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| 3,666 files in 48 albums and 10 categories with 0 comments viewed 461,925 times |
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87 viewsWhat an adventure. After a rendezvous in Scottsboro AL the POTA crew headed out in four vehicles to the Fern Cave National Wildlife Refuge K-0140. After a few highway miles we turned onto a county paved road and went to its end where we came to the first of four locked gates. Thanks to the Southeast Cave Conservancy Inc. for giving us permission to access their property which adjoins the NWR property. The road is 3.8 miles to our activation site and gets worse the further along we get. There are mudholes, rocky ledges, and gooey slick mud. Luckily no one got stuck or broke anything. Arriving at the end of the road we get turned around and begin unloading our gear. We walk a few steps and cross onto the NWR property where we set up four stations.
We made a total of 129 contacts. When we first got on the air we all were making contacts quickly then it was like you turned out the lights. Till we took a break for lunch getting contacts got harder and harder. The solar storm had hit hard. So then at lunch we start hearing thunder in the distance, A quick look at the weather radar reveals we are in the path of a line of thunderstorms. Radio gear and the 4x4 road we must take out do not react well to heavy rain. After we enjoyed Karen's blueberry "POTA PIE" we pack up everything and head out back to pavement, opening and closing all the gates as we go. Back on the pavement the vehicles are muddy to the windows and mud falls off the undercarriages. Luckily we outran the storms all the way home. The radar images later showed this big red blob passed directly over where we were activating. At a similar cave road location about 20 miles north a group found their access road flooded and several of their vehicles will have to be left on high ground for days till it quits raining. The vehicles that did get out had water over their headlights. The road we used only floods and traps vehicles after multiple heavy rains flood the valley. It has happened in the past but not for us this time.
Fern Cave NWR K-0140 was first activated by our crew in Nov. 2020. There have been 4 other small activations since then then our recent activation. Our group in two activations is responsible for 80% of the 487 total contacts made from this site. The other activators have accessed via canoe down the Paint Rock River. The 190 acre refuge is totally landlocked with no public access point. It is simply there to protect a cave where endangered bats live.
A mini DXpedition it was, with problems to be overcome, logistics to be planned and permissions obtained. This crew of experienced POTA operators had a successful POTA activation.
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1 viewsThis Thursday July 31 we activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn WMA US-3742 from the South Brow site. The bands were up and down crazy so short contacts were the necessity. The terrestrial weather cooperated till after lunch when a big thunderstorm moved in from the north and cut things short.
Allen KN4FKS had 48 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 16 Park to Park contacts. The early stoppage saw him stop 11 contacts shy of reaching the triple Kilo mark for this park. Bummer but that will be remedied soon!
Danny AG4DW made 41 contacts, 17 SSB on 40 meters 1 on 6 meters and 1 on 1.25 meters He also made 7 FT8 contacts before the storm came.
John KB4QXI made 17 contacts with 6 P2P with one P2P contact in Canada.
Dan K2DTS made 13 contacts on Pigeon then made 14 more at the Battlefield in spite of the static crashes on the way home.
Fun day in the big woods!Aug 01, 2025
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0 viewsThis Thursday July 31 we activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn WMA US-3742 from the South Brow site. The bands were up and down crazy so short contacts were the necessity. The terrestrial weather cooperated till after lunch when a big thunderstorm moved in from the north and cut things short.
Allen KN4FKS had 48 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 16 Park to Park contacts. The early stoppage saw him stop 11 contacts shy of reaching the triple Kilo mark for this park. Bummer but that will be remedied soon!
Danny AG4DW made 41 contacts, 17 SSB on 40 meters 1 on 6 meters and 1 on 1.25 meters He also made 7 FT8 contacts before the storm came.
John KB4QXI made 17 contacts with 6 P2P with one P2P contact in Canada.
Dan K2DTS made 13 contacts on Pigeon then made 14 more at the Battlefield in spite of the static crashes on the way home.
Fun day in the big woods!Aug 01, 2025
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0 viewsThis Thursday July 31 we activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn WMA US-3742 from the South Brow site. The bands were up and down crazy so short contacts were the necessity. The terrestrial weather cooperated till after lunch when a big thunderstorm moved in from the north and cut things short.
Allen KN4FKS had 48 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 16 Park to Park contacts. The early stoppage saw him stop 11 contacts shy of reaching the triple Kilo mark for this park. Bummer but that will be remedied soon!
Danny AG4DW made 41 contacts, 17 SSB on 40 meters 1 on 6 meters and 1 on 1.25 meters He also made 7 FT8 contacts before the storm came.
John KB4QXI made 17 contacts with 6 P2P with one P2P contact in Canada.
Dan K2DTS made 13 contacts on Pigeon then made 14 more at the Battlefield in spite of the static crashes on the way home.
Fun day in the big woods!Aug 01, 2025
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1 viewsThis past Thursday July 17 2025 we activated Cloudland Canyon SP US-2169 from the main park site up at the disc golf course.
The weather cooperated with no rain or lightning. However the bands were a bit on the disturbed side. The ionosphere instead of being a nice smooth lake surface acted like there was a small craft advisory out there in space. Contacts would fade mid sentence or come booming in from odd places.
On the day Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft Chameleon vertical with eight radials and had 46 contacts with 10 Park to Park contacts and 3 Canadians all on 20 meters SSB. Danny AG4DW had 92 contacts using his POTA performer vertical antenna. He had 2 SSB on 20 meters then went to FT8 on 40 meters and made 49 contacts then went to 17 meters FT8 and made 41 more. John KB4QXI used his hamstick on top of the car and made 38 SSB contacts on 20 meters.. He had 14 P2P's and 1 air mobile contact. An airplane at 40,000 feet altitude over central TN made contact as well. Talk about antenna height !
Other folks were active as well on other days during the week. Allen activated on Wednesday, Dan also as well on Wednesday , Danny activated on Friday.
Remember the upcoming Saturday activation on the 26th and see you on the radio.Jul 22, 2025
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0 viewsThis past Thursday July 17 2025 we activated Cloudland Canyon SP US-2169 from the main park site up at the disc golf course.
The weather cooperated with no rain or lightning. However the bands were a bit on the disturbed side. The ionosphere instead of being a nice smooth lake surface acted like there was a small craft advisory out there in space. Contacts would fade mid sentence or come booming in from odd places.
On the day Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft Chameleon vertical with eight radials and had 46 contacts with 10 Park to Park contacts and 3 Canadians all on 20 meters SSB. Danny AG4DW had 92 contacts using his POTA performer vertical antenna. He had 2 SSB on 20 meters then went to FT8 on 40 meters and made 49 contacts then went to 17 meters FT8 and made 41 more. John KB4QXI used his hamstick on top of the car and made 38 SSB contacts on 20 meters.. He had 14 P2P's and 1 air mobile contact. An airplane at 40,000 feet altitude over central TN made contact as well. Talk about antenna height !
Other folks were active as well on other days during the week. Allen activated on Wednesday, Dan also as well on Wednesday , Danny activated on Friday.
Remember the upcoming Saturday activation on the 26th and see you on the radio.Jul 22, 2025
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0 viewsThis past Thursday July 17 2025 we activated Cloudland Canyon SP US-2169 from the main park site up at the disc golf course.
The weather cooperated with no rain or lightning. However the bands were a bit on the disturbed side. The ionosphere instead of being a nice smooth lake surface acted like there was a small craft advisory out there in space. Contacts would fade mid sentence or come booming in from odd places.
On the day Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft Chameleon vertical with eight radials and had 46 contacts with 10 Park to Park contacts and 3 Canadians all on 20 meters SSB. Danny AG4DW had 92 contacts using his POTA performer vertical antenna. He had 2 SSB on 20 meters then went to FT8 on 40 meters and made 49 contacts then went to 17 meters FT8 and made 41 more. John KB4QXI used his hamstick on top of the car and made 38 SSB contacts on 20 meters.. He had 14 P2P's and 1 air mobile contact. An airplane at 40,000 feet altitude over central TN made contact as well. Talk about antenna height !
Other folks were active as well on other days during the week. Allen activated on Wednesday, Dan also as well on Wednesday , Danny activated on Friday.
Remember the upcoming Saturday activation on the 26th and see you on the radio.Jul 22, 2025
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0 viewsThe plan is to hold a Saturday POTA activation so folks can attend and see what it is all about.
Saturday July 26 we will activate Cloudland Canyon State Park from three different sites. This is to spread the transmitters out to prevent interference and to allow for the most activity on active bands.
We'll be at the Nickajack Trailhead site, The Ascalon Trailhead site, and the main park location at the Disc Golf course/ picnic shelter 5 site. As usual we'll start at 10 am and end up around 2:30 or so to avoid the afternoon storms. The goal for this day is to give as many people possible the opportunity to see how we set up, what equipment we use and sit down at a station and get into a POTA activation first hand.
Spread the word beyond this list, mention it on various nets, email / message everyone you know.
We will coordinate closer to the event day who among the active group will be at which site.
Jul 22, 2025
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30 viewsJul 12, 2025
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