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450 viewsThis Thursday July 31 we activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn WMA US-3742 from the South Brow site. The bands were up and down crazy so short contacts were the necessity. The terrestrial weather cooperated till after lunch when a big thunderstorm moved in from the north and cut things short.
Allen KN4FKS had 48 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 16 Park to Park contacts. The early stoppage saw him stop 11 contacts shy of reaching the triple Kilo mark for this park. Bummer but that will be remedied soon!
Danny AG4DW made 41 contacts, 17 SSB on 40 meters 1 on 6 meters and 1 on 1.25 meters He also made 7 FT8 contacts before the storm came.
John KB4QXI made 17 contacts with 6 P2P with one P2P contact in Canada.
Dan K2DTS made 13 contacts on Pigeon then made 14 more at the Battlefield in spite of the static crashes on the way home.
Fun day in the big woods!
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448 viewsW4PLP did a very quick activation of US-2169 Nick-a--Jack trail head after. watching superstar Jody Carter W4LWC at Huntsville Hamfest on YouTube live stream.
Today's mission was two fold.
1) Since I am turning the age of Medicare in next Wednesday, I needed to relive when I 1st became a ham WN4QCH in the 1970's. Back then all I could afford was a double bazooka antenna built by my hand. For 2025 today I used a double bazooka purchased at Chatt Radio.
It rocked!
2) I also wanted to place into sevice a hitch mount "printed" by a 3D printer. See attachment.
I went QRT because 20 meter band had major QRM from the North American QSO party and blue sky thunder near by.
73 de W4PLP
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444 viewsOn Thursday Aug. 21, 2025 we activated the Vann House State Historical Site US-7457 This small park is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so it doesn't see a lot of activations. There are lots of picnic tables and a wonderful shade tree to make it a pleasant site even on a hot day. The park manager lady is also a Ham so the staff is definitely POTA friendly. The adjacent museum and visitor center is worth a visit and the actual Vann house is amazing. Our native Americans did not live in Tepees.
Allen KN4FKS and Danny AG4DW shared a radio set up. They used the end fed wire and the ever trusty Icom 706 MKIIG. Allen made 37 contacts with 5 park to parks on 40 meters SSB. Danny made 22 contacts with 4 P2P also on 40 meters. It was tough work as we had a local QRM source giving us a 5-8 noise level on 40 meters and even 5-6 across all the bands. Don't know what it was but it made getting contacts a challenge. They could hear us but we couldn't hear them.
Dan K2DTS set up his trusty 17 ft. vertical on his car hood. He made 32 contacts on 20 and 17 meters on FT8 and had DX contacts in France, Slovakia, Belize, Guatemala, Czech Republic, Finland, and 2 in Germany. Dave KQ4GLQ set up his vertical and ran his ICOM 705 in a way cool go box set up. He made 61 contacts on FT8. I wore my special T shirt just for him. (see attached photos)
Earlier in the week John KB4QXI activated Berry College WMA 3734 on Wednesday and Danny AG4DW went to Estelle on Pigeon Mountain also on Wednesday. to edge closer to getting his KILO award for Pigeon. Dave KQ4GLQ and Tony WA4TW joined him there.
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436 viewsThis Thursday August 7 we activated Crockford Pigeon Mountain WMA US-3742 from the Estelle Mine Road site.
Allen KN4FKS put up his 25 ft. vertical with 8 radials and made 36 SSB contacts with 26 P2P on 20 and 17 meters with 2 contacts on 40.
Dave KQ4GLQ made 26 SSB contacts with 6 P2P on 20 meters using his 17 ft. vertical with 3 radials. His activation was cut short by a call to work, Bummer how that happens.
John KB4QXI after having tire issues made 10 SSB contacts with 3 P2P on 20 meters with his roof mounted HamStick.
Dan K2DTS elected to stay closer to home and activated the Battlefield US-0716 where he made 15 contacts using his vehicle mounted stick antenna.
Danny AG4DW was enjoying the world's longest yard sale with his wife so he did not attend.
Earlier in the week there were some KILOs to be finished. On Tuesday Danny AG4DW activated the Battlefield US-0716 with 84 contacts on 20 and 40 meters. 51 were SSB and 33 FT8 with 4 DX two Canadians one to Spain and one to the Dominican Republic. He made and passed his TWO KILO mark for this park. When you get close to the goals POTA has such as the KILO award it gnaws at you till you get it done, especially if you are very close. Allen KN4FKS was 9 contacts shy of a triple KILO on Pigeon Mtn. US-3742. So on Saturday he set up on Blue Hole road and made a quick 20 contacts finishing the KILO quest. POTA will capture you so use caution!
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429 views(New information underlined)
Monday Claimed Score: 7,384 pts
Tuesday Claimed Score: 63,308
Wednesday Claimed Score: 123,522
Current Claimed Score: 192,192
Monday Total Contacts: 104
Tuesday Total Contacts: 323
Wednesday Total Contacts: 519
Current Total Contacts: 704
Monday Total Time on-air: 2 hrs, 8 min
Tuesday Total Time on-air: 7hrs, 36 min
Wednesday Total Time on-air: 12hrs, 58 min
Current Total Time on-air: 18hrs, 22 min
States / Canadian Provinces Contacted: (Mon: 32 / Tues: 40 / Wed: 44 / Thursday: 46)
(Long story short: we need Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada, and South Dakota to have a 50-state sweep for this week)
Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming
Canadian Provinces:
Manitoba
Ontario
Nova Scotia
Quebec
Foreign Countries / Territories: British Virgin Islands, Canada (15X), Canary Islands (Off the African Coast) (2x), Denmark, England (2x), France (2x), Germany (3X), Haiti, Italy (2x), Madeira Islands (Off the African Coast), Mexico, Puerto Rico (8X), South Africa, Spain (3X), Sweden, Venezuela
Total tax-free miles travelled to foreign countries and Canadian Territories: 119,037
(Monday: 11,367 / Tuesday 53,355 / Wednesday:86,331)
Schools:(33) including several elementary schools, Ida Brown Jewish Academy in Illinois, Cornell University (NY), Dixie Heights HS (KY), Houston Christian University (TX), Lampassas Middle School (TX), Michigan State University (MI), Rice University (TX), University of Arkansas (AR), University of Michigan (MI), University of Wisconsin (WI), Youngstown State University (OH)
Clubs: (8) including Ham Radio Outlet in Colorado, FBI in Virginia, a club operating out of a middle school in New Jersey, and Disney World's employee ran club station out of Florida.
Piglet (Young Ham) Contacts:
Addi: 64 (first time ever!!)
Aulbri: 50 (first timer)
Brianna: 11
Emilee: 103 (first-timer)
Griffin: 101
Halen: 22
Jacob: 96
Leland: 27 (first timer)
Lilian: 74 (first timer)
Nerf (Jakob J): 47
Syrenna: 64 (first time ever!!)
Updates:
188 contacts Thursday
We are 9 contacts from 713, our former school record - Lord willing, our students will set some records today.
We have some absolutely great students at LMS.
Thanks so much to our teachers for their flexibility this week!
We will be back on the air today from 12 pm to 5:00 pm.
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428 viewsOn Thursday Aug. 21, 2025 we activated the Vann House State Historical Site US-7457 This small park is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so it doesn't see a lot of activations. There are lots of picnic tables and a wonderful shade tree to make it a pleasant site even on a hot day. The park manager lady is also a Ham so the staff is definitely POTA friendly. The adjacent museum and visitor center is worth a visit and the actual Vann house is amazing. Our native Americans did not live in Tepees.
Allen KN4FKS and Danny AG4DW shared a radio set up. They used the end fed wire and the ever trusty Icom 706 MKIIG. Allen made 37 contacts with 5 park to parks on 40 meters SSB. Danny made 22 contacts with 4 P2P also on 40 meters. It was tough work as we had a local QRM source giving us a 5-8 noise level on 40 meters and even 5-6 across all the bands. Don't know what it was but it made getting contacts a challenge. They could hear us but we couldn't hear them.
Dan K2DTS set up his trusty 17 ft. vertical on his car hood. He made 32 contacts on 20 and 17 meters on FT8 and had DX contacts in France, Slovakia, Belize, Guatemala, Czech Republic, Finland, and 2 in Germany. Dave KQ4GLQ set up his vertical and ran his ICOM 705 in a way cool go box set up. He made 61 contacts on FT8. I wore my special T shirt just for him. (see attached photos)
Earlier in the week John KB4QXI activated Berry College WMA 3734 on Wednesday and Danny AG4DW went to Estelle on Pigeon Mountain also on Wednesday. to edge closer to getting his KILO award for Pigeon. Dave KQ4GLQ and Tony WA4TW joined him there.
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419 viewsWe activated the Chickamauga National Battlefield US-0716 this past Friday September 19 2025. One hundred and sixty two years ago the Indiana infantry and the Ohio artillery were in a bloody battle on the actual ground where we activate from. This was a special activation to remember that time in history. The site is at the junction of Brotherton Road and Alexanders Bridge road in the park, there is now a picnic area there. Quite a contrast from past times.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed wire and operated SSB on 20 meters. He made 62 contacts with 33 Park to Park contacts. No DX contacts were made. His transmit power was at 100 watts and the battery use for the day was 7 amp hours.
Alan W4PLP came by and operated as a second operator with Allen for a while. He made 12 SSB contacts for an activation. The two Allen/Alan combo worked well.
Danny AG4DW used his POTA Performer elevated vertical to make 50 contacts with 17 on 40 meters 32 on 15 meters and 1 on 2 meters. 15 meters was hot for DX with contacts into Spain(3), Russia(3), Germany(3), France(4), Belgium, Denmark, Honduras, Ukraine, Poland, and Italy.
David Saylors WK4DS set up his 17 ft vertical and with QRP power made 15 contacts on 17 meters 11 FT8 and 4 CW. Activating the hard way.
Dan K2DTS couldn't come on Friday so he activated the same site on Thursday with 35 Contacts, 25 SSB and 10 FT8. Danny and Fred activated the Battlefield from Signal Point on the Tennessee side on Wednesday.
Dave KQ4GLQ activated two parks in Louisiana on Wednesday. Make time for POTA after work for sure.
Come join us anytime or just activate on your own, lots of parks nearby to explore!
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418 viewsWe activated J. 'SLOPPY' Floyd State Park US-2187 this Thursday Sept 25th. It was a sloppy activation on several levels. Because of the threatening rains we set up at the picnic shelter up by the restrooms on top of the hill. As we are setting up a big truck pulls up and is there to empty the sewage tank about 20 feet from the picnic shelter. The fellow said "this might stink a bit" He was right.
Then after a bit of aroma therapy the park ranger walked up and advised us the picnic shelter was reserved for the day and we needed to pack up and move to another shelter. Both of us had not noticed the little note in the sign on the shelter saying it was reserved. As Danny AG4DW noted in the future "We must check the reservation board on shelters from now on" (see attached photos of what to look for) So we quickly packed up everything and moved down the hill to the 'Not Reserved' picnic shelter, set up again and completed the activation. It never rained a drop! However on the drive home it pored down rain for a while. It was a fun but 'Sloppy' day.
For the activation part Allen KN4FKS made 32 SSB contacts 28 Park to Parks ( one of the P2P's was to California) with DX to Cuba and Poland.
Danny AG4DW cranked up the FT8 machine and made 31 contacts 25 on 10 meters and 6 on 40 meters. He had lots of DX into Europe. Germany(5), Hungary(2), Italy(2), Canada, Poland, Spain and Ukraine.
John KB4QXI was not able to attend, he spent the entire day waiting on a Windstream technician who never showed up. Customer service?
On Wednesday Danny AG4DW got to do something special in the POTA world. He was able to activate an "ALL TIME NEW ONE" (ATNO) A new state park was created in Tennessee on Sunday. Danny contacted the POTA coordinator for Tennessee and set things in motion. The park Ocoee River State park had the POTA number US-12663 by Tuesday night. Danny made tracks over to the park first thing Wednesday morning, set up and made 94 ATNO QSO's. He had 78 on SSB and 16 FT8 before the rain set in. Two other hams activated the park later that day. ATNO's don't last long so 'You snooze you loose" Congratulations to Danny on first getting the park listed then on grabbing the ATNO activation.
Fun days, fun hobby, always something new.
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