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477 views
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477 views
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477 views
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477 views
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477 views
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477 views
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477 viewsWe activated Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 yesterday at the Wilder Recreation Field site. This is on the West side of the park and was the front line on the third day of the battle. A dozen deer wandered across the field in front of us and the sun actually made it right pleasant.
As we gathered we agreed to a band plan as to who would be operating on which band. Then it was set up time. Allen KN4FKS and Danny AG4DW decided to utilize the nearby picnic tables and set their vertical antennas on opposite sides. Ed KM6UTC set up in the back seat of his vehicle. Dan K2DTS was on the far end of the parking lot and when John KB4QXI got there he also set up in the front of the parking lot.
Allen chased Park to Park contacts on 20 meters SSB and needed 20 P2P's to make a double Kilo ( 2000 ) P2P POTA award. with 21 made it was a successful day. Danny cranked up on 15 Meters, caught a band opening and worked DX into Belgium, Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, Hawaii, and Mexico. He had a total of 104 contacts with 46 SSB and 58 FT8 all on 15 meters. Ed worked 10 meters and had 46 FT8 contacts with 22 of those being DX. Dan worked the WARC bands of 12 & 17 meters and I don't know his totals. John worked 40 meters and had 26 contacts with 4 P2P.
A fun day was had by all, there were lots of park visitors coming by and one cyclist chatted and his father, SK now was a Ham back in the 50's he could even remember his call sign. In the attached photos we utilized the latest model of line gun to get antennas set. Hi Hi.
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477 viewsThis Thursday we activated Johns Mountain WMA US-3758 from the Overlook site.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed half wave sloper antenna under the trees and Dan K2DTS warmed it up first. He made 20 contacts on 20 meters SSB. the band was wonky and contacts were either long or close. He had one in Alabama and one in California. Allen then used the same rig to make 21 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 7 P2P and 3 DX contacts which included a park to park in Bermuda before the rains came.
Danny AG4DW cranked up his rig using a vertical antenna and made 4 SSB contacts, 25 FT8 contacts and 2 FM contacts. With the two FM contacts on the 1.25 m band he accomplished a rather hard to get POTA award. The POTA N1CC award is obtained by making contacts on TEN bands in TEN different parks. He is the first of our crew to get this award, congratulations on all the hard work. John KB4QXI made 20 contacts on 20 meters with 16 P2P contacts and 2 Canadian DX contacts.
The drive up the gravel road to the overlook is rough as usual but the mountain laurel bushes were in full bloom and made the trip a bit more bearable.
We seem to be in a springtime rain shower loop as every week we seem to be taking down antennas in the rain. Luckily none of the radio equipment has gotten wet. However antennas, coax and throw string need to be dried before the next activation. Hopefully the next activation will be a dry one.
Again, congrats to Danny on the award.
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477 viewsOn Tuesday May 27 Danny AG4DW and Allen KN4FKS headed towards Cartersville to activate three parks they had never activated before. A day moving from multiple parks is called a "Rove".
The plan was to start at Etowah Indian Mounds State Historic Site US-3715. After an early drive they arrived at the park at 10 am and set up two stations. Allen set up his end fed sloper wire and made 20 contacts on 20 meters. 6 were Park to Park contacts. Danny had started on 40 meters and it was not producing contacts. He made a few FT8 Contacts then moved to 20 meters when Allen was clear. He had 14 contacts with 9 SSB and 5 FT8 contacts. It was a new experience to set up, make a few contacts then take everything down and prepare to move to the next park. It just didn't feel right. But that was the plan.
Next was Allatoona Pass Battlefield State Historic Site US-7471. This Civil War site is a very small site with a small parking lot next to a busy road, and very noisy powerlines. We set Danny's vertical up on top of the adjacent berm with Lake Allatoona on the other side. Using Danny's rig we worked through the noise, shared the radio and Allen made 17 contacts, with 7 P2P contacts on 20 meters. Danny made 14 contacts on SSB. Handing the microphone back and forth saying 'standby for a second operator' was another new experience and again it just didn't feel right. But it worked and we both got an activation. At this site we had a lot of interaction with people walking by. We would take a moment to explain what we were doing "It's not CB" Many had a relative or friend who was into Ham radio. The 'Parks ON The Air' concept was interesting and exciting to all of them. We packed up the gear, then spent a few minutes walking past the monuments and interpretive signage to explore the battlefield site.
Then it was on to Red Top Mountain State Park US-2194. We used the large empty parking lot at group shelter 2 as our base. After a quick lunch we used Danny's radio and Allen's end fed wire antenna. to set up on 20 meters. Again sharing the radio Allen made 12 contacts with 11 P2P. and Danny made a quick 10 contacts. We could hear the static crashes on the radio and the sky was getting darker. A few drops fell so Danny deployed his "sun shade' umbrella to cover the tail gate where we had the rig set up. About the time we both had the 10 contacts required for a successful activation the rain was beginning to fall. As we quickly began to take everything down it began to rain harder, About the time we jumped in the truck it began to pour.
The drive up the interstate from Cartersville to Resaca was exciting to say the least. The rain was hard and at one place the fast lane was not draining and had about a foot of standing water. This was causing cars to spin out into the median, bang into each other and drown out their engines Several state troopers were on the shoulder working fender benders. Somehow Danny was able to safely get us through the mayhem and on up the road.
It was a fun day, very different and challenging at times. We each added three new parks to our list of sites we have activated. Maybe one day we'll both qualify for some obscure POTA certificate :-)
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477 viewsEver have an itch and the need to scratch it? After I realized last week that I was 18 QSO's from a POTA double Kilo for Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 and that itch has been driving me crazy. So this morning I decided to head to the Ascalon Trailhead and scratch the itch.
Trying to get an early start to avoid the heat but it was still already warm when I arrived at the park. The throw string went exactly where I aimed it (there was no audience) and I quickly got the end fed wire antenna up. I got everything set up opened the computer and got the log all ready. I found an open frequency and spotted myself on the POTA page. 14.263 on 20 meters SSB. I called CQ for a bit and wondered where everyone was. I wondered if everything was connected then I looked at the radio display. I was on 7.263 40 meters. No wonder the spot wasn't bringing in the contacts. I quickly changed bands and there was Danny AG4DW giving me a call. So now I had the first QSO out of the 17 I needed. Being on the right band helped and contacts rolled in steadily and I easily made the 17 for the 2xKilo. I kept calling CQ and had to move once due to QRM but wound up with a total of 60 contacts with 7 Park To Park contacts and the only DX was two Canadians. By 11 am it was beginning to get hot the breeze had died so I called it a day and headed home early. The itch has been scratched so now I can concentrate on Field Day.
In June of 2017 I heard about this group doing a Ham radio thing 'Field Day' using the old 'command bus' set up at Walker Fire Rescue Station 1 in Rock Spring. It was a while after supper and I dropped in to find Jody Carter and Alan Painter still on the air. They took the time to introduce me to Ham radio and explain what I needed to do to get licensed. At the club meeting in August I took the Technician and General test and was soon on the air. The rest is history. So I will always have a special place in my heart for field day. See everyone Saturday.
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