Tag Archives: VK3IL Pressure Paddle

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

The POTA Babe Embarks on an Overnighter

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by Teri (KO4WFP)

It is summer break and I’m getting stir crazy. Earlier this year, I scheduled an overnight trip to Reed Bingham State Park. However, given the chaos of my personal life, it was necessary to reschedule the trip. The earliest weekend available was Sunday, June 2nd.  My son would be out of school for summer break and riding lessons would move to weekdays.

Sunday rolled around and this POTA Babe was ready to hit the road again. Out came the camping gear with a few tweaks. I ditched the DEET insect repellant replacing it with a 20% picaridin spray and added a Thermacell unit. I purchased a hitch system for Daisy as well as a harness to replace her collar. The North Face sleeping bag would stay home and, in its place, I’d use a Sea-to-Summit bag liner for the warmer night temperatures.

Gear – camping, ham radio, video
Food for the trip

With my gear loaded, Daisy and I hit the road a little after 8 AM. Before arriving at Reed Bingham State Park, I planned an activation at Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area (US-3737). (Yes, I should just become the poster child for wildlife management areas as they’ve become my favorite place to activate in Georgia!)

The drive through rural Georgia was a pleasant one.

source: Google Maps

We passed through towns familiar to us (Pembroke, Claxton – the fruitcake capital of the world, and Reidsville) as well as new places like Daisy, Georgia. It was a pleasant trip and before I knew it, there we were, crossing the Altamaha River a stone’s throw from Bullard Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA).

Actually, Apple Maps routed me to Bullard Creek itself and not the WMA. After a little sleuthing, we were headed in the correct direction and accessed the WMA via a back route. (I knew we were in the right place when I began seeing WMA boundary signs!)

Bullard Creek WMA consists of over 17,000 acres in two tracts along the Altamaha River. One can hunt as well as fish, view wildlife, and use the public shooting range. This WMA was among one of the nicer properties I visited so far.

Shooting range on site

Not far after entering the WMA, I found a clearing off the main road and decided to set up there. Present in the clearing were pine trees with branches low enough to reach with my arbor line. (I knew the WMAs allow wire antennas and figured Reed Bingham would as well so I left the Chelegance MC-750 at home.)

After donning my blaze orange vest and hat, I had the Tufteln EFRW in the tree, the coax attached, and was settled to begin.

The road beyond our clearing for the activation
Pines with lower branches
Daisy’s checks out the surrounding woods

Two things happened in short order. (Remember, ALWAYS expect the unexpected with POTA.) I couldn’t access the POTA site to spot myself due to variable cell service. My partner Glenn W4YES came to the rescue and spotted me on 30 meters. I worked a few callers and then…the sun came out. Literally. Continue reading The POTA Babe Embarks on an Overnighter →

Accessories, How To, Kits, News, Videos

Build Your Own VK3IL Pressure Paddle: Alan’s (W2AEW) Step-by-Step Video Tutorial

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Our good friend Alan (W2AEW) has just posted a video on his excellent YouTube channel showing how to build the VK3IL pressure paddle. He also explains how the key works using the schematic and gives tips for working with the surface mount components.

This paddle is an exceptional key and quite inexpensive to build!

Click here to watch on Alan’s YouTube channel.

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

A Pretty Picnic for the POTA Babe

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by Teri (KO4WFP)

Those of you who follow my articles know I generally activate in the morning. However, as school just let out for my son, we’ve transitioned to a summer schedule and that means horseback riding lessons are now in the morning. With my afternoons uncommitted, I’d like to give hunters who may miss me in the morning an opportunity to hunt me  by activating later in the day.

Wednesday, May 22nd, I resumed my 60 new-to-me park activation goal as well as the pursuit of the WMAs near the Altamaha River by heading to Clayhole Swamp WMA (US-3740). Clayhole Swamp WMA is a 8,500 plus acre property along the south side of the Atlamaha River.

I arrived at the property around 3 PM and began looking for an activation site. I first thought to activate near the river as Glenn W4YES and I did at Sansavilla. However, I didn’t have time to drive all over the park as I wanted to be on the air at 4 PM. An hour sounds like gracious plenty of time but when you are driving up and down dirt roads in an unfamiliar area, it isn’t.

entrance road
the woods along the entrance road

The road into the property (as you saw in a photo above) is well-packed and maintained. However, as you drive further into the WMA, other roads are less so. I found Lemmond Road and gave it a go. Given the recent rain, it was a bit on the boggy (but no less fun) side.

Eventually, it became two ruts in the forest and I appeared no closer to finding the river. Also, a multitude of flies swarmed all around the car. At this point, despite having fun mud-bogging on the road in my Subaru Crosstrek “Kai,” it was time to turn around and find a less buggy and muddy QTH.

Source: Georgia DNR – map of Clayhole Swamp WMA
mud-boggin’ road!
Kai needs a bath now

I retraced my path to the entrance and a little past the entrance into the WMA found a clearing off to the right. The terrain was such I could drive the car just a little way in and set up my station.

There were trees all along the side of the clearing. I donned my blaze orange vest and hat and pulled out my arbor line and weight. Amazingly, it took just one toss to get a line up and in no time, my EFRW was hoisted and ready. I oriented it southeast hoping to get good coverage to the west but also the northeast which turned out to be the case.

my antenna “mast” choices
arbor line high up in tree
feed-end out in clearing
Antenna orientation

The site I chose was shady so despite the afternoon temperature being in the 80s, Daisy and I were cool. I also brought along her cooling vest from Ruffwear. You wet the vest and put it on the dog. The evaporative cooling it provides can lower the temperature for the dog by 3-4 degrees. It worked. She didn’t pant at all during the activation while wearing the vest. This piece of equipment will come in handy for POTA in the summer.

Wx in Savannah before heading to WMA
Daisy’s cooling vest

I began with 30 meters, logging 4 contacts before moving to 20 meters. Twenty meters gave me 11 contacts, including a park-to-park (P2P) QSO with John W4ER at US-3691 in Alabama. Continue reading A Pretty Picnic for the POTA Babe →

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

A Glancing Blow for the POTA Babe

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by Teri (KO4WFP)

by (Wednesday, May 15th, Glenn W4YES and I decided to activate a new park for me – Sansavilla Wildlife Management Area (US-3773), a wildlife management area (WMA) along the Altamaha River next door to my last activation – Penholoway Swamp WMA.

Google maps

We arrived at a decent hour (9 AM) and ahead of schedule. The entrance is off Highway 25 and across the railroad tracks. After passing a church, the road changes from pavement to dirt and the fun begins!

Sansavilla WMA Map – source: Georgia Dept. of Natural Resources
Morning band conditions. source: https://hamradiofornontechies.com/current-ham-radio-conditions/

We drove down what is Sansavilla Road almost until it dead-ends as I hoped to set up close to the Altamaha River. However, along this road ran a good set of power lines. Given I would run QRP, it was time for Plan B.

Road into the WMA
power lines running along Sansavilla Road

We backtracked, took a right onto River Road and then a right toward the river. This road dead-ends at a public boat landing inside the WMA. There is a pavilion with concrete benches and tables. A short distance beyond the pavilion is the landing to which we drove for a quick view of the river whose current moved at a rapid pace.

route to boat landing
credit: Glenn W4YES
boat landing. credit: Glenn W4YES
Altamaha River

Glenn joined me this activation and, given the last experience, we made some changes to his set-up. Instead of using my Yaesu FT-891, he brought the Yaesu FT-991A in his possession with which he familiarized himself over the past week. He dialed the power down from 75 to 5 watts. (Yes, he’d be working QRP!) He also switched antennas from the Pacific Antenna 2040 trap dipole to the Chelegance MC-750, hoping the set up would be easier and give him the flexibility of changing bands. Continue reading A Glancing Blow for the POTA Babe →

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

Golden Hour QRP POTA Activation with the REZ Ranger 80 Portable Vertical Antenna

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On Sunday, August 20, 2023, en route to check in with my parents, I popped by Lake James State Park for a little early evening POTA fun.

In the car, I’d pack the Elecraft KX2 kit and I still had the REZ Ranger 80 vertical antenna system on loan from REZ Antennas (it’s since been returned to them).

The last time I deployed the REZ was on Mount Mitchell in some pretty sketchy weather.  While I recorded a couple of short videos, I didn’t record a full activation video since we were having a family picnic that day.

Before sending the Ranger 80 back, I wanted to fit in a proper activation showing how I deploy the antenna, how I tuned it for the first time, and how it might perform on the 40 meter band.

Lake James State Park (K-2739)

It was golden hour at Lake James and the park was bustling with activity. There were kids running around, parents chasing them, and several families cooking out at the numerous picnic sites.

I sought out a location that was private and quiet mainly because the Ranger 80 antenna has four 31 foot radials, thus a large footprint; I didn’t want children, pets, or anyone tripping on the ground radials.

Fortunately, one of my favorite spots overlooking the lake was free, so I could simply set the Ranger 80 up in the woods where folks weren’t walking.

The Ranger 80 is super easy to deploy: simply extend the vertical, attach it to the top of the base, then attach the stainless spike to the base and plunge the entire thing into the ground. Next, you deploy the four radials and connect it to the base of the antenna.

It only takes a couple of minutes especially since the counterpoises are wound using the over-under method. I simply tossed each line into the woods and didn’t worry if they were all lying perfectly on the ground.

Note to REZ: Consider offering optional high-visibility counterpoise wires–for those of us setting up in busy parks, it would make the ground radials more conspicuous to passersby.

Next, I needed to tune the Ranger 80 for the forty meter band.

Typically, when I use a sliding-tap tuning coil style antenna like this one, I turn on the radio and move the coil until I hear an audio peak, then I fine tune it by sending a “dit” on the radio, checking the SWR, and adjusting the coil slider.

That evening, though, I had my RigExpert AA-35 Zoom antenna analyzer so I set it to continuous SWR monitoring and adjusted the coil until I achieved a good match. Easy.

I should add here that when you use an antenna like this frequently, you learn where the best tap points are on the coil thus tuning becomes easier. My friend Alan (W2AEW) actually made a PVC rig for his coil antenna (click here to check it out).

With the antenna all set up and ready to rock-and-roll, I simply hooked up the Elecraft KX2, my VK3IL pressure paddles, and prepared the logs.

It was time to play radio! Continue reading Golden Hour QRP POTA Activation with the REZ Ranger 80 Portable Vertical Antenna →

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

K3ES: Activating Allegheny National Forest with Friends

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

Green trees and blue sky in Allegheny National Forest, K-0619, makes a perfect backdrop for a POTA activation.

Activating Allegheny National Forest with Friends

by Brian (K3ES)

An Opportunity

I will confess.  It has been a couple of weeks since I activated a park.  With some much needed days of rain, and an otherwise busy schedule, things have conspired against me.  So, when a bright, sunny day, without other pressing commitments came along, I jumped at the opportunity!

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday, July 5 was my time to head to the woods for a few hours.  I decided to stay close to home to minimize travel time.  In fact, a 10 minute walk up the road from my house gets me to a small piece of K-0619, Allegheny National Forest.  I took my lightest kit, added a camping chair and water bottle as creature comforts, and slung it all over my shoulder for the trip to a favorite operating location.

Once there, I got out my throw line to get the antenna set up, but things did not quite work as planned.  My toss sailed high, really high.  So high, in fact, that the line was not long enough for the weight to return to the ground without taking the small storage bag for my arborist kit up in the air.  Hmm…  I tried some different fixes, including tying additional cordage to the storage bag and letting it rise into the air while the weight descended.  Not sufficient.

Finally, I untied the tail end of the throw line from the storage bag (it normally stays tied, just in case the throw finds a branch that is a little high…), and let the weight drop.  Then I had to coil the line up again for another throw.  Fortunately, my second toss found a workable branch, and I got my antenna in the air.  For this activation, I used a Packtenna 9:1 with a 71 ft radiating wire set up as an inverted V.  Next, it was time to get my station set up, prepare my log, and start operating.

My operating station at K-0619, a clipboard with KX2, log book, pencil, and VK2IL pressure paddles balance on my knee.

Activation

The solar forecast predicted best propagation on higher bands, so I decided to start my 5 watt CW activation on 15m.  After 10 minutes of calling CQ POTA, with neither a response, nor an RBN spot, I moved to 17m.  Once again, nothing, so I moved to 30m, where the RBN picked up my call, but it still took more than 20 minutes to log 2 contacts.

When activating on Wednesday afternoons, I try to stay away from the 20 and 40m bands, because CW frequencies fill up quickly when the CWT sprint starts at 1900z, but with just over 20 minutes until before the CWT started, I decided to see if I could pick up enough contacts on 40m to validate the activation.  The 40m band has always been good to me.  Even with the solar forecast predicting disaster, it still proved to be productive.  I had 12 additional contacts in the log by 1859z, giving me more than enough to validate the activation.

A bit of the view from my shack.  Area deer came from my left and from behind.  They did not hesitate to share their displeasure about finding me there.

While logging those contacts on 40m, which kept me focused and busy, I became the subject of some animated discussion among the local residents.  I did not have time to do more than listen and glance, but I heard numerous snorts, and saw a few white tails raised in alarm.  Several of the local deer were not pleased that I was intruding in their domain.  Even so, I had a bit more time available, and decided to press on.  Continue reading K3ES: Activating Allegheny National Forest with Friends →

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

Picnic Blanket POTA on a beautiful spring day at South Mountains State Park

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Monday, April 10, 2023, was a spectacular day weather-wise. Spring was out in all its glory making it impossible to stay indoors.

That day, I was driving back to the QTH and made a little detour to the Clear Creek Access of South Mountains State Park.

According to my calculations, I had about one hour to play radio. I did have a firm deadline to hop off the air because I needed to take my daughter to a tennis lesson that afternoon. Couldn’t be late to that!

South Mountains State Park (K-2753)

As I pulled into the Clear Creek Access parking area, I noticed a family of five grabbing picnic supplies from their car.

For the first time ever, there was going to be competition for the one single picnic table at the Clear Creek access!

Actually, there would be no competition at all because there was no way in the world I’d ever take over the picnic table when a family could use it. 🙂

They had a much better reason to use a picnic table than me. Frankly, I was super pleased to see someone else besides a POTA activator using that table. I get a real thrill out of seeing families enjoying our public lands.

Plus, I don’t need a table to play POTA so it was a brilliant excuse to pull the picnic blanket out of the car and set up under a beautiful antenna support…I mean, tree.

For this activation, I decided to use my Penntek TR-45L and, for an antenna, two 28 foot lengths of wire.

Continue reading Picnic Blanket POTA on a beautiful spring day at South Mountains State Park →

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

Postcard Field Report: Cheap POTA thrills with the TEN-TEC R4020 and Chelegance MC-750

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Welcome to another Postcard Field Report!

My Postcard Field Reports are information-packed, just slightly more concise and distilled than my average field report so that I can publish them on a busy day.

T-T R4020

One of the least expensive radios I’ve ever purchased is my TEN-TEC R42020 two-band CW only radio. I believe I paid $120 for it (shipped!) a couple years ago and it sat on my shelf unnoticed for months until I took it on a POTA activation last year.

Here’s the admission:  I really love this little radio!

It is not a feature-rich radio, and the sidetone sounds like a 1080s handheld arcade game, but it works a charm! The receiver and audio are fantastic and it sports two of my most useful POTA/SOTA bands: 40 and 20 meters.

What’s not to love?

POTA time!

I had an early morning doctor’s appointment on Thursday, February 23, 2023. As a little reward  for doing my annual physical I decided to add a POTA activation to my morning. This was a last minute decision, so only a couple minutes before leaving the house that morning, I grabbed my TEN-TEC R4020, the Chelegance MC-750, and my Spec Ops Backpack (filled with all other field accessories), and I hit the road!

I chose the MC-750 that day because I needed an antenna that could be configured to be resonant on 40 meters since the R4020 has no internal ATU. That and I couldn’t remember if I’ve configured the MC-750 for 40 meters in the past. I know I’ve deployed the MC-750 with the 40M coil, but I think I may have used an ATU to match it.

I arrived at the Blue Ridge Parkway (K-3378 NC) mid-morning and set up in very short order. Continue reading Postcard Field Report: Cheap POTA thrills with the TEN-TEC R4020 and Chelegance MC-750 →

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

Giving the Xiegu G106 a thorough workout at Fort Dobbs!

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On Thursday, February 9, 2023, a rare opportunity opened up for me: a 3.5 hour activation window–!

I was visiting and helping my parents in Catawba County, NC, so considered the park options, almost all of which are within a 35-45 minute drive.

I thought about fitting in two shorter park activations that day, but it has been so long since I’ve had the opportunity to simply hang at one park and play radio for more than an hour, I chose the extended activation option.

Although the forecast was for clear skies that day, a front was moving through that afternoon and the skies were overcast with gusty winds. I could tell rain was a very real possibility, so I chose a site with a picnic shelter to make things a bit easier.

Fort Dobbs State Historic Site (K-6839)

Fort Dobbs was a no-brainer: not only was it the closest park (thus less travel time eating into my on-air time), but the staff there are very POTA-friendly, the site is quiet, and they have an excellent shelter that I suspected (due to the dodgy weather) would be unoccupied.

When I arrived on-site, I checked in at the visitor’s center to make sure the picnic shelter hadn’t been reserved. Fortunately, they said I could have the shelter all to myself!

I had a number of radios in my car and decided en route that I would use the Xiegu G106 once again.

I packed the G106 in a waterproof Husky radio gear box I keep in my car trunk/boot. I grabbed it and my Spec-Ops EDC pack and carried it to the picnic shelter.

My plan was to pair the G106 with MW0SAW’s 40 meter EFHW antenna.

This would give me two resonant bands (40 and 20 meters) so there’d be no need to connect an external ATU. Continue reading Giving the Xiegu G106 a thorough workout at Fort Dobbs! →

Field Reports, News, Portable, POTA, QRP

Speedy POTA: An impromptu post-hike activation with the Elecraft KX2 and AX1

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On Friday, January 27, 2023, I dropped off one of my daughters at the library for a creative writing session.

Hazel was along for the ride, so we decided to hike on the nearby Mountains To Sea Trail (MST) while my daughter was in the meeting.

During the hike, I realized that I should have taken my field radio pack along because it would have been so easy to activate both the MST and Blue Ridge Parkway as a two-fer.

Instead, Hazel and I enjoyed our hike and got back to the car with about 35 minutes or so to do an activation–including set-up, on-air time, and pack-up.  That would leave me just enough time to pick up my daughter at the library before they closed for the day.

Challenge accepted!

Because I had been using the Elecraft KX2 and AX1 recently, I had both packed in my Spec-Ops EDC backpack.  In theory–even filming a video at the same time–I knew I could probably fit in a whole activation with 25 minutes on the air. I only needed 10 contacts, and I’ve never been in a situation where the AX1 couldn’t achieve that goal.

Hazel and I grabbed my bag from the car, I started recording a video, and we made out way to the nearest picnic table at the Blue Ridge Parkway HQ parking lot! Continue reading Speedy POTA: An impromptu post-hike activation with the Elecraft KX2 and AX1 →