trimming this antenna a bit until I find the right length. I’m tempted to shorten it for matching on 60 meters, then build another 9:1 random wire to hit 80 and possibly 160 meters.

Setting up the KH1 took no time at all. I did discover during this activation that I needed to better secure the KH1 to the table. Wind gusts were tugging on the random wire a bit (as the trees swayed) and it would move the KH1 around on the table. The KH1 weighs less than a pound, so it’s super lightweight! This will be easy to fix next time.

Gear:

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On The Air

I tuned the EFRW antenna on 30M and got a perfect impedance match.

I started calling CQ POTA and hunters replied!

In fact, I worked ten stations in exactly ten minutes. Two of them were Park-To-Parks–thanks KD8IE and KC3WPW!

I worked two more stations for a total of only twelve logged. I would like to have spent more time on the air, but I had two appointments on my schedule that afternoon.

QSO Map

Here’s what this five watt activation looked like when plotted out on a QSO Map:

Activation Video

Here’s my real-time, real-life video of the entire activation.  As with all of my videos, I don’t edit out any parts of the on-air activation time. In addition, I have monetization turned off on YouTube, although that doesn’t stop them from inserting ads before and after my videos.

Note that Patreon supporters can watch and even download this video 100% ad-free through Vimeo on my Patreon page:

Click here to view on YouTube.

Thank you!

Thank you for joining me on this short activation!

Had I realized how low I was running on time at the beginning of this activation, I might have made the antenna deployment and my commentary a bit briefer to have more air time. That said, I don’t do POTA for the numbers, I do it because it’s amazing fun and such a positive part of my day. This little activation was no exception! Pure radio fun.

I hope you enjoyed this field report and my activation video as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Of course, I’d also like to send a special thanks to those of you who have been supporting the site and channel through Patreon and the Coffee Fund. While certainly not a requirement as my content will always be free, I really appreciate the support.

As I mentioned before, the Patreon platform connected to Vimeo make it possible for me to share videos that are not only 100% ad-free, but also downloadable for offline viewing. The Vimeo account also serves as a third backup for my video files.

Thanks for spending part of your day with me!

Have a brilliant weekend, friends!

Cheers & 72,

Thomas (K4SWL)

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

Brian Activates Allegheny National Forest and Remembers a Dear Friend

8 Comments

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

Activation at Allegheny National Forest:  Remembering a Friend

by Brian (K3ES)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Activation

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

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

Results

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

Molly is an interested supervisor…
But supervising is tiring work.

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

A map of 37 contacts on 4 bands.

Equipment

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

Best 73 de Brian – K3ES

News, POTA, QRP, SOTA

Any 2024 Radio Goals?

80 Comments

It’s the beginning of 2024 (Happy New Year everyone!) and a lot of my radio friends have been setting goals and asking what mine are for the year.

Truth is, I’ve had so much going on during the latter half of December, I hadn’t stopped to think about 2024 goals.

This morning, with a cup of coffee fueling my brain cells, I came up with a few ideas.

Here are the goals I’ve pieced together for 2024:

  • Complete a CW satellite contact
  • Complete a POTA activation using FT8
  • Add 20 more parks to the number of unique POTA sites I’ve activated
  • Add 5 new summits to the number of unique SOTA summits I’ve activated
  • Update: One more…build that QCX+ a good friend Bob gave me, then put it on the air!

Out of these goals, I think the second, completing an FT8 POTA activation, will be the easiest. I’m mainly making it a goal for 2024 so that I actually carry through with doing it.

The CW satellite contact?  I’ve got the gear to do it now, I believe, but this will take me well outside of my comfort zone. That’s a good ting. Making it a goal for 2024 will encourage me to bite the bullet.

The last two POTA and SOTA goals will actually be the toughest for me simply because we haven’t ironed out our travel plans for 2024 as of today.  Funny part is I know some leaderboard POTA and SOTA activators that would knock these goals out in the month of January without breaking a sweat!

I’ve activated all of the low-hanging POTA fruit around my QTH (with three exceptions) so any new unique parks will be further afield and more easily achieved if we take some family road trips.

I’ve many more SOTA summits to hit here in North Carolina alone, but again, so much depends on my available free time.

Your 2024 Goals?

What are your goals for 2024? Please comment if you care to share!

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

Keying In The Rain: One rather soggy but incredibly fun POTA activation!

9 Comments

I’m lucky enough to live in a part of the world where–by and large–the weather is pretty darn nice.

In fact, I recently received a comment from a reader who jokingly said that I should work for the tourism board of western North Carolina because the weather always seems so pleasant in my POTA/SOTA videos.

It’s true: most of the time I hit the field to play radio, the weather is very pleasant.

That said, you see more of these “fair weather” activations because I tend not to make videos of ones in poor conditions mainly because I don’t like managing the camera in high winds, heavy rains, or even super cold conditions–especially when I want to get in and out of the field quickly. The camera tends slows everything down.

On Friday, December 1, 2023, though, I decided to do a park activation in the rain and make a video! Here’s my field report:

Pisgah National Forest (K-4510)

That Friday morning, I dropped my daughters off at classes, then made my way to the Mills River library to put the finishing touches on a field report and publish it. It was rainy and I wasn’t complaining; it had been a very dry fall in WNC up to that point.

After I published my field report and attempted to catch up on the email backlog a bit, I hopped in the car and headed to the Sycamore Flats picnic area in Pisgah National Forest (K-4510) and Pisgah Game Lands (K-6937).

That day, knowing it would be soggy, I packed my Discovery TX-500 which is pretty much rain-proof. By this, I mean that it’s designed to cope with rain, but it’s not designed to be completely submerged in water.

Truth be told, I had no intention of making an activation video. Once I arrived on site, though, I thought, “Why the heck not?” After all, other than being rainy and chilly, conditions were pretty pleasant. That and my OSMO action camera is completely waterproof.

I grabbed the camera and started filming the activation while closing up the car.

Setting Up

When playing POTA in the rain, I tend to select picnic tables or sites that are under the canopy of trees if at all possible. Trees not only provide antenna supports, but they also help divert a bit of the rain.

I found an ideal site under the canopy of a few hemlocks.

I deployed my PackTenna end-fed half-wave (EFHW) oriented (nearly) vertically and with the feed point close to the tree trunk so that it would be better protected from the rain. I wasn’t worried about the antenna getting wet, but I also didn’t want the toroid and windings to get completely soaked either. It’s never a bad idea to use what bit of natural protection the trees can offer.

As you can see in the photo above, I had my TX-500 completely exposed, but the battery, in-line fuse, and (to some extent) the speaker mic were all protected in the TX-500’s Telesin Case.

As always, I used my Rite In The Rain notepad which is a champ at handling wet conditions. Continue reading Keying In The Rain: One rather soggy but incredibly fun POTA activation! →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, POTA, QRP

Field Report: Alan’s P2P POTA Activation Challenge!

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Many thanks to Alan (W2AEW) who shares the following guest post:

A self-imposed POTA Park-to-Park Challenge…

by Alan (W2AEW)

One of the things I love about the Parks on the Air program is that every activation is a bit of small challenge.  What will the band be like?  What antenna will I be able to deploy when I get there?  Will I have a spot to setup?  Will my CW ‘ear’ be properly tuned up? You get the picture…

There are a few parks that I activate much more than others – call them my “home” parks.  These are the ones that are close to my home, easy to get to and setup.  One in particular,  Washington Rock State Park (K-1635), is certainly the closest. It has some interesting Revolutionary War History.

Not only is this park very close to my home, it also has pretty good elevation (about 500’) for this part of New Jersey.  In fact, the local fire department hangs a very large illuminated star during the Christmas season at their building that is adjacent to this park.

This star can be seen for miles to the South and East of the ridge.

It’s no wonder that I’ve activated this park more than 20 times in the last year and half.

My XYL Nancy was *very* generous to me this year at Christmas – gifting me a new Begali Adventure CW paddle!  She even had it engraved with my call:

I wanted to think of a unique way to celebrate my first POTA activation using this paddle. I would be going to K-1635, so the location would be very familiar.  Therefore, I thought of an interesting self-imposed challenge…   Attempt to complete an activation with ONLY Park to Park contacts!

As I thought about this, I figured my best chance of success would be to operate on the weekend (significantly more parks are active), and use my most efficient multi-band antenna (a 40m EFHW).

Being an engineer, I’m use to having goals.  I’m also used to having additional constraints imposed – let’s call them stretch-goals.  Possible stretch goals for this P2P Activation Challenge could be:

  • Operate QRP (all of my POTA activations are QRP, so not much of a stretch)
  • Operate only CW (nearly all of my activations are CW, and this helps with the QRP goal too)
  • Attempt this using a more compromised antenna
  • Attempt this during a weekday

It turns out I had a few free hours on Wednesday, December 27, 2023 to play radio…  It was kind of a dismal day weather-wise.  I figured it might be the day to attempt this challenge.  The wet weather had me thinking that I’d setup my SuperAntenna MP1 vertical instead of using the 40m EFHW (and having it and the throw line get all wet and muddy).  The stage was set for the challenge including the stretch goals.

I setup the MP1 on the bedrail of my truck, using an MFJ-1976 ten-foot whip on top.

The band conditions were in pretty good shape, so I figured I had a shot.  I setup the rig inside the truck because of the rain, and got the iPad going with the POTA spotting page to see who I could hunt.  I logged four P2P contacts in the first 20 minutes, so there was hope!

In the end, it took about 90 minutes to log 11 Park-to-Park contacts.  Well, actually 12, since one of them turned out to be a two-fer.  I logged a few “familiar” activators, including Teri KO4WFP – a frequent contributor of Field Reports here, and Jonathan KM4CFT – running a two-fer out of North Carolina.  There were a few that I noted in my paper log because I had a good copy on them, but ultimately couldn’t bust thru the pile ups there were getting (like K7SHR at K-10946 in WY and K0YY at K-4416 in TX).

A personal thanks to all of the activators in my log that helped me reach my P2P Challenge:

  • KL7NL at K-6945 in NC
  • KM4CFT at K-8313 and K-3378 in NC
  • WD4AWD at K-2982 in TN
  • KU8T at K-4208 in IN
  • KO4WFP at K-0659 in FL
  • W0ABE at K-10532 in CO
  • N4XTT at K-2982 in TN
  • NM1L at K-7475 in FL
  • KC1BDJ at K-7879 in FL
  • KI5GBQ at K-7687 in OK
  • NS1C at K-2420 in MA

All contacts were on 20m with the exception of NS1C on 40m.  All were CW.

This was a fun little challenge, one that I hope to repeat in the future.  Hope to see you all on the air – POTA-ON!

72 de W2AEW