This Thursday July 23 we activated the Otting WMA US-7913. The weather cooperated and was not too hot and the bands were rather active and low noise.
John KB4QXI made 14 Park to Park SSB contacts on 20 meters using his end fed half wave wire rigged as a sloper.
Danny AG4DW used his elevated radial pota performer 17 ft. vertical antenna to make 57 total contacts. He had 55 FT8 and 9 SSB contacts on 40, 80, 17,and 12 meter bands, with dx to Brazil and Canada.
Ed KM6UTC set up his backseat shack and used his ATAS 120 A antenna to make 79 total FT8 contacts. He worked 40, 30, 17, 15 and 6 meter bands and had 13 contacts on 6 meters (and the 6m band was supposed to be dead) He had DX to Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.
Allen KN4FKS had 65 total SSB QSO's with 26 P2P contacts and DX to Canada (5) Puerto Rico, and the Cayman Islands. He used his 17 ft vertical with the faraday cloth radials
In other POTA news Ed got his POTA KILO award for making 1000 activator contacts from the Trail of Tears US-3791. Way to go Ed ! Danny AG4DW on his third try actually found the Dekalb County State Public Fishing Area US 13340 open for visitors. He made 32 contacts all SSB on 20 meters with 25 P2P. One P2P contact had two operators and was a "five fer" site as well He also had DX to France and Canada.
Just as a side note would you know what to do if on the way to a POTA activation site you came across an elderly man laying in the grass on the side of the road? Just such a similar thing occurred Tuesday evening. The Walker County Cave Cliff team was gathering for a training session on the South Brow Road on top of Pigeon Mountain. The first team member headed down the road came across the man in the grass. Stopping she rendered aid to him and was quickly joined by other team members, The 81 year old man had been reported missing Sunday evening in Lafayette. He had left home in a white Honda sedan. It was not anywhere near him. I quick call to Walker 911 got an officer to come and take him home. The elderly man advised his vehicle was stuck on a road somewhere. He did not know where. He was taken home and the family was glad to have him back. The vehicle was located by an equestrian group on a trail deep in the woods the next day. He had driven the sedan over a berm adjacent to the gate where we often set for POTA on South brow road. The DNR folks were able to get the vehicle out of the woods successfully. Would you have water, electrolyte drink with you to give someone in need? Would you know how to describe to the 911 dispatcher where you actually were located? The nearest address in their computer system was over 5 miles away. Could you decide whether an ambulance was needed? What if you had no cell service to call 911. Could you relay the needed information via Ham radio to the dispatcher? What if you were the Ham sitting at home and heard the emergency traffic call on the local repeater. Would you know who to call and what information is needed?
Stay safe POTA friends, remember look up before you set up. Hazards come in many shapes and sizes.
