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637 viewsPOTA - 2022-09-23 - We met at Atwood Point on Pigeon Mtn. this past Thursday. It is as far back in the woods as you can get on the mountain. John KB4QXI set up and we decided he would take 40 meters, Tony WA4TW set up and would take 20 meters. John had quite a day, 102 contacts with 7 P2P contacts.
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637 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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637 views2023-05-03 - For POTA this week we activated Johns Mtn. WMA K-3758 today from the Johns Mountain Overlook site. This spot is off Pocket Road in Vilanow, 2 miles up a gravel forest service road to the parking lot with an amazing view to the West. On a clear day you can see into Alabama and Tennessee from there.
Getting set up first involves throwing a line into a nearby tree to hoist one end of a simple end fed Half Wave antenna. Then set up the portable station, today it was my old ICOM IC-706 MkII G with a MFJ tuner running off a 15 Amp hour Goal Zero battery. For log keeping I use a really cheap Walmart computer running N3FJP software. Today Tony WA4TW ran the log and I did the calling. The goal today was to get 57 contacts to get my POTA KILO award for making 1,000 contacts from a single park.
I got 66 contacts so the Kilo was made! After a long lunch sitting in the sun Tony got on the air and made a quick 12 contacts with 9 Park to Park contacts. John KB4QXI showed up late and used his Hamstick antenna on top of the car to get his activation in. It was a windy day at the overlook and band noise was rough on 20 meters but everything worked out for a fun day.
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637 views
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637 views
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637 viewsPOTA 2023-08-02 - Today John KB4QXI and Allen KN4FKS activated the Johns Mountain WMA k-3758 from the overlook site. The terrestrial weather cooperated with cooler temperatures, a partly cloudy day, and a pleasant breeze. However the solar weather was less than kind with crazy up and down band conditions. A station would go from a solid 5-9 signal down to almost unreadable then back up in 45 seconds. This made QSOs interesting sometimes. John went first and made 16 contacts with 12 P2Ps with two P2P from Canadian parks. After lunch Allen took over the mic and made 17 contacts with 11 P2P.
Also just in summary since Allen and John started activating parks for POTA in March of 2020 their totals are:
Allen 142 activations 6914 QSO's with 1015 Park to Park contacts
John 140 activations 5875 QSO's with 472 Park to Park contacts
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637 viewsWe activated Booker T. Washington State Park TN K-2933 yesterday Thursday Nov 30 2023. It turned out to be a wonderful weather day in a really nice park. The park is one of those reminders of a segregated past. Now used by everyone we had a great time. For the activation we established four stations. Peter KX4BE worked CW on 12 m and 15m using the 'screwdriver' antenna on his van. Danny AG4DW worked FT8 mostly on 10 meters. One SSB contact was a park to park contact in England. He had a total of 26 contacts, for DX he also had 2 Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, and Canada. Danny used his elevated vertical antenna set up. Tony WA4TW worked 20 meters SSB with his Chameleon vertical and had 50 contacts with 9 P2P and 2 Canadians. After Tony got 50 QSO's Allen took over the rig and made 21 contacts also on 20 meters with 3 P2P's and 3 Canadians. After Allen Fred KQ4JXX took over and made 12 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 3 P2P's . John KB4QXI finally arrived and made 10 contacts with 2 P2P's on 40 meters using his 'Buddystick' on top of the car. Ed KM6UTC provided the needed 'Adult Supervision' necessary to keep the POTA crew out of trouble.
Band conditions were "wonky" all day signals would be strong then fade to next to nothing and suddenly be back strong in the midst of one QSO. You might see a 5-9 signal go to 4-3 on the next over then back to 5-9 mid sentence. Everyone just worked through the fading and made a successful activation. We utilized the loop road in the 'Recreation Area 2' and Pavillion 2 on top of a small hill and it made an excellent place to set up with some distance between stations yet close enough to enjoy visiting with each other We wondered about the odd layout of the hill top site.
While there the Park Ranger came by and stopped to chat. Very friendly fellow and he mentioned he had seen other folks like us in the past and wondered what it exactly was. We explained the Parks on the Air Program (gave him a brochure) then explained HAM radio in general and about our equipment. We then asked about the history of the hilltop and he said it was originally a campground, not for RV's but for tents. He also said they built a boat marina but neither were used much as back then the folks who came here didn't have a lot of boats or camping equipment. Times have changed he said. Well spoken. He then recruited us to help him with the parks Junior Ranger program next June. We'll be there whatever it takes!
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637 viewsLast Thursday was hot. Chattanooga hit 101 f. It is certainly nice having friends especially DNR ranger types who let us use the check station at Pigeon Mountain US-3742 to activate from. Air conditioning, a bathroom, and full kitchen, sweet! We set up two stations with antennas on opposite sides of the building and shared operator time. One problem with the check station site is that it sits at the base of a large steep mountain to the west. Contacts there just never come from anywhere out west. You work east and north stations for the most part.
Danny AG4DW made 60 total contacts , 7 on SSB the rest on FT8, 30 were from the USA and 30 were DX into Europe. Allen KN4FKS had 48 contacts on 40 meters with 5 Park to Park contacts. Tony WA4TW made 56 contacts with 4 P2P. Peter KX4BE plugged in his key and made 12 CW contacts.
A fun day. When we were finished for the day going outside to take the antennas down was quite a shock, it had gotten really hot and muggy outside. It's nice having friends. Both ham radio and with DNR.
I hear that now Tony has a nice new 'Hide a Key" for his car.
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637 views
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637 views
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637 views
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637 views
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