|
 Random files - Parks on the Air |
641 viewsPOTA - Johns Mtn WMA - 09-10-2021
|
|
583 viewsThis Wednesday May 1 we activated J. Floyd State Park US-2187. It was a beautiful sunny day down by the lake. However the solar weather was not exactly cooperating and the bands were "wonky". Danny AG4DW had a total of 25 contacts, 15 DX (Panama, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela, Cuba, Denmark Russia, Jamacia, Germany, Belgium, England and Canada). 5 were SSB, 4 were FM VHF/UHF and 16 FT8 digital. John KB4QXI had 12 contacts on 40 and 20 meters. His mobile mount antenna on his truck was not working very well. Allen KN4FKS had 43 contacts on 20 and 40 meters, 17 Park to Park, and 6 DX ( France Puerto Rico, and 4 Canadians. Dan K2DTS had issues with his digital set up and never got it working.
We had visitors, Several park hikers stopped by and were curious about what we were doing. They were impressed by the distance of the contacts using the simple equipment. We also had some local hams drop by Lonnie KK4VDE and Dewayne W4FDT. They both were very experienced POTA operators and have activated many of the parks we often go to. Dewayne also shared with us his experiences on a POTA trip to Alaska a few years ago. Fun bucket list type trip. Great fellowship.
|
|
634 viewsWednesday was a beautiful springlike day in NW Georgia. With that several of us got out and activated a park.
Allen KN4FKS went to Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 at the hilltop site at the main part of the park. Set the wire antenna and cranked up the old Icom 706 MK II G to 100 watts on 15 meters.. First contact was to Moscow and 14 DX calls we made into Europe. In a short activation 60 contacts were made with 9 P2P calls.
John KB4QXI activated Pigeon Mountain US-3742 from the field at the far south end of the area. He made 35 contacts all park to park with 6 on 40 meters and 24 on 20 meters. Allen and John also made a short distance P2P contact on 40 meters. Dan K2DTS activated the Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 and made 12 Park to Park contacts on 20 meters.
Danny AG4DW activated the Chickamauga Battlefield on Thursday. I activated US-0716, Chickamauga Battlefield, today (2/27) from the recreation field just behind Wilder Tower. The weather started out cloudy but started clearing around noon but the temps were pleasant at the picnic tables!
I had a total of 122 QSO’s with 88 SSB and 34 FT8. DX contacts were Canada (3), Dominican Republic and Mexico. All the SSB contacts were on 20 meters except for two on 10 meters. FT8 contacts were about half 20 meters and half 10 meters. There were 16 park-to-park contacts total!
|
|
603 viewsPOTA - 20221110 - We activated Harrison Bay SP Tennessee K-2951 Thursday. Tony WA4TW had 22 contacts on 20 meters with 6 P2P’s. Allen KN4FKS worked 40 meters after lunch with 32 contacts and 2 P2P’s. Ed KM6UTC worked digital on several bands and had 44 contacts with 4 P2P’s. Peter using CW on several bands had 44 contacts with 4 P2P and 8 DX contacts in Europe. Tony and Allen made one contact over a ‘long’ distance. We made contact with a ham across the lake from us on 2m and 40m.
|
|
503 viewsWe activated the Chief Van House State Historical Site US-7457 on Thursday April 4 2024.
The solar wind kept the bands noisy and the terrestrial wind kept the activators chilly. When the clouds came in and covered the sunshine it got downright cold sitting out on a park bench.
Dan K2DTS made 13 SSB contacts on 20 meters, John KB4QXI made 17 contacts on 40 meters with 3 P2P contacts. Allen KN4FKS made 50 contacts on 20 meters with 8 P2P and one DX contact. The DX contact was from the Amazon river basin in the south side of Columbia, truly a ham in the middle of nowhere on the radio.
The Van House has an amazing history and is a very Ham friendly place to activate. The Park manager is a licensed Ham. Do take time to visit the museum and tour the House and outbuildings. If you plan on visiting be aware they are only open Thursday - Saturday 9-5 and Sundays 1-5
|
|
627 viewsPOTA - Pigeon Mtn Wildlife Mgt Area - 4-8-2021, W4TDH
|
|
6 viewsI think Danny AG4DW said it best " we had great weather till we didn't"
This Friday Aug. 7 we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the Nickajack trailhead. At about 1:30 pm we notice the air getting cooler, we hear thunder in the distance and over the treetops see a huge black cloud coming our way. Quickly we went into demobilization mode. It started a light rain as we finished packing up then the bottom fell out, It rained a lot. Oddly as we drove home we drove right out of the storm onto dry pavement. Our luck. However before the storm hit we all had a good day on the radio.
Danny AG4DW set up his 17 ft vertical with elevated radials and made 59 contacts, 44 SSB on 20 meters then 15 FT8 contacts on 17 meters. He had 15 Park to Park contacts as well. It was an odd twenty meter propagation day. The usual contacts weren't there but the entire west coast was there.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed wire half wave and made 36 contacts on 40 meters with 5 P2P contacts. After lunch he turned the rig over to Jonathon AA6H who cranked out 15 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 5 P2P contacts before the storm came.
David WK4DS set up his truck mounted 17 ft vertical and made 17 total contacts on 17,15, and 10 meters, 6 were CW and 11 were FT8 with 1 P2P.
Staying closer to home, Ed KM6UTC activated the Trail of Tears US-3791 at the Browns Ferry Tavern site. He had 60 FT8 QSO's on 6,17, and 20 meters. He had DX contacts in Cuba, France and Canada.
Just a heads up to put on your calendar. The 163rd anniversary of the battle that took place at the site in the Chickamauga Battlefield where we activate often will be on Saturday September 19 2026. We plan to activate that day from the picnic area site where on that day many years ago cannons roared, rifles fired and men died. It is a special hallowed place in our nations history. Plan to come join us on this special day.
|
|
606 viewsOur fearless POTA leader, Allen (KN4FKS) had a last minute change of plans and was not able to make our POTA outing at the hallowed grounds of Chickamauga Battlefield (US-0716) today (4/25).
Nonetheless, several other operators met up at the picnic/recreation area on Brotherton Road to "POTA on". The early birds were Jeff Fitzpatrick (N2YPP) and Ed Dionne (KM6UTC). Jeff was using his FT-891 with a homemade EFHW antenna on 20 meters using SSB. At the end of the day Jeff had 145 total contacts, including 15 park-to-park and 6 DX (Canada).
Ed wound up working FT8 using two different antennas; his trusty loop antenna and a vertical antenna using a Faraday cloth as the counterpoise. In the end he wound up with 70 contacts total, including 21 DX contacts to Germany, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, England, Ukraine, Spain, Czech Republic, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Canada! There were at least 4 park-to-park contacts.
Danny (AG4DW) worked 10 and 15 meters all day using a vertical antenna and wound up with a total of 36 contacts, 24 FT8 and 2 SSB, including 1 park-to-park and 17 European DX contacts, including a new country for him, Lithuania!
Ed Sarnosky (KX4BE) arrived on his motorcycle to provide a semblance of adult supervision and offered advice where needed.
Dan Strickland (K2DTS) arrived late, after a little extra and much needed beauty sleep, and spent most of the day getting his FT8 setup to finally work properly and then did some on-the-job FT8 learning and made a few FT8 contacts.
It was a gorgeous day weather-wise but the bands were a little noisy. Except perhaps 20 meters which Jeff blew out of the water with his 145 contacts! We had fun watching Jeff sweat through some of the pileups but I fear we may have created a POTA monster out of Jeff. Stay tuned to see how it works out!
Great fun, great fellowship and we bounced lots of electrons off the ionosphere.
We also had a couple of park visitors drop by to check out what we were doing! Not a bad POTA activation at all...
|
|
 Last additions - Parks on the Air |
0 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park site.It was a beautiful fall day and the space weather also cooperated.
Just to prove what you can do as a Technician ham Barry W4LKT used his privileges on 10 meter SSB with help of a vertical antenna on loan from Danny AG4DW. His first contact was to South Africa and then followed by 10 more contacts for a quick successful activation.
Danny AG4DW had a total of 45 contacts with 3 Park to Park contacts 15 on 20 and 10 meters then he moved to 30 meters FT8 and made 30 contacts with DX to Canada and Puerto Rico.
Ed KM6UTC cranked out 86 total contacts on 40 meter FT8. He had DX to the Netherlands, France, Canada, Cuba, and Switzerland.
Mica K3WGC had 15 SSB contacts with 14 P2P contacts using his usual drive on 20 ft. mast supporting a twin Hamstick dipole. He had a contact with one of hamdoms YouTube Hams. "The Southern Ham" so maybe Mica will be famous now?
Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft vertical with the Faraday Cloth radials He made 46 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 15 P2P contacts. No DX
Earlier in the week on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS went to the Otting WMA US-7913 to scratch an itch. When a POTA activator gets close to having 1000 contacts from a particular park it becomes an obsession. Tuesday brought Allen within 91 contacts of that POTA KILO award. Success was had by starting on 40 meters then moving to 20 meters. The total was 106 SSB contacts with 24 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. The grand total is now 1013 for Otting contacts. Itch scratched!Oct 26, 2026
|
|
0 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park site.It was a beautiful fall day and the space weather also cooperated.
Just to prove what you can do as a Technician ham Barry W4LKT used his privileges on 10 meter SSB with help of a vertical antenna on loan from Danny AG4DW. His first contact was to South Africa and then followed by 10 more contacts for a quick successful activation.
Danny AG4DW had a total of 45 contacts with 3 Park to Park contacts 15 on 20 and 10 meters then he moved to 30 meters FT8 and made 30 contacts with DX to Canada and Puerto Rico.
Ed KM6UTC cranked out 86 total contacts on 40 meter FT8. He had DX to the Netherlands, France, Canada, Cuba, and Switzerland.
Mica K3WGC had 15 SSB contacts with 14 P2P contacts using his usual drive on 20 ft. mast supporting a twin Hamstick dipole. He had a contact with one of hamdoms YouTube Hams. "The Southern Ham" so maybe Mica will be famous now?
Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft vertical with the Faraday Cloth radials He made 46 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 15 P2P contacts. No DX
Earlier in the week on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS went to the Otting WMA US-7913 to scratch an itch. When a POTA activator gets close to having 1000 contacts from a particular park it becomes an obsession. Tuesday brought Allen within 91 contacts of that POTA KILO award. Success was had by starting on 40 meters then moving to 20 meters. The total was 106 SSB contacts with 24 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. The grand total is now 1013 for Otting contacts. Itch scratched!Oct 26, 2026
|
|
2 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park site.It was a beautiful fall day and the space weather also cooperated.
Just to prove what you can do as a Technician ham Barry W4LKT used his privileges on 10 meter SSB with help of a vertical antenna on loan from Danny AG4DW. His first contact was to South Africa and then followed by 10 more contacts for a quick successful activation.
Danny AG4DW had a total of 45 contacts with 3 Park to Park contacts 15 on 20 and 10 meters then he moved to 30 meters FT8 and made 30 contacts with DX to Canada and Puerto Rico.
Ed KM6UTC cranked out 86 total contacts on 40 meter FT8. He had DX to the Netherlands, France, Canada, Cuba, and Switzerland.
Mica K3WGC had 15 SSB contacts with 14 P2P contacts using his usual drive on 20 ft. mast supporting a twin Hamstick dipole. He had a contact with one of hamdoms YouTube Hams. "The Southern Ham" so maybe Mica will be famous now?
Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft vertical with the Faraday Cloth radials He made 46 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 15 P2P contacts. No DX
Earlier in the week on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS went to the Otting WMA US-7913 to scratch an itch. When a POTA activator gets close to having 1000 contacts from a particular park it becomes an obsession. Tuesday brought Allen within 91 contacts of that POTA KILO award. Success was had by starting on 40 meters then moving to 20 meters. The total was 106 SSB contacts with 24 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. The grand total is now 1013 for Otting contacts. Itch scratched!Oct 26, 2026
|
|
3 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park site.It was a beautiful fall day and the space weather also cooperated.
Just to prove what you can do as a Technician ham Barry W4LKT used his privileges on 10 meter SSB with help of a vertical antenna on loan from Danny AG4DW. His first contact was to South Africa and then followed by 10 more contacts for a quick successful activation.
Danny AG4DW had a total of 45 contacts with 3 Park to Park contacts 15 on 20 and 10 meters then he moved to 30 meters FT8 and made 30 contacts with DX to Canada and Puerto Rico.
Ed KM6UTC cranked out 86 total contacts on 40 meter FT8. He had DX to the Netherlands, France, Canada, Cuba, and Switzerland.
Mica K3WGC had 15 SSB contacts with 14 P2P contacts using his usual drive on 20 ft. mast supporting a twin Hamstick dipole. He had a contact with one of hamdoms YouTube Hams. "The Southern Ham" so maybe Mica will be famous now?
Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft vertical with the Faraday Cloth radials He made 46 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 15 P2P contacts. No DX
Earlier in the week on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS went to the Otting WMA US-7913 to scratch an itch. When a POTA activator gets close to having 1000 contacts from a particular park it becomes an obsession. Tuesday brought Allen within 91 contacts of that POTA KILO award. Success was had by starting on 40 meters then moving to 20 meters. The total was 106 SSB contacts with 24 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. The grand total is now 1013 for Otting contacts. Itch scratched!Oct 26, 2026
|
|
2 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park site.It was a beautiful fall day and the space weather also cooperated.
Just to prove what you can do as a Technician ham Barry W4LKT used his privileges on 10 meter SSB with help of a vertical antenna on loan from Danny AG4DW. His first contact was to South Africa and then followed by 10 more contacts for a quick successful activation.
Danny AG4DW had a total of 45 contacts with 3 Park to Park contacts 15 on 20 and 10 meters then he moved to 30 meters FT8 and made 30 contacts with DX to Canada and Puerto Rico.
Ed KM6UTC cranked out 86 total contacts on 40 meter FT8. He had DX to the Netherlands, France, Canada, Cuba, and Switzerland.
Mica K3WGC had 15 SSB contacts with 14 P2P contacts using his usual drive on 20 ft. mast supporting a twin Hamstick dipole. He had a contact with one of hamdoms YouTube Hams. "The Southern Ham" so maybe Mica will be famous now?
Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft vertical with the Faraday Cloth radials He made 46 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 15 P2P contacts. No DX
Earlier in the week on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS went to the Otting WMA US-7913 to scratch an itch. When a POTA activator gets close to having 1000 contacts from a particular park it becomes an obsession. Tuesday brought Allen within 91 contacts of that POTA KILO award. Success was had by starting on 40 meters then moving to 20 meters. The total was 106 SSB contacts with 24 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. The grand total is now 1013 for Otting contacts. Itch scratched!Oct 26, 2026
|
|
3 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park site.It was a beautiful fall day and the space weather also cooperated.
Just to prove what you can do as a Technician ham Barry W4LKT used his privileges on 10 meter SSB with help of a vertical antenna on loan from Danny AG4DW. His first contact was to South Africa and then followed by 10 more contacts for a quick successful activation.
Danny AG4DW had a total of 45 contacts with 3 Park to Park contacts 15 on 20 and 10 meters then he moved to 30 meters FT8 and made 30 contacts with DX to Canada and Puerto Rico.
Ed KM6UTC cranked out 86 total contacts on 40 meter FT8. He had DX to the Netherlands, France, Canada, Cuba, and Switzerland.
Mica K3WGC had 15 SSB contacts with 14 P2P contacts using his usual drive on 20 ft. mast supporting a twin Hamstick dipole. He had a contact with one of hamdoms YouTube Hams. "The Southern Ham" so maybe Mica will be famous now?
Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft vertical with the Faraday Cloth radials He made 46 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 15 P2P contacts. No DX
Earlier in the week on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS went to the Otting WMA US-7913 to scratch an itch. When a POTA activator gets close to having 1000 contacts from a particular park it becomes an obsession. Tuesday brought Allen within 91 contacts of that POTA KILO award. Success was had by starting on 40 meters then moving to 20 meters. The total was 106 SSB contacts with 24 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. The grand total is now 1013 for Otting contacts. Itch scratched!Oct 26, 2026
|
|
10 viewsThursday was POTA day. I had not been out in a while and it was good to get back on the bands in the big woods. We activated a three-fer, Prentice Cooper State Forest US-5499, Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area US-3791 and Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park US-2955, The three POTA intidities come together at one small trailhead / picnic area on the huge forest.
Ed KM6UTC used his back seat shack and the ATAS auto adjust antenna and Made 34 FT8 contacts on 20 meters, 27 FT8 contacts on 30 meters 16 FT8 contacts on 17 meters and 17 FT8 contacts on 12 meters. For Ed jumping around the bands is easy with the Yaesu ATAS system. He had DX contacts to Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, El Salvador, Azores, Puerto Rico, Belize, and Venezuela.
Danny AG4DW had 140 total contacts using his elevated radial vertical antenna system. On 40 meters he had 27 SSB contacts and 4 FT8 contacts. On 20 meters he had 75 SSB contacts and 18 FT8 contacts. He finished up on 15 meters with 16 FT8 contacts. He had 18 DX contacts with 13 Canadian contacts then 2 Itilians, Cuba, Spain and Luxembourg.
Allen KN4FKS Had 54 total SSB contacts using his end fed wire antenna. He had 41 contacts on 40 meters and 13 contacts on 20 meters. He had 22 Park to Park contacts and an unusual contacts with Big Foot. A special event station W8I was Big Foot on the radio!. Also of note was a Park to Park from Dom NC4XL in costal North Carolina. Dom has 1077 activations and an absolutely astonishing activator contact total of 262435. That's two hundred sixty two thousand plus contacts. WOW !!!
Barry W4LKT came by with his wife and set up his 20 watt Radioddity radio into a trunk lip mounted mobile antenna. !0 meters was just not happening for him or anyone else for that matter. Motivation to get that General upgrade and bring some other bands and some power into the POTA game.
Micha KO4MPH avoided the RF crash of the trail head and set up a short distance away down the road using his G-90 and his drive over mast with a ham stick dipole. He made 20 SSB contacts with 19 Park to Park contacts. One contact was a Seven-fer. On the National Mall in Washington DC there is one place where this is actually possible.
It was a wonderful day in the big woods with several hikers using the trailhead taking a moment to see what we were doing with our strange radio stuff. Handed out several POTA brochures and TSARC fact sheets.
Oct 19, 2026
|
|
11 viewsThursday was POTA day. I had not been out in a while and it was good to get back on the bands in the big woods. We activated a three-fer, Prentice Cooper State Forest US-5499, Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area US-3791 and Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park US-2955, The three POTA intidities come together at one small trailhead / picnic area on the huge forest.
Ed KM6UTC used his back seat shack and the ATAS auto adjust antenna and Made 34 FT8 contacts on 20 meters, 27 FT8 contacts on 30 meters 16 FT8 contacts on 17 meters and 17 FT8 contacts on 12 meters. For Ed jumping around the bands is easy with the Yaesu ATAS system. He had DX contacts to Canada, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, El Salvador, Azores, Puerto Rico, Belize, and Venezuela.
Danny AG4DW had 140 total contacts using his elevated radial vertical antenna system. On 40 meters he had 27 SSB contacts and 4 FT8 contacts. On 20 meters he had 75 SSB contacts and 18 FT8 contacts. He finished up on 15 meters with 16 FT8 contacts. He had 18 DX contacts with 13 Canadian contacts then 2 Itilians, Cuba, Spain and Luxembourg.
Allen KN4FKS Had 54 total SSB contacts using his end fed wire antenna. He had 41 contacts on 40 meters and 13 contacts on 20 meters. He had 22 Park to Park contacts and an unusual contacts with Big Foot. A special event station W8I was Big Foot on the radio!. Also of note was a Park to Park from Dom NC4XL in costal North Carolina. Dom has 1077 activations and an absolutely astonishing activator contact total of 262435. That's two hundred sixty two thousand plus contacts. WOW !!!
Barry W4LKT came by with his wife and set up his 20 watt Radioddity radio into a trunk lip mounted mobile antenna. !0 meters was just not happening for him or anyone else for that matter. Motivation to get that General upgrade and bring some other bands and some power into the POTA game.
Micha KO4MPH avoided the RF crash of the trail head and set up a short distance away down the road using his G-90 and his drive over mast with a ham stick dipole. He made 20 SSB contacts with 19 Park to Park contacts. One contact was a Seven-fer. On the National Mall in Washington DC there is one place where this is actually possible.
It was a wonderful day in the big woods with several hikers using the trailhead taking a moment to see what we were doing with our strange radio stuff. Handed out several POTA brochures and TSARC fact sheets.
Oct 19, 2026
|
|
|
|
|
