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242 views
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242 views
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242 views
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242 views
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242 viewsYesterday Thursday Jan. 23 we activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn. WMA US-3742 from the check station on Rocky Lane. It was warm inside but getting the antennas up was COLD !
Danny AG4DW set his rig up on the dining area table and Allen set his rig up in the front entry room. The coax was passed through a window and a piece of foam pipe insulation was used to keep the cold out and prevent damage to the wire.
With room for only two operating positions inside Ed KM6UTC opted to use his back seat shack to operate on 15 meters. He made 64 FT8 contacts with 22 being DX into Europe. Inside Tony WA4TW used Allen's rig and quickly made 44 contacts in 30 minutes on 20 meters with 3 P2P and 2 DX to Canada.. Allen handled the logging and helped grab callsigns out of the nonstop pileup.
After a bathroom break Allen KN4FKS got on 20 meters and again quickly made 48 contacts in 32 minutes. He had 4 P2P and 1 DX to Canada. Tony handled the logging which helped maintain the fast pace contacts. Later John KB4QXI got on the 20 meter rig and made 48 contacts with 5 P2P and 2 DX to Canada. Dan K2DTS fired up the 20 meter rig later and made ??? contacts. So after 4 successful activations of over 140 contacts the 100 watt radio had used less than 10 amp hours from the battery.
In the other room Danny AG4DW set up his station and operated on 10 meters. he made 35 total contacts with 17 SSB and 18 FT8. 22 contacts were DX with contacts made to Argentina, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Canary Islands, Maderia Island, Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
Just think in about six years we'll remember how 10 meters was super hot and even open for dx after 10 pm local. Now we are in the good times so get on 10 meters and talk to the world.
Matt AF4MH got on Danny's 10 meter rig and using SSB made 15 contracts with 2 P2P and 7 DX to Canada, Brazil, England, Chile, Spain, Argentina, and Puerto Rico.
At lunch we were joined by four of the DNR wildlife folks who were our host and also wanted to enjoy a warm place to have lunch. Thanks for letting us "play radio" in the check station. Another fun day of activating POTA!
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242 viewsThis weekend April 5-6, 2025 saw the 3rd annual Georgia State Parks POTA Contest . The goal here is to have ALL of the Georgia State Parks activated at once in a contest format. Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 was activated by Allen KN4FKS and John KB4QXI from Cabin 7. They set up antennas and stations on Friday evening and got ready for the contest start at 8:00 am Saturday morning.
Through the weekend Allen operated exclusively on 20 meters and John stayed on 40 meters. Band pass filters saved the day with such close proximity RF.
Bright and early Saturday both operators were ready at the start. You could not buy a contact on 20 meters! The band was dead. The sun had burped. After calling CQ for 45 minutes Allen suddenly got an answer from Arizona. He said I was the ONLY signal on his band scope. Ouch. Another few minutes and a DX contact to Columbia was made then the calls started to trickle in. It was 2 contacts the first hour, then 7 more the second hour. By the end of the third hour the 20 meter total was 20 QSO's. It slowly got better and when the day was done Allen had a total of 376 contacts. John was having similar difficulty on 40 meters. He had 143 contacts on the day, We shut down the stations at 10 pm. to get some sleep and be ready to go again Sunday morning.
During the day several fellow hams came by. Harry N4VQ stopped in with his K-9 buddy. Danny AG4DW stopped by to provide adult supervision then went across the park and set up his station giving us Park-to-Park contacts. He cranked out 25 contacts and called it a day. Dean KK4EB an old friend of both John and Allen stopped in and set up on the picnic table out in the yard. He operated on 15 meters and made 81 contacts total, 31 DX and one Georgia P2P .
Allen was awakened Sunday morning by a thunderclap at 6:30 AM. Jumping up he quickly detached both stations coax from the antennas. It was raining heavily and the thunder rolled across the ridge top. Not a good beginning to the second day of the contest. Check out time for the cabin was noon so the morning was tough. Between storm fronts Allen got on the air for a few minutes and quickly got 34 contacts before having to shut down again.
Totals for the weekend Allen Had 410 contacts with 69 P2P calls and only one Georgia park contact for a contest score of 413. John had 187 total contacts, 44 P2P contacts and 31 Georgia P2P contacts which adds 155 points to his 187 for a rough score of 342.
To cap off a fun weekend of solar and terrestrial weather, packing up to leave in the rain was fun. Antenna demobilization with occasional thunder was exciting as well as wet. Then moving all the stuff out to the cars it was just as wet. Fun weekend in spite of all the challenges. Now to dry everything out.
Alan W4PLP activated Unicoi State Park. How was your weekend? Anyone else get out to POTA?
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242 viewsWe gathered this past Thursday at Red Clay State Park US-2970 for an activation day. It was a pleasant day weather wise with lots of shade and a nice breeze.
Danny AG4DW set up his POTA Performer vertical antenna for Jody W4LWC to use. A Rambler Radio Club graduate Emma Gillenwater who lives near the park now joined us. They made 72 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 4 DX to Canada and 1 to the Netherlands. It was great to see Emma once more.
Allen KN4FKS set up his 17 meter folded dipole and made 17 contacts on 17 meters SSB with 1 P2P and DX to Canada, France, England, and 2 Italians. Dave KQ4GLQ set up in the picnic shed and worked 40 meters SSB. I don't have his totals, but he had a good day. Dan K2DTS stopped by and without band pass filters could not get but 1 contact on 15 meters. However he moved away from us and ended up with 15 contacts on 20 meters. He was amazed that he actually heard stations in Bulgaria and Vietnam. They were strong but he was unable to break the pile up. Cool nonetheless.
John KB4QXI arriving fashionably late managed 11 contacts with 3 P2P after moving to another parking lot on the park to escape all the RF.
Red Clay State Park is a small historic park. It was the capital of the Cherokee nation for many years. So for POTA it is also a Trail of Tears US-3791 location.
Fun day on the bands, we also were able to introduce ham radio to several park visitors.
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241 views
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241 views
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241 views
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241 views
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