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 Random files - Parks on the Air |
463 viewsIt has been a busy POTA week.
The week started with John KB4QXI activating Chattahoochee Bend State Park US-2168 on Sunday. He made 34 contacts with 7 P2P and 3 DX contacts.
Then on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS activated J. Sloppy Floyd State Park US-2187. He made 97 contacts with 41 P2P and 12 DX contacts.
On Wednesday John KB4QXI and Danny AG4DW activated the Zahnd WMA US-7903. John made 33 Contacts with 15 P2P and2 DX. Danny made 17 contacts with 1 DX contact.
On Thursday the crew gathered at Cloudland Canyon State Park, Nick A Jack trailhead to activate US-2169. Allen KN4FKS operated mostly on 40 meters SSB and made 64 contacts with 16 P2P on a total of seven bands, 40,15, 80, 6. 2, 1.25, 70cm.
Dan K2DTS made 15 contacts with all of them being P2P contacts. John KB4QXI made a total of 113 contacts, 10 on 15m SSB and the rest on 20m SSB. He had 30 P2P contacts and 6 DX. Danny AG4DW had 50 contacts, 10 SSB and the rest FT8 with 11 DX contacts. Danny also participated in the multi band effort. He is leading the pack in the POTA N1CC award ( N1CC is making contacts on ten bands in ten different parks )
Lots of peanut butter and jelly was consumed and all had a fun time on difficult bands this week.
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477 viewsKN4FKS, Allan - POTA, Sloppy Floyd Lake 5-13-2020
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395 viewsPOTA - 20021027 - What a great activation! Ham radio, picnic, friends, and sunset, nothing better.
Allen KN4FKS was on 17 meters SSB and had 36 contacts with 4P2P, and 4DX. John KB4QXI had quite a run on 40 meters with 102 contacts and 8 P2P. He was still busy when he went QRT for supper. Peter KX4BE was on 20 meters CW and had 68 contacts, 4 P2P, and 3 DX. Karen KX4KM had 31 contacts on 20 meter SSB with 8 P2P. Ed KM6UTC worked digital QRP on 30 meters and had 19 contacts with 1 P2P and 1 DX
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72 viewsWe activated Berry College WMA US-3734 this Thursday Nov. 20, The grassy camping area was open and allowed us plenty of room to set up. The morning fog finally lifted and it turned into a wonderful day. The space weather cooperated as well with good band conditions from 40 to 10.
Allen KN4FKS made a total of 88 SSB contacts, 66 on 20 meters, 18 on 17 meters, and 5 on 12 meters with 27 Park to Park contacts. Just 2 DX to France and Bermuda.
John KB4QXI made 35 SSB contacts on 40 meters with 4 P2P and no DX.
Felton AF4DN joined us for the day and made 49 FT8 contacts, 10 on 10 meters, 9 on 17 meters, and 30 on 20 meters with 2 P2P contacts. He had DX to Germany, Poland, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Columbia, and the Balearic Islands. On the way home he stopped at Arrowhead WMA US-7897 to activate there as a new park for him. He made 22 FT8 contacts there.
Danny AG4DW was "challenged" for the day and decided to stop at Sloppy Floyd State Park US-2187 to be "close to a bathroom" In spite of that issue he had a successful day making a total of 212 Contacts, 61 FT8 and 151 SSB. Wow! On Tuesday Danny also activated Sloppy Floyd SP making 102 SSB contacts that day. I think he must be closing in on a KILO award for that park.
This coming week is Thanksgiving so our normal Thursday activation is on hold. I think if we played radio all that day there would be several new SK's. So see you in December.
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333 viewsThis Thursday August 7 we activated Crockford Pigeon Mountain WMA US-3742 from the Estelle Mine Road site.
Allen KN4FKS put up his 25 ft. vertical with 8 radials and made 36 SSB contacts with 26 P2P on 20 and 17 meters with 2 contacts on 40.
Dave KQ4GLQ made 26 SSB contacts with 6 P2P on 20 meters using his 17 ft. vertical with 3 radials. His activation was cut short by a call to work, Bummer how that happens.
John KB4QXI after having tire issues made 10 SSB contacts with 3 P2P on 20 meters with his roof mounted HamStick.
Dan K2DTS elected to stay closer to home and activated the Battlefield US-0716 where he made 15 contacts using his vehicle mounted stick antenna.
Danny AG4DW was enjoying the world's longest yard sale with his wife so he did not attend.
Earlier in the week there were some KILOs to be finished. On Tuesday Danny AG4DW activated the Battlefield US-0716 with 84 contacts on 20 and 40 meters. 51 were SSB and 33 FT8 with 4 DX two Canadians one to Spain and one to the Dominican Republic. He made and passed his TWO KILO mark for this park. When you get close to the goals POTA has such as the KILO award it gnaws at you till you get it done, especially if you are very close. Allen KN4FKS was 9 contacts shy of a triple KILO on Pigeon Mtn. US-3742. So on Saturday he set up on Blue Hole road and made a quick 20 contacts finishing the KILO quest. POTA will capture you so use caution!
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POTA 2022-07-21, Desoto State Park K-1039 in Alabama434 viewsPOTA this week was to Desoto State Park K-1039 in Alabama. We set up in the recently renovated picnic area in the Desoto Falls portion of the park. The falls just below our operating position is right at 100 feet tall. This time of year the water flow is low but it is still impressive. We had many interested park visitors come by and Karen assisted one curious young man in making three contacts around the country. The 40 meter band was hopeless so we took turns on 20 meters.
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442 viewsOn Saturday, while a few were invited to spend time with the Ramblers, another crew of POTA operators went off to the Cherokee National Forest to activate.
This was made possible by a very cordial invitation by the Cleveland Ham Radio group and coordinated by Larry Wallace KN4JUU. Their club has a repeater at the top of Oswald Dome at an elevation of 3000’.
The drive up took us into the clouds/dense fog, where the taillights of the vehicle ahead were barely visible. My Land Rover has rear end fog lights from the factory I thought I’d never use… well they got turned on for this.
The road itself was not as in a poor condition as some may remember when heading to the Bat Cave . But it most certainly was much longer.
We arrived and set up with a variety of different radios and antennas. From that elevation even some 2m DX was easily possible.
The highlight of the day was lunch being cooked by our own Chef Boy R Jeff N2YYP. He had made up some Deer burgers the day before. Dangerous stuff! So good a person wanted to just keep eating them. Fortunately self control managed to prevail. Jeff I believe has been elected as the ‘official cook/chef’ for future adventures. I should mention there were dogs and sausages for those who didn’t want any Bambi. And also , Jeff brought some of his award winning Chow Chow. Stuff goes good on just about everything imo
Anyway, I digress. Activations went very well. What a wonderful locale to activate. Afterwards the fog had burned off, and the trip back down was simply Gorgeous! Vistas popped as we traveled down that were picture card perfect.
If the Cleveland crew ever offer the opportunity to go to their site again, I’d strongly encourage folk to take them up on it
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409 viewsWe had a two site activation on this past Thursday.
In the Morning several folks activated Pigeon Mountain US 37-42 from the Estelle mine road site. Then later another group activated Johns Mountain US-3758 from the overlook site. At the Estelle site Tony WA4TW set up his elevated delta loop antenna and had quite a morning working DX with 17 total contacts with 11 Park to Park contacts. His DX was Ukraine, Norway, Israel, Belarus, and Alaska. Dave KQ4GLQ also worked 10 meters but I don't know his contacts nor did Jeff N2YYP report in his totals.
In the afternoon we activated from the Johns Mtn Overlook. Peter KX4BE set up his absolutely tiny QRP rig. He operated CW and made 11 contacts total with 10 being CW and one SSB . See the photos of this micro rig. He packs it easily into his box on the back of his motorcycle. Allen KN4FKS made 31 SSB contacts with 11 P2P and 3 DX to Romania, Poland and Canada. Tont WA4TW came over to the overlook and worked the spot page for Allen.
The leaves were beautiful, the weather was wonderful and the bands were in great shape. A fun day.
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 Last additions - Parks on the Air |
2 viewsIt was cold outside, but we were warm and toasty inside. This Thursday Jan.15 2026 we activated the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area US-3742 from the check station site on Rocky Lane. It sure is nice to have friends in high places that let us use the check station to do POTA. However setting up antennas was a bit frosty in the 23 degree F air with a 20 Mph wind.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire in a nearby tree and Danny AG4DW set his Pota Performer elevated radial vertical in the side yard. We used some foam pipe insulation pieces to block the wind where we pulled the coax through the slightly open windows. It kept the heat in and the cold wind out.
Allen started on 40 meters and was busy from the start. Later he went to 20 meters and was also busy For the day he had 76 contacts with 15 Park to Park contacts and no DX.
Danny started on 20 meters and made 1 SSB contact then switched to FT8 He made 69 more contacts. He worked digital on 20, 15, and 10 meters. He had 24 DX contacts from all over Europe, the Caribbean, and South America.
We had a few visitors curious about what we were doing so we explained Ham radio and POTA then answered their questions about the area. We always take time away from pileups to meet visitors. Part of the job as POTA ambassadors.
Fun day, great peanut butter and jelly, stayed warm and had great company for the day. Jan 16, 2026
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1 viewsIt was cold outside, but we were warm and toasty inside. This Thursday Jan.15 2026 we activated the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area US-3742 from the check station site on Rocky Lane. It sure is nice to have friends in high places that let us use the check station to do POTA. However setting up antennas was a bit frosty in the 23 degree F air with a 20 Mph wind.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire in a nearby tree and Danny AG4DW set his Pota Performer elevated radial vertical in the side yard. We used some foam pipe insulation pieces to block the wind where we pulled the coax through the slightly open windows. It kept the heat in and the cold wind out.
Allen started on 40 meters and was busy from the start. Later he went to 20 meters and was also busy For the day he had 76 contacts with 15 Park to Park contacts and no DX.
Danny started on 20 meters and made 1 SSB contact then switched to FT8 He made 69 more contacts. He worked digital on 20, 15, and 10 meters. He had 24 DX contacts from all over Europe, the Caribbean, and South America.
We had a few visitors curious about what we were doing so we explained Ham radio and POTA then answered their questions about the area. We always take time away from pileups to meet visitors. Part of the job as POTA ambassadors.
Fun day, great peanut butter and jelly, stayed warm and had great company for the day. Jan 16, 2026
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0 viewsIt was cold outside, but we were warm and toasty inside. This Thursday Jan.15 2026 we activated the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area US-3742 from the check station site on Rocky Lane. It sure is nice to have friends in high places that let us use the check station to do POTA. However setting up antennas was a bit frosty in the 23 degree F air with a 20 Mph wind.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire in a nearby tree and Danny AG4DW set his Pota Performer elevated radial vertical in the side yard. We used some foam pipe insulation pieces to block the wind where we pulled the coax through the slightly open windows. It kept the heat in and the cold wind out.
Allen started on 40 meters and was busy from the start. Later he went to 20 meters and was also busy For the day he had 76 contacts with 15 Park to Park contacts and no DX.
Danny started on 20 meters and made 1 SSB contact then switched to FT8 He made 69 more contacts. He worked digital on 20, 15, and 10 meters. He had 24 DX contacts from all over Europe, the Caribbean, and South America.
We had a few visitors curious about what we were doing so we explained Ham radio and POTA then answered their questions about the area. We always take time away from pileups to meet visitors. Part of the job as POTA ambassadors.
Fun day, great peanut butter and jelly, stayed warm and had great company for the day. Jan 16, 2026
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0 viewsIt was cold outside, but we were warm and toasty inside. This Thursday Jan.15 2026 we activated the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area US-3742 from the check station site on Rocky Lane. It sure is nice to have friends in high places that let us use the check station to do POTA. However setting up antennas was a bit frosty in the 23 degree F air with a 20 Mph wind.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire in a nearby tree and Danny AG4DW set his Pota Performer elevated radial vertical in the side yard. We used some foam pipe insulation pieces to block the wind where we pulled the coax through the slightly open windows. It kept the heat in and the cold wind out.
Allen started on 40 meters and was busy from the start. Later he went to 20 meters and was also busy For the day he had 76 contacts with 15 Park to Park contacts and no DX.
Danny started on 20 meters and made 1 SSB contact then switched to FT8 He made 69 more contacts. He worked digital on 20, 15, and 10 meters. He had 24 DX contacts from all over Europe, the Caribbean, and South America.
We had a few visitors curious about what we were doing so we explained Ham radio and POTA then answered their questions about the area. We always take time away from pileups to meet visitors. Part of the job as POTA ambassadors.
Fun day, great peanut butter and jelly, stayed warm and had great company for the day. Jan 16, 2026
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0 viewsIt was cold outside, but we were warm and toasty inside. This Thursday Jan.15 2026 we activated the Crockford-Pigeon Mountain Wildlife Management Area US-3742 from the check station site on Rocky Lane. It sure is nice to have friends in high places that let us use the check station to do POTA. However setting up antennas was a bit frosty in the 23 degree F air with a 20 Mph wind.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire in a nearby tree and Danny AG4DW set his Pota Performer elevated radial vertical in the side yard. We used some foam pipe insulation pieces to block the wind where we pulled the coax through the slightly open windows. It kept the heat in and the cold wind out.
Allen started on 40 meters and was busy from the start. Later he went to 20 meters and was also busy For the day he had 76 contacts with 15 Park to Park contacts and no DX.
Danny started on 20 meters and made 1 SSB contact then switched to FT8 He made 69 more contacts. He worked digital on 20, 15, and 10 meters. He had 24 DX contacts from all over Europe, the Caribbean, and South America.
We had a few visitors curious about what we were doing so we explained Ham radio and POTA then answered their questions about the area. We always take time away from pileups to meet visitors. Part of the job as POTA ambassadors.
Fun day, great peanut butter and jelly, stayed warm and had great company for the day. Jan 16, 2026
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0 viewsThursday Jan. 8 2026 we activated Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 from the Brotherton Rd. picnic area.
Dan K2DTS set up his vertical and made 14 SSB contacts on 20 meters with all of them being Park to Park contacts. He had 4 to Canada, 1 to California and 1 to Texas.
Tony WA4TW also used his vertical and made 26 contacts with 20 being P2P contacts including two DX P2P's to Canada and Saint Lucia Island.
Allen also set his vertical antenna and made 32 SSB contacts half on 12 meters and half on 40 meters. He had 10 P2P contacts one of which was a DX P2P to Brazil and another to St. Vincent Island. When taking down the antenna he realized that when operating on 40 meters he had left one section of the expandable vertical down so no wonder he had a lot of less than strong signal reports. Hey we all make mistakes. Some of us more than others.
It was a vertical kind of day with all three stations using a vertical antenna. Band Pass filters were a necessity and worked to minimize any cross band problems.
Alan W4PLP stopped by as well as Casey KD4FYY. We had a few curious park visitors and gave out POTA brochures and Ham radio info sheets. We also had a rather unusual fellow sitting at a nearby picnic table when we arrived. Long story but it was a bit spooky to say the least. He soon left after we arrived.
Fun day in the park and had fun on the radio. Jan 10, 2026
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0 viewsThursday Jan. 8 2026 we activated Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 from the Brotherton Rd. picnic area.
Dan K2DTS set up his vertical and made 14 SSB contacts on 20 meters with all of them being Park to Park contacts. He had 4 to Canada, 1 to California and 1 to Texas.
Tony WA4TW also used his vertical and made 26 contacts with 20 being P2P contacts including two DX P2P's to Canada and Saint Lucia Island.
Allen also set his vertical antenna and made 32 SSB contacts half on 12 meters and half on 40 meters. He had 10 P2P contacts one of which was a DX P2P to Brazil and another to St. Vincent Island. When taking down the antenna he realized that when operating on 40 meters he had left one section of the expandable vertical down so no wonder he had a lot of less than strong signal reports. Hey we all make mistakes. Some of us more than others.
It was a vertical kind of day with all three stations using a vertical antenna. Band Pass filters were a necessity and worked to minimize any cross band problems.
Alan W4PLP stopped by as well as Casey KD4FYY. We had a few curious park visitors and gave out POTA brochures and Ham radio info sheets. We also had a rather unusual fellow sitting at a nearby picnic table when we arrived. Long story but it was a bit spooky to say the least. He soon left after we arrived.
Fun day in the park and had fun on the radio. Jan 10, 2026
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0 viewsThursday Jan. 8 2026 we activated Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 from the Brotherton Rd. picnic area.
Dan K2DTS set up his vertical and made 14 SSB contacts on 20 meters with all of them being Park to Park contacts. He had 4 to Canada, 1 to California and 1 to Texas.
Tony WA4TW also used his vertical and made 26 contacts with 20 being P2P contacts including two DX P2P's to Canada and Saint Lucia Island.
Allen also set his vertical antenna and made 32 SSB contacts half on 12 meters and half on 40 meters. He had 10 P2P contacts one of which was a DX P2P to Brazil and another to St. Vincent Island. When taking down the antenna he realized that when operating on 40 meters he had left one section of the expandable vertical down so no wonder he had a lot of less than strong signal reports. Hey we all make mistakes. Some of us more than others.
It was a vertical kind of day with all three stations using a vertical antenna. Band Pass filters were a necessity and worked to minimize any cross band problems.
Alan W4PLP stopped by as well as Casey KD4FYY. We had a few curious park visitors and gave out POTA brochures and Ham radio info sheets. We also had a rather unusual fellow sitting at a nearby picnic table when we arrived. Long story but it was a bit spooky to say the least. He soon left after we arrived.
Fun day in the park and had fun on the radio. Jan 10, 2026
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