Tag Archives: QRP

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

My First Post-Helene POTA Activation!

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On Friday, October 24, 2024, I performed my first POTA activation exactly one month (to the day) after Hurricane Helene swept through western North Carolina.

It felt oh so good!

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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On The Air

I hopped on the air and started calling CQ POTA. After the RBN picked me up and the POTA website auto-spotted me, the contacts started rolling in! Continue reading My First Post-Helene POTA Activation! →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, POTA, QRP

Offline QRP Activation

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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.

the Golden Gate Bridge in a clear morning.
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.

close up photo of antenna mounted to a steel post
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.

KH1 transceiver and Bencher paddles on a park bench
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 showing location of contacted stations
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?

72 de W6CSN

News

A Surprise for the POTA Babe

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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.

source: https://icoat.de/pocketmaps/nc/map/nc-usfs-uwha-01
our Airbnb

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 comparison
nuts 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-750
woods 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.]

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Portable, QRP

VA2NW at Chillycon

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Many thanks to Tom (VA2NW) for this report on Chillycon, aka Chilicon – Vince.

Canada’s capital, Ottawa, is the home of the Ottawa Valley QRP Society. The group holds an annual weekend camp-out at the Rideau River Provincial Park (POTA CA-0365) in early fall and it’s affectionately called Chillycon (also known as Chillicon). This year’s camp-out ran from September 20th through 22nd with some folks arriving a few days earlier. It’s a low key gathering which largely consists of casual operating, socializing, sharing tips and tricks, and checking out everyone’s portable radio gear.

On Friday morning I packed up my van with radio gear, camping equipment, and enough batteries to get me through a weekend of operating and cell phone recharging. Rather than tent camping, I decided to set up a sleeping pad in my minivan. The trip from Gatineau Quebec took a little under an hour, and I arrived just after 2:00pm local time.

Entrance to Rideau Provincial Park in Kemptville Ontario Canada

I brought my new toy with me, the Venus SW-6B (metal case + internal battery configuration). In just a few minutes I was on the air with the radio, an AlexLoop Hampack antenna, American Morse Equipment Mini-B paddle, and Apple EarPod wired headphones. I made several POTA contacts before it was time to start my shift as the Straight Key Century Club’s Canadian Straight Key Month special event station VC3Y/VE3. Conditions weren’t great and there wasn’t a lot of SKCC activity in the middle of a work day, so I only made one SKCC contact that day. After SKCC hour, I joined in on the weekly K1USN Slow Speed Test (SST). I contacted a few regulars, and then I returned to POTA and made another dozen or so contacts to bring the total up to 17 QSOs.

Reading ‘The CW Way of Life’ by Chris Rutkowski by the (citronella) candlelight

Continue reading VA2NW at Chillycon →

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, POTA, Videos

Two in One Day for the POTA Babe

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by Teri KO4WFP

After striking out at Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge, it was time for this POTA Babe to get back on track with my goal of 60 new valid park activations for 2024. As much as I enjoyed the historic sites and the refuge I recently visited, I needed to return to activating wildlife management areas.

Wildlife management areas (WMAs), properties set aside for conservation as well as hunting and fishing, are plentiful in the state of Georgia. Georgia has 163 WMAs and 38 are located within 75 miles of my home QTH. So it makes sense I would include those in my 60 new activations pursuit.

I set my sights on Morgan Lake WMA (US-9791) and Griffin Ridge WMA (US-3752) because  they are an hour’s drive from my home and across the road from one another. Talk about convenient!

map source: worldatlas.com

Daisy and I set out early Tuesday, October 1st. During the drive, I encountered two groups of ambulances moving north on Interstate 95. At a rest stop, several EMTs from one group were taking a quick break and wore t-shirts with “Disaster Relief” on them. It was a reminder of the recent events due to Hurricane Helene.

I chose to activate Morgan Lake WMA first.  According to the map, most of the property appeared to be wetlands but there is a boat landing for fisherman to access Morgan Lake. In fact, the road you use to reach the landing is built up a good 10-12 feet, I assume, to provide access even when the area experiences flooding.

boat landing and train trestle bridge

WMAs vary in their presentation. Some are nicer than others with shooting ranges and gravel roads. Morgan Lake was, frankly, on the dumpier side. This was not the place to come to commune with nature. But no matter. I was here to do an activation, so I set about getting my equipment up and running.

Map for Morgan Lake WMA. source: GA DNR

I opted for the Chelegance MC-750 today. Attempting two parks in one day meant I needed a quick and easy set up and a vertical would provide that.

Chelegance MC-750 with a train in the background
setting up on the gravel parking lot

Despite poor band conditions at some of my past activations, today the bands were great! (You’d really want that on a day you are attempting back-to-back activations.) Even better, I had internet access at this park, though it was on the slow side. I could spot myself (always a plus) and it wasn’t long before calls began coming in once I was spotted on the POTA website.

Forty meters gave me 15 contacts in 20 minutes – not bad! It was good to hear so many from the southeast, some I hadn’t heard from in a while. Given I had a second activation to attempt and I wasn’t thrilled with the site conditions at Morgan Lake, I called QRT after contact #15, packed up, and headed across the road to Griffin Ridge WMA.

QSO Map for Morgan Lake WMA (by home QTH) source: http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/

Griffin Ridge is a much larger WMA than Morgan Lake. The park has two access points from the road and I chose the one farther to the north as it looked the more inviting of the two.

Map for Griffin Lake WMA. source: GA DNR

Again, given I was short on time today, I found a little area off to the side near the information kiosk by the road. If I visit this WMA again, I’ll drive further in and find a place away from the road noise.

entrance to Griffin Ridge WMA

The little place I found was somewhat shaded which Daisy and I needed given the warm weather. The day had been mostly overcast; however, I’ve learned to not trust that will persist. Nothing like being in the middle of an activation and the sun comes out from the behind the clouds to roast you.

the spot I found just perfect for parking Kai

For the North Carolina trip this past July, I purchased a Mountain Laurel Designs shelter. It was handy for my SOTA activation at Black Balsam Knob. I figured it would also be useful for POTA activations in the heat. Since I can activate next to my car for POTA, I used the front and rear wiper blades as well as the roof rack to attach three sides of the tent and the surrounding foliage to which to attach the other two. My hiking pole was not tall enough to support the center, so I used the outer rear door handle on the car to elevate the bottom of the pole to give me enough height so I could sit in my Helinox chair under the tent. It was not the best setup but good enough for today. I need to give more thought how to better support and use the tent as a shelter with my car.

Daisy relaxing

We all know band conditions fluctuate throughout the day and I hoped they would hold up for my second activation. Guess what? They did!!!

I opted for 20 meters given it was nearly noon and had 39 contacts in a little over an hour. I was thrilled! That is a “good” thing about bad band conditions. When the bands behave, you really, REALLY appreciate it.

QSO Map for Griffin Ridge WAM (by home QTH) source: http://tools.adventureradio.de/analyzer/
view from under the tent at my QTH

As I packed up my equipment, I reflected on the two activations. Of the two, I would return to Griffin Ridge. The foliage and landscape reminded me of Canoochee Sandhills WMA; however, it was nicer than Canoochee and not nearly as remote, which could be considered bad or good, depending on your perspective. I would definitely set up farther inside the property to avoid the road noise unless it had rained a lot prior to my visit. The road into the property was quite sandy and soft and deep in some spots. My car might not be able to navigate those conditions after a heavy rain.

A valid activation at these two parks put me at 41 out of the 60 new park activations for which I am aiming in 2024. There are only three more months of this year so I am running out of time to reach my goal. It would be easy to accomplish my goal if life didn’t keep getting in the way, right?

There are still plenty of wildlife management areas to consider as well as properties closer to the coast as I continue my pursuit. Where will I show up next? Stay tuned…

For those interested, visit my YouTube channel for a video about this activation.

Equipment Used

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Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, POTA, QRP

Sailboats at a lakeside activation

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As always there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things! ?

by Vince (VE6LK)

In August and September 2024 I was travelling around Southern Ontario for some family matters and naturally I brought my radio kit with me to squeeze in some radio therapy stops along the way. This is the report of my stop at CA-5362 Fifty Point Conservation Area.

It’s my second to last day here in Ontario and, as I wasn’t needed for other things, it was time to do a POTA rove and make the best of my last full day. I’m always on the lookout for a park that is within striking distance of wherever I am that I have not activated before and/or has not been activated before in either SSB or CW. So I planned a route to get to 9 parks and managed to get to 7 and activate 5 before other matters called for my attention. All were planned to be drive-up activations given the area and time constraints I was working within.

In my day job, I’m a Project Manager in IT, thus my style is that I plan before I arrive. You’ve already seen evidence of this with my POTA and Checklist tools that I’ve spoken about before. I usually do an in-depth study of a site before I depart, including reviewing linked webpages from the pota.app site, a satellite view and street view of the entrance on maps.google.com, and if it’s available, a 3D view of the area from maps.google.com. Let me know in the comments about the other ways you review a park before your arrival.

However I was pleasantly surprised when I found picnic tables with a view of the water at more than one of them! Balancing the good with the not-so-good, there were also some frustrations… I could not locate one of my planned stops despite driving up and down the road with two different GPSs blaring at me. My experience has shown that the smaller the park, the harder it is to find mapping, and this one from the Conservation Authority was no exception, and thus I abandoned it and drove onwards. Another site was right beside the roadway and high-voltage lines, and I didn’t have time to do a walk-in and get away from the noise floor. I always have a back-up site in my list for situations like this.

The Hamilton/Burlington/Niagara area is very pretty and, with a late summer happening around the time of a harvest moon, I didn’t mind the extra driving. For those of you who have been to Hamvention at Xenia it will be somewhat familiar as the area is full of gently rolling hills and lush green pastures. The humidity is also familiar, ugh, and one of the main reasons I moved away from this area in 1997. But nothing beats the view of sailboats out on the water; I have always found serenity in this -even knowing I get boatsick if I get on board!

The view from my “shack” at Fifty Point Conservation Area looking northwards onto Lake Ontario. On a clear day Toronto can  be seen in the distance. Today wasn’t a clear day, but still quite serene.

Fifty Point is a sprawling 80 Hectare (198 acre) area located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario at Winona. It has a top-tier restaurant, multiple beaches, pavilions and 330 slips for boaters, along with a camping area. It truly is a multi-use area! You can read all about it here (.pdf warning).

After locating the day use/beach area, I found a table overlooking the lake. As it was a mid-week day, there were plenty to choose from. The view was quiet with a few boaters enjoying the beach in the small bay directly in front of me.

A slip loop style bungee holds the feedpoint in place on the picnic table. My new-to-me Tiger-Cats hat proudly on display.

I set up my 40-30-20m trapped EFHW given the solar conditions. I’m so very pleased with the performance of this antenna and it has become the one I reach for the most when activating on this trip. It is about half the length of a conventional 40m wire and is resonant on 3 bands. It has me musing about adding 17m and 15m to it… perhaps N7KOM will offer such a kit?

When I built this antenna, I tuned it so that best resonance was in the middle of the CW portion of each band, and with the feedpoint located just a few feet off the ground and then sloped upwards at the endpoint. That’s how I deployed it this time around. As you see in the prior photo, my newly acquired Fishing Butler bungee strap held the entire thing firmly in place without any movement once I set up the mast. You can get them at Fishing World in Hamilton as they ship around North America. They stock multiple sizes so a phone call may be needed as their online store shows only one size. Ask for the assorted pack.

Trapped 20-30-40m EFHW to my Goture mast and spiral rod holder

Because I never was a Boy Scout and able to know where north is based on the position of the sun and time of day or how many chirps the cricket is giving <grin>, I consulted the compass on my smartphone. I unfurled my antenna and clipped it to the stop of the mast, walked the mast out to the length of the antenna and anchored it into the ground beside some Sumac bushes. With enough repetition, I’ve gotten pretty good at estimating where the far end of my antenna will be. It comes in helpful for parking lot activation and operating out of the trunk or your vehicle with a mast supporting the far end.

For these activations, and when I can, I’ve been orienting my antenna east and west so that it radiates broadside north and south so that I can capture the most number of hunters in North America. This is a contrast to how I normally operate from Alberta when my antenna is oriented to be broadside from southeast to northwest.

The activation itself was pleasant and I was surprised with visits from QRPer.com comment regulars KQ4CW and K5KHK – and I appreciate hearing from them often! 45 minutes after arriving I was packed up and on the road to my next stop.

List of gear used for these activations:

Note: All Amazon links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

Summary

We do POTA (and other programs) for various reasons. On this trip, it’s a break from life’s stresses. As I reflect upon my visits with various people, I realize that I’m quite blessed to know so many friendly hams no matter where I am travelling.

72 and dit dit,
…Vince

First introduced to the magic of radio by a family member in 1969, Vince has been active in the hobby since 2002. He is an Accredited examiner in Canada and the USA, operates on almost all of the modes, and is continually working on making his CW proficiency suck less. He participates in public service events around Western Canada and is active on the air while glamping, mobile, at home or doing a POTA activation. You can hear him on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast, follow him on Twitter @VE6LK, check out his YouTube channel, and view the projects and articles on his website.

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, Portable Power, POTA, QRP

Big ships and 78GHz by chance!

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As always there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things!

by Vince (VE6LK)

In August and September 2024, I was travelling around Southern Ontario for some family matters and naturally I brought my radio kit with me to squeeze in some radio therapy stops along the way. This is the report of my stop at CA-6341 Welland Canal System National Historic Site along with CA-6096 Battle of Beaverdams National Historic Site.

This activation took a bit of research to figure out the intersection of the two given that the landscape had been dramatically altered from the time of the Battle of Beaver Dams in 1813. For example, at that time, the Welland Canal did not exist! So the town of Thorold has a park located at the west end of the battle site, and I was able to locate a monument at the east end, thus I was able to extrapolate and see that Lock 7 was in a direct path between the two. Thus I settled at Lock 7 for the activation.

A borrowed grocery cart serves as a mast support given the hard soil. Antenna runs off to the vehicle on the right.

This activation was done later in the day after my “Cross-Border Activation between Friends” and I was pleased to note the conditions had improved a fair bit.

I started off on CW, hunting other friends that were activating (shout-out to Ed W4EMB!) and then switched to SSB QRP where Steve KO4AFL found me and we had a brief chat before we both moved on. I stayed on 20m for this activation.

A quick drive-up activation means operating from the trunk

The Welland Canal is an engineering marvel that allows lake freighters to traverse the 100m/326′ height difference between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

Opened in 1833, it sees an average of 3,275 freighters during the shipping season which runs about 9 months of the year. With that sort of traffic, you can be reasonably assured that you’ll see one of these huge freighters on the day and time that you visit the area.

List of gear used for these activations:

Note: All Amazon links are affiliate links that support QRPer.com at no cost to you.

Summary

After my earlier activation with N2MAK, we drove down the Niagara Parkway past Niagara Falls and Niagara-on-the-Lake before arriving at the Welland Canal. It was a pleasant day and not terribly humid.

VA3ELE, Peter, with an attempt to set a new distance record on 78GHz

One last ham radio related story to the day was running into Peter (VA3ELE) about 1km from our home-away-from-home as he was attempting to set a new distance record with a friend who was well over 100km away.

Peter explained to me that his radio was 3W and the dish yielded 47dB of gain thus his ERP was around 14,000W see below. Needless to say that I did not stand in front of the dish.

[EDIT Sept 26] with gracious thanks to the math wizardry of David VE7EZM, the result of 47dB of gain with 3W of input is approximately 150,356W ERP.

All in all, labour day 2024 was full of beautiful scenery and lots of Ham Radio – exactly how a vacation day should be in my books.

72 and dit dit,
…Vince

First introduced to the magic of radio by a family member in 1969, Vince has been active in the hobby since 2002. He is an Accredited examiner in Canada and the USA, operates on almost all of the modes, and is continually working on making his CW proficiency suck less. He participates in public service events around Western Canada and is active on the air while glamping, mobile, at home or doing a POTA activation. You can hear him on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast, follow him on Twitter @VE6LK, check out his YouTube channel, and view the projects and articles on his website.

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

The POTA Babe Spreads Her Wings at Pinckney Island

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by Teri KO4WFP

Friday, September 13th, I headed to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge (US-0265) for a POTA activation and was without Daisy as dogs are not allowed at this refuge. Pinckney Island is a 4,000+ acre wildlife refuge off Highway US 278 on the way to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The refuge consists of four islands and numerous small hammocks with Pinckney Island being the largest of the islands and the only one open to the public.

The refuge is named after Major General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and is one of seven refuges managed by the Savannah Coastal Refuges Complex in Savannah, Georgia. Prior to my time as a ham radio operator, I volunteered for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and spent time at four – Savannah, Harris Neck, Wassaw Island, and Blackbeard Island – out of the seven refuges they manage. I never made it to Pinckney Island so I was excited to finally see this property.

Portrait by James Earl. Source: Wikipedia

Most of Pinckney Island is accessible by foot or bicycle only. After parking my car in the designated lot, I began hiking to my destination – Ibis Pond, a large pond for waterfowl about a mile from the parking lot.

Just before I reached the information kiosk, I got a great look at an armadillo doing what most gardeners and lawn aficionados hate – tearing up the ground in search of food. This mammal eats mostly invertebrates including insects and especially likes grubs. They have horrible eyesight but keen hearing and I was surprised this guy or gal let me get as close as he or she did.

information kiosk

Pinckney island is an important link in the chain of wildlife refuges along the Atlantic Flyway and attracts thousands of migratory birds each year, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The Atlantic Flyway is a major north-south route for migratory birds and it generally follows the Atlantic Coast of the US.

source: North Dakota Fish & Game Department

I saw and heard many birds while visiting the refuge including a flock of White Ibis feeding in the marsh and tidal flats, a Great Blue Heron fishing with a Snowy Egret walking nearby, American Coots, a molting male Painted Bunting, crows flying overhead, and I swear I heard a pair of Sandhill Cranes calling to one another at Ibis Pond. I could have spent all day watching the comings and goings of the refuge inhabitants let alone do a POTA activation.

White Ibis feeding in the marsh
American Coots at Ibis Pond
White Ibis in the trees at the pond during my activation
Trail into Pinckney Island

However, I was here for POTA and, in short order, arrived at Ibis Pond. It is one of five manmade ponds on the island and exists to preserve feeding and nesting areas for birds. The pond has cattails around its edges and much of the water is covered by duckweed.  I figured I would be less likely to have any human visitors if I followed the trail around the pond to the far side. But I was wrong. Ten to twelve people walked by my station while there, more than I usually encounter at any park. Continue reading The POTA Babe Spreads Her Wings at Pinckney Island →

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

Xiegu X6200: Does version 1.0.1 firmware fix CW keyer timing?

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I’ve had a production unit of the Xiegu X6200 since June of this year and have made several field reports using it for both SSB and CW.

You may have noticed, though, that I haven’t used it much in the field since June.

The reason? I’m primarily a CW operator, and the original firmware had some frustrating CW keyer timing issues.

These keying issues are most noticeable when operating in iambic mode, especially when trying to form letters like C, R, or K by squeezing the paddles. Often, when I try to send a “C,” as in “CQ,” the keyer produces a “B” instead. If you’ve watched any of my previous X6200 videos, you might have seen this happen a few times.

After some time using the radio, I can adapt and reduce the miskeying, but it still happens occasionally. I suspect part of the issue is related to the keyer timing in relation to the transmit/receive switching.

While these keyer issues aren’t severe enough to prevent me from completing an activation, they are certainly annoying.

As I’m reviewing the X6200 (thanks to Radioddity for the extended loan!), I reported the issue to Xiegu back in May and hoped the first firmware update would address it.

The first firmware update, Version 1.0.1, was released in early August. There was an earlier release, but it was retracted due to other issues.

I checked the release notes and didn’t see anything specific about CW keyer timing in the long list of fixes. I had hoped another update would follow soon, but none has been issued yet. Meanwhile, several readers and subscribers have asked me if the keyer issue was resolved.

I decided to update the firmware and take the X6200 out for another field test.

If you follow QRPer.com daily, you may have already seen the spoiler alert: unfortunately, the keyer timing issue was not fixed in this release.

Still, I had a great time squeezing in a quick activation with the X6200, and I thought I’d share the video and a mini field report with you now!

Pisgah National Forest (US-4510)

My wife and I were out while one of our daughters was in Shakespeare rehearsals in Mills River, NC on Friday September 6, 2024. We had a number of errands to run, but my wife kindly worked with me to carve out 30 minutes for a quick activation.

The most convenient POTA location was the Sycamore Flats Picnic Area in Pisgah National Forest.

By mid-afternoon, the park was busy, but most of the picnic areas were open, giving me plenty of options for setting up.

With limited time, I turned on the camera to start my real-time, real-life activation video and got straight to work.

Since the X6200 has a built-in ATU, I decided to use my PackTenna End-Fed Random Wire, as it’s quick to deploy with its 31’ long radiator—any nearby tree would do.

Next, I paired the X6200 with my BaMaKeY TP-III, plugged in the antenna, and found a spot on the band to start operating!

Time to POTA!

Gear

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On The Air

After tuning up on the 20-meter band, I spotted myself and started calling CQ POTA. Fortunately, hunters quickly responded.

In just twelve minutes, I logged thirteen contacts. Thanks to all the hunters!

My activation was brief, and I was so focused on making contacts and packing up that I forgot to take any photos of the radio in action. I’ve included some screen captures from the video instead.

I did manage to take photos of the logs:

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.

CW Keyer Timing

As I discovered during this activation, the CW keyer timing issue has not yet been addressed in the firmware update.

After returning home, I made some notes and reached out to Xiegu to confirm that the CW keyer timing is still on their radar. They assured me that it will be addressed in the next firmware update. I’ll definitely test it and let you know once it’s resolved, so stay tuned!

If you’ve already purchased an X6200, I’d love to hear your thoughts about this all-in-one radio in the comments!

Thank you

Thank you for joining me during this short activation!

I hope you enjoyed the 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 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 makes 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!

Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)

Field Reports, Guest Posts, Morse Code, News, Portable Power, POTA, QRP

When three contacts equals a successful activation

11 Comments

As always there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things! ?

by Vince (VE6LK)

In August and September 2024 I was travelling around Southern Ontario for some family matters and naturally I brought my radio kit with me to squeeze in some radio therapy stops along the way. This is the report of my stop at CA-5367, McQuesten House / Whitehern National Historic Site.

View from the rear of Whitehern showing nearby office tower

This site is located in downtown Hamilton and among the tall building and features a walled rear garden. It is open to all visitors and there is no fee to visit the facility. This two-storey neoclassical house was the home of a prominent family, the McQuestens, and retains many of its original Victorian and Edwardian fittings and furnishings. It is now a museum open to the public.

This activation was strictly by chance and I had less than an hour before I was due to be someplace else. I did not check the solar conditions in advance nor anything about the site. Sometimes just showing up is fun in and of itself, am I right? So I found my way around to the rear garden and found a bench in an out-of-the-way corner and set up for a low impact activation.

I deployed my AX1 on it’s small tripod and placed it on the ground and ran out a 20m counterpoise wire beside the walking path. I set myself and the radio gear on a park bench along the path. It truly felt like a small enclave!

After calling for 10 minutes with zero replies I checked the solar conditions and see that a small flare had just hit. That might explain the soft conditions, and combined with the compromised antenna and its close proximity to me. I moved the antenna away from me as far as the feedline would allow. Only then was I able to log just a few contacts and those were hard-fought. Then I ran out of time.

The author in his temporary enclave
A partial log. Contacts were not obtained by calling out, but by hunting others.

List of gear used for these activations:

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Summary

I’ve spoken before about “getting to 10” with a POTA activation. For me, that’s always one of my goals. But it isn’t the only goal. I also enjoy the new scenery, the journey, the research and the challenge. This visit was high on the scenery and the challenge end of the scale for sure.

72 and dit dit,
…Vince

First introduced to the magic of radio by a family member in 1969, Vince has been active in the hobby since 2002. He is an Accredited examiner in Canada and the USA, operates on almost all of the modes, and is continually working on making his CW proficiency suck less. He participates in public service events around Western Canada and is active on the air while glamping, mobile, at home or doing a POTA activation. You can hear him on the Ham Radio Workbench podcast, follow him on Twitter @VE6LK, check out his YouTube channel, and view the projects and articles on his website.