 Most viewed |
505 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.
|
|
505 viewsMade it ! Reached a POTA milestone for Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169 Thursday. The 'KILO' award is for making one thousand contacts from a specific park. (see attached photo)
The space weather cooperated for an exceptional day and the terrestrial weather cooperated as well by not being to hot in our shady location at the Ascalon Trailhead.
In addition to our radio gear we had two 12 volt fans running off battery power. Allen KN4FKS started off on 20 meters with Danny AG4DW logging.. Fred KQ4JXX provided adult supervision for the crew. Allen KN4FKS made a total of 107 contacts with 12 P2P and 13 Canadian contacts. After lunch Danny AG4DW got on 20 and made a quick 14 contacts before it just was getting too warm to be fun. Even on top of the mountain and in the shade it was 90 degrees F.
The rig we used was my trusty old ICOM 706 Mk IIG at 100 watts with 50 ft of RG-8-X coax feeding and end fed half wave rigged as a sloper with the balun on the ground stake. To make 107 contacts the battery meter showed only 6.5 amp hours of the 20 Ahr battery used. Fun day was had by all even after getting wasp stung.
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 views
|
|
505 viewsWe gathered for POTA today at the newly re-opened Nick-A-Jack Trailhead, part of Cloudland Canyon State Park, US-2169. Our fearless leader, Allen (KN4FKS), could not make it today due to a scheduled appointment but Danny Wooten (AG4DW), Alan Painter (W4PLP) and John Law (KB4QXI) POTA'ed on! It was an on and off, blustery kind of day with a couple short periods of rain to make it more interesting. The slight breeze made it feel cooler than it actually was but everyone was prepared and had a good time anyway.
Danny (AG4DW) set up under the picnic shelter and deployed his vertical antenna and worked 10 meters and 15 meters all day, on both SSB and FT8, and had a bonanza of DX contacts! 83 contacts total; 50 contacts on 10 meters and 31 on 15 meters, 1 contact each on 2 meters and 70 cm. DX included Alaska, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, England, Germany, Finland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay! He also talked to one activator that was only 3 QSO's away from his 100,000th (that's one hundred Kilo Awards!) contact at his main park!
Alan (W4PLP) started off the day with a technical problem and headed back home, which was close by, and changed equipment. Later in the afternoon he got everything sorted, returned to the park and got his activation underway! He made a total of 11 QSO's - all park-to-parks!
John (KB4QXI) seized the afternoon, working 20 meters out of his car, and decided to focus on park-to-parks. He wound up with 21 park-to-park log entries (31 parks total)!
We had a couple stop by for a visit and W4PLP explained what all of us were doing. We even had a hiker and his two dogs make an appearance!
With a newly widened and re-graveled driveway into the trailhead, I'm sure this will become a favorite activation location once again!
|
|
505 views
|
|
504 views
|
|
| 4019 files on 335 page(s) |
 |
|
|
|
|
167 | |
|
|
|
|
