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7 viewsIt's been a busy week for POTA. This Thursday March 12 we activated a triple park location. The three parks were: Prentice Cooper Wildlife Management Area US-3971, Prentice Cooper State Forest US-5499 and Wilson Cumberland Trail State Park US-2955. Luckily the rain had quit but it was in the mid thirties with a strong wind so everyone elected to set up inside their vehicles.
Allen KN4FKS put up his end fed wire sloper and made 88 SSB contacts, 58 on 20 meters and 30 on 40 meters. He had 14 Park to Park contacts and DX to Dominican Republic and Canada.
Danny AG4DW set up his POTA Performer vertical and made a total of 74 QSO's, He had 46 SSB contacts on 40 meters then 28 digital FT8 contacts on 40,17, and 15 meters. He had DX to Brazil, Canada, France, Italy, and Norway.
Ed KM6UTC used his ATAS mobile antenna and made 49 contacts, he had DX contacts to Brazil, Austria, Germany, Poland, Spain, Slovenia, France and Canada.
Also this week there were several other activations.
Peter KX4BE activated Palm Bluff Conservation Area in Florida US-8366 and made 43 CW contacts on 20 and 15 meters with 12 DX contacts. He said it was 88 degrees there on Wednesday.
Ed KM6UTC activated Moccasin Bend area On Friday March 6 with 44 QSO's with 3 DX contacts on 20 meters.
On Monday Tony WA4TW along with Danny AG4DW activated Pigeon Mountain US-3742 from the Estelle Mine Road site.
Tony used his 17 ft. vertical and made 34 SSB contacts on 20 meters with Allen KN4FKS logging for him. He had 10 P2P contacts and DX to Curacao and Canada.
Danny AG4DW made 53 Contacts, 26 SSB and 27 FT8 on 40 and 15 meters. He grabbed an opening on 15 meters and worked DX to Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Russia, Jersey (a rare one) Lithuania, Slovenia and Spain.
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7 viewsThursday March 19 was a busy day for POTA. Allen KN4FKS, John KB4QXI and a friend Dean KK4EB activated the Otting WMA US-7913. Also on Thursday Ed KM6UTC activated the Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 from the Cravens House site with Dan K2DTS assisting. Danny AG4DW was a bit further afield as he activated Monte Santo State Park US-1048 in Huntsville Alabama.
Allen KN4FKS made 45 SSB contacts with 32 on 20 meters and 13 on 15 meters. He had 10 Park to Park contacts with three of those being DX parks. For DX 15 was open and he made 3 contacts in England, Italy, Canada, Croatia, Slovenia, Belgium, Spain, Puerto Rico, and Ireland.
John made 73 SSB contacts on 20 meters using his roof mounted Hamstick. He had 33 Park to Park contact two of which were Canadian Parks. He had 32 additional DX contacts Puerto Rico and Canada.
Dean KK4EB made 27 contacts with 16 FT8 contacts on 40 meters, 2 SSB P2P contacts on 40 meters. He then went to 10 meters and called CQ for over an hour for 10 SSB contacts there.
Danny AG4DW at Huntsville made 48 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 7 DX contacts to Canada (2) Canary Islands (2), Germany, and Spain, He used his Yaesu FT-710 and his Pota Performer Vertical with elevated radials.
Ed KM6UTC at the Cravens House made 34 contacts with 12 DX to Canada, France, Germany, Slovenia, England, and the Netherlands.
As a side note when Allen turned on his radio he heard a Ham in Florida calling CQ so he answered him. in the QSO I related that I was operating portable from a POTA Park this evolved into a discussion on how to get started activating for POTA. He had all the equipment but was unsure about logging, the POTA rules, and such. I explained that logging could actually be done on paper then typed directly into the POTA web site or you could use any number of software applications at home to prepare the data to send. I also suggested that the way to start easy is to go to a park , set up and hunt Park To Park contacts. Less stress and you get your feet wet slowly. As for POTA rules there are very few. One you have to be licensed, two you have to be on the POTA listed park, Three no repeaters allowed, Four you need to submit your logs. Simple enough. For a successful activation you need 10 contacts any mode, any band, any legal power. There is no 'official' exchange required. Just make the contact, have fun playing radio in the park.
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7 viewsIt was a beautiful day on top of Johns Mountain US-3758 at the overlook site. It was a bit chilly early with a steady wind making it seem even cooler but we POTA'd on. Band conditions were a bit wonky which made it hard work for everyone.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire as a sloper and made 56 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 20 Park to Park contacts and only 1 DX contact to Barbados Island.
Danny AG4DW set his 17 foot elevated vertical 'POTA Performer' and made 53 contacts, 23 were SSB on 40 meters and 1 FT8 contact. He moved to 17 meters and made 19 FT8 contacts. He had 6 P2P contacts and 5 DX to Canada. He set up his 2 meter J-pole antenna and made 10 FM contacts simplex on 2 meters. From the mountaintop he contacted: Gainesville, Talking Rock, Dalton, Lafayette, Chatsworth, and Cleveland TN.
John KB4QXI used his Hamstick roof mounted to make 15 contacts with 10 P2P contacts.
Micha K3WGC came by to see what all this POTA stuff was all about. After show and tell for everyone's rig he set up his vertical drive on pole support and used his G-90 to just chase DX and make a few contacts portable. It weas great to have him visit.
Dan K2DTS not wanting to sacrifice his car on the overlook road chose to activate the Battlefield US-0716. He had 36 contacts with 30 SSB and 6 FT8 on 20 meters. He is getting withing striking distance of his KILO for the Battlefield. Maybe soon if the bands cooperate.
Also of note this weekend is the Georgia QSO party contest. It starts at 2 pm local time on Saturday and runs till midnight than Sunday 10 am till 8 pm. The exchange is a signal report, and county abbreviation ( WLKR for Walker) This would be a great time to activate a park and take advantage of the increased traffic.
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7 viewsIt was a beautiful day on top of Johns Mountain US-3758 at the overlook site. It was a bit chilly early with a steady wind making it seem even cooler but we POTA'd on. Band conditions were a bit wonky which made it hard work for everyone.
Allen KN4FKS set his end fed half wave wire as a sloper and made 56 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 20 Park to Park contacts and only 1 DX contact to Barbados Island.
Danny AG4DW set his 17 foot elevated vertical 'POTA Performer' and made 53 contacts, 23 were SSB on 40 meters and 1 FT8 contact. He moved to 17 meters and made 19 FT8 contacts. He had 6 P2P contacts and 5 DX to Canada. He set up his 2 meter J-pole antenna and made 10 FM contacts simplex on 2 meters. From the mountaintop he contacted: Gainesville, Talking Rock, Dalton, Lafayette, Chatsworth, and Cleveland TN.
John KB4QXI used his Hamstick roof mounted to make 15 contacts with 10 P2P contacts.
Micha K3WGC came by to see what all this POTA stuff was all about. After show and tell for everyone's rig he set up his vertical drive on pole support and used his G-90 to just chase DX and make a few contacts portable. It weas great to have him visit.
Dan K2DTS not wanting to sacrifice his car on the overlook road chose to activate the Battlefield US-0716. He had 36 contacts with 30 SSB and 6 FT8 on 20 meters. He is getting withing striking distance of his KILO for the Battlefield. Maybe soon if the bands cooperate.
Also of note this weekend is the Georgia QSO party contest. It starts at 2 pm local time on Saturday and runs till midnight than Sunday 10 am till 8 pm. The exchange is a signal report, and county abbreviation ( WLKR for Walker) This would be a great time to activate a park and take advantage of the increased traffic.
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6 viewsEven though our esteemed leader, Allen (KN4FKS), and I both had to go out of town this week, there was still a LOT of POTA activity despite there being no organized group effort!
Ed (KM6UTC) solved a but of a POTA activation problem/mystery this week that made a gigantic difference in the number of contacts! And it had nothing to do with his equipment! I mention this not to embarrass Ed but, rather, to point out how easy it is for us humans to make the wrong assumptions and maybe there is someone else wanting to do POTA that has made the same assumption. Up until this week Ed says that he thought the only calls you could log for a POTA activation were calls to another activator or a hunter answering his CQ POTA call! In fact, almost any valid QSO counts and can be logged (no repeaters can be used, however). You can answer someone else’s CQ and have a rag chew. It counts as a valid POTA contact. Make a contact with a DXExpediton? It counts!
Armed with the new knowledge, Ed activated US-0716, Chickamuaga and Chattanooga National Battlefield, from the Cravens House location on the North side of Lookout Mountain, on Thursday. hw wound up with 85 contacts for the day with a number of DX. The DX included the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Romania, Spain, France, Canada (eh), Puerto Rico, Italy, Azores, & Hungary.
Ed noted that the views from Cravens House were wonderful due to the excellent weather. He also commented on what appears to once have been a beautiful Mansion and adjacent Coach House at the Cravens House location and noted that the Nation Park Service seems to have allowed these structures to deteriorate, probably past the point of no return!
Ed asked if anyone had any information about this and someone sent a link to a 13-year old link to the Chattanoogan.com that sums it up quite well! A copy of the link is attached if you want to find out more!
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2013/3/25/247432/John-Shearer-History-Of-The-Hardy-Home.aspx
Before heading out of town Allen (KN4FKS) got away Tuesday afternoon for a few hours to Estelle Mine Road on Pigeon Mtn.WMA (US-3742). He set up his 25 ft vertical with the faraday cloth radials and mainly chased parks for P2P contacts. He had 22 SSB contacts with 20 P2P and 2 special event stations. Also one P2P to Puerto Rico. On 20 meters he had 16 contacts and 6 more on 40 meters.
AND… a bug congratulations to Dan Strickland (K2DTS) for achieving a Kilo (1000 activator contacts) from US-0716 on Wednesday. Dan has been working on this goal for a while and he can finally put that notch in his belt!
As for me, Danny (AG4DW), I had to travel to Florida for the weekend but did manage to activate two new-to-me parks in Florida on the trip down. Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park (US-3647) and Price’s Scrub State Park (US-10463). These two parks are about 4 miles apart and are totally different! Payne’s Prairie has luscious tropical foliage and Spanish Moss everywhere and a large lake and picnic pavilions. Price’s Scrub is a relatively new park and is pretty primitive and expected to remain that way. One picnic table, one porta-potty and one trash can! I managed 25 SSB contacts on 20 meters at both parks!
And, in a first for me, we saw a park ranger pull in at Price’s Scrub in an unmarked truck and headed towards a small trailhead. He saw us watching him and backed up to us, identified himself, and told us he was there on official business! He was afraid we were going to call the cops and report HIM! You hear reports of rangers investigating POTA activators but usually not the other way around! We had a good laugh and he was very familiar with Parks on the Air. He said if the apocalypse ever happens, he is getting in touch with us POTA guys!
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4 viewsOn Thursday April 30 we activated the Otting Wildlife Management Area US-7913 which is way south on top of Lookout Mountain almost in Alabama. The terrestrial weather was a bit chilly especially early and the space weather had a 'small craft warning' in effect. The bands were "wonky" to say the least. We had 3 operators, two ham visitors and two interested hikers visiting the area.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed wire sloper hooked to the 100 watt Icom 7300. Working SSB on 20 meters he made 44 contacts with 13 Park to Park contacts with 3 DX contacts to Canada. John KB4QXI actually got there on time and set up his mag mount Hamstick on 40 meters to his 100 watt Yaesu Ft-891. He made 14 contacts with 4 P2P contacts and no DX.
I'll let Danny AG4DW describe his activations this week:
Otting WMA - 46 total contacts. 10 SSB and 36 FT8. Started out on 40 meters and got a quick 10 SSB contacts before the bottom fell out. Switched to FT8 and got another 10. Moved to 15 meters and got nothing on SSB but did get a lot of DX activity on FT8, another 18 contacts. Finally tried 17 meters and got another 8 FT8 contacts before calling it quits! 10 DX contacts included Brazil, Canada (3), Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands and Spain. Only 2 park-to-park contacts today.
Earlier in the week, Monday, I activated Cloudland Canyon State Park (US-2169) as it was time to renew my annual Senior ParkPass! I set up at the picnic shelter at the top of the hill, at the Disc Golf Course, and made a total of 82 contacts, 17 SSB and 65 FT8 on 20 meters.The bands were tough and it took several hours to get those! 8 DX included Canada (6), Spain and Cuba. 14 of the total contacts were park-to-park.
On Wednesday I was restless and decided to activate Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefield (US-0716) from the recreation field on Glen Kelly road behind Wilder Tower. The bands were still not very cooperative but I did manage a total of 89 contacts: 56 SSB and 33 FT8, all on 20 meters. 5 DX included Canada (4) and the Azores Islands. 20 of the total contacts were park-to-park. In a first for me, I did have someone call the Park Rangers on me to report “suspicious” activity. The ranger pulled into the parking lot, walked over to my picnic table and said, “Parks on the Air, right?”. We had a good visit and he shared some good stories about well-meaning folks reporting suspicious activities in the park!
During my activation on Monday, I had an FT8 contact with KG4KTB, Perry Westberry, from McDonough, GA. Perry was visiting and staying with relatives near Mentone, AL, so this was a strong ground-wave call! Perry’s battery died just as we were completing the QSO so he contacted me via email afterwards to confirm the contact. He asked about parks to activate in this area so I invited him to join is at Otting WMA and he stopped by and visited with us for a couple hours!
Also visiting at Otting was K4WWE, Jim Sherrill, from Chickamauga! Turns out that he is practically my next door neighbor! Jim has had his ticket for a little over a year and has been checking in to some of the TSARC nets lately. Jim was wanting to learn more about POTA so we bombarded him with information and tips on equipment and park etiquette and much more. Jim said he felt like he was drinking from a fire hose today! Welcome aboard, Jim. We forgot to tell you that POTA is highly addictive!
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4 viewsOn Thursday April 30 we activated the Otting Wildlife Management Area US-7913 which is way south on top of Lookout Mountain almost in Alabama. The terrestrial weather was a bit chilly especially early and the space weather had a 'small craft warning' in effect. The bands were "wonky" to say the least. We had 3 operators, two ham visitors and two interested hikers visiting the area.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed wire sloper hooked to the 100 watt Icom 7300. Working SSB on 20 meters he made 44 contacts with 13 Park to Park contacts with 3 DX contacts to Canada. John KB4QXI actually got there on time and set up his mag mount Hamstick on 40 meters to his 100 watt Yaesu Ft-891. He made 14 contacts with 4 P2P contacts and no DX.
I'll let Danny AG4DW describe his activations this week:
Otting WMA - 46 total contacts. 10 SSB and 36 FT8. Started out on 40 meters and got a quick 10 SSB contacts before the bottom fell out. Switched to FT8 and got another 10. Moved to 15 meters and got nothing on SSB but did get a lot of DX activity on FT8, another 18 contacts. Finally tried 17 meters and got another 8 FT8 contacts before calling it quits! 10 DX contacts included Brazil, Canada (3), Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands and Spain. Only 2 park-to-park contacts today.
Earlier in the week, Monday, I activated Cloudland Canyon State Park (US-2169) as it was time to renew my annual Senior ParkPass! I set up at the picnic shelter at the top of the hill, at the Disc Golf Course, and made a total of 82 contacts, 17 SSB and 65 FT8 on 20 meters.The bands were tough and it took several hours to get those! 8 DX included Canada (6), Spain and Cuba. 14 of the total contacts were park-to-park.
On Wednesday I was restless and decided to activate Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefield (US-0716) from the recreation field on Glen Kelly road behind Wilder Tower. The bands were still not very cooperative but I did manage a total of 89 contacts: 56 SSB and 33 FT8, all on 20 meters. 5 DX included Canada (4) and the Azores Islands. 20 of the total contacts were park-to-park. In a first for me, I did have someone call the Park Rangers on me to report “suspicious” activity. The ranger pulled into the parking lot, walked over to my picnic table and said, “Parks on the Air, right?”. We had a good visit and he shared some good stories about well-meaning folks reporting suspicious activities in the park!
During my activation on Monday, I had an FT8 contact with KG4KTB, Perry Westberry, from McDonough, GA. Perry was visiting and staying with relatives near Mentone, AL, so this was a strong ground-wave call! Perry’s battery died just as we were completing the QSO so he contacted me via email afterwards to confirm the contact. He asked about parks to activate in this area so I invited him to join is at Otting WMA and he stopped by and visited with us for a couple hours!
Also visiting at Otting was K4WWE, Jim Sherrill, from Chickamauga! Turns out that he is practically my next door neighbor! Jim has had his ticket for a little over a year and has been checking in to some of the TSARC nets lately. Jim was wanting to learn more about POTA so we bombarded him with information and tips on equipment and park etiquette and much more. Jim said he felt like he was drinking from a fire hose today! Welcome aboard, Jim. We forgot to tell you that POTA is highly addictive!
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4 viewsThis Thursday June 4 we activated Chickamauga Battlefield US=0716 from the Brotherton Road picnic area.
Danny AG4DW arrived early, set up his 'PotaPerformer' vertical and made 47 quick SSB contacts. He had 13 on 40 meters and 34 on 20 meters with 6 park to parks and 1 DX to Canada. Jody W4LWC arrived and operated Danny's rig on 20 meters SSB. He cranked out 101 QSO's with 25 P2P and no DX. Dan K2DTS dropped by for a quick 'eye ball' QSO and had to leave soon.
John KB4QXI brought his new computer by so that Allen KN4FKS could set up the N3FJP logging software for most efficient use on POTA activations. As is typical when Allen is faced with technology issues the one critical step/ menu / tab is forgotten and things do not go well. Ugly words were spoken to the computer.
Taking a break Allen KN4FKS got on 17 meters and made 4 contacts, then went to 20 meters and made 9 more for a total of 13 QSO's with 9 P2P contacts. Then it was back to the computer this time trying to watch the You Tube video on how to set everything up on John's cell phone. Once again a fail so Allen took the computer home and sat down and soon had the 'Ah Ha' moment and remembered the one critical step to get everything working. Success finally! John is now set to go.
Earlier in the week on Wednesday Danny AG4DW headed out to a newly listed park in Alabama hoping to be the first activation at the new one. After quite a drive he arrived at the park to find a sign on the gate "Closed Wednesdays" POTA rules state the park has to be 'open' so defeated but not broken he headed over to Hinds Road Forever Wild site US-12740 and made 42 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 17 P2P. Then packing up and moving to nearby Indian Mountain Conservation Area US-11027 he made 35 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 11 P2P's. Also on Wednesday Allen KN4FKS headed out to Otting WMA US-7913 (it was actually open on Wednesday) and made 106 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 36 P2P and 3 DX all to Canada.
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3 viewsEven though our esteemed leader, Allen (KN4FKS), and I both had to go out of town this week, there was still a LOT of POTA activity despite there being no organized group effort!
Ed (KM6UTC) solved a but of a POTA activation problem/mystery this week that made a gigantic difference in the number of contacts! And it had nothing to do with his equipment! I mention this not to embarrass Ed but, rather, to point out how easy it is for us humans to make the wrong assumptions and maybe there is someone else wanting to do POTA that has made the same assumption. Up until this week Ed says that he thought the only calls you could log for a POTA activation were calls to another activator or a hunter answering his CQ POTA call! In fact, almost any valid QSO counts and can be logged (no repeaters can be used, however). You can answer someone else’s CQ and have a rag chew. It counts as a valid POTA contact. Make a contact with a DXExpediton? It counts!
Armed with the new knowledge, Ed activated US-0716, Chickamuaga and Chattanooga National Battlefield, from the Cravens House location on the North side of Lookout Mountain, on Thursday. hw wound up with 85 contacts for the day with a number of DX. The DX included the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Romania, Spain, France, Canada (eh), Puerto Rico, Italy, Azores, & Hungary.
Ed noted that the views from Cravens House were wonderful due to the excellent weather. He also commented on what appears to once have been a beautiful Mansion and adjacent Coach House at the Cravens House location and noted that the Nation Park Service seems to have allowed these structures to deteriorate, probably past the point of no return!
Ed asked if anyone had any information about this and someone sent a link to a 13-year old link to the Chattanoogan.com that sums it up quite well! A copy of the link is attached if you want to find out more!
https://www.chattanoogan.com/2013/3/25/247432/John-Shearer-History-Of-The-Hardy-Home.aspx
Before heading out of town Allen (KN4FKS) got away Tuesday afternoon for a few hours to Estelle Mine Road on Pigeon Mtn.WMA (US-3742). He set up his 25 ft vertical with the faraday cloth radials and mainly chased parks for P2P contacts. He had 22 SSB contacts with 20 P2P and 2 special event stations. Also one P2P to Puerto Rico. On 20 meters he had 16 contacts and 6 more on 40 meters.
AND… a bug congratulations to Dan Strickland (K2DTS) for achieving a Kilo (1000 activator contacts) from US-0716 on Wednesday. Dan has been working on this goal for a while and he can finally put that notch in his belt!
As for me, Danny (AG4DW), I had to travel to Florida for the weekend but did manage to activate two new-to-me parks in Florida on the trip down. Payne’s Prairie Preserve State Park (US-3647) and Price’s Scrub State Park (US-10463). These two parks are about 4 miles apart and are totally different! Payne’s Prairie has luscious tropical foliage and Spanish Moss everywhere and a large lake and picnic pavilions. Price’s Scrub is a relatively new park and is pretty primitive and expected to remain that way. One picnic table, one porta-potty and one trash can! I managed 25 SSB contacts on 20 meters at both parks!
And, in a first for me, we saw a park ranger pull in at Price’s Scrub in an unmarked truck and headed towards a small trailhead. He saw us watching him and backed up to us, identified himself, and told us he was there on official business! He was afraid we were going to call the cops and report HIM! You hear reports of rangers investigating POTA activators but usually not the other way around! We had a good laugh and he was very familiar with Parks on the Air. He said if the apocalypse ever happens, he is getting in touch with us POTA guys!
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3 viewsOn Thursday April 30 we activated the Otting Wildlife Management Area US-7913 which is way south on top of Lookout Mountain almost in Alabama. The terrestrial weather was a bit chilly especially early and the space weather had a 'small craft warning' in effect. The bands were "wonky" to say the least. We had 3 operators, two ham visitors and two interested hikers visiting the area.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed wire sloper hooked to the 100 watt Icom 7300. Working SSB on 20 meters he made 44 contacts with 13 Park to Park contacts with 3 DX contacts to Canada. John KB4QXI actually got there on time and set up his mag mount Hamstick on 40 meters to his 100 watt Yaesu Ft-891. He made 14 contacts with 4 P2P contacts and no DX.
I'll let Danny AG4DW describe his activations this week:
Otting WMA - 46 total contacts. 10 SSB and 36 FT8. Started out on 40 meters and got a quick 10 SSB contacts before the bottom fell out. Switched to FT8 and got another 10. Moved to 15 meters and got nothing on SSB but did get a lot of DX activity on FT8, another 18 contacts. Finally tried 17 meters and got another 8 FT8 contacts before calling it quits! 10 DX contacts included Brazil, Canada (3), Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands and Spain. Only 2 park-to-park contacts today.
Earlier in the week, Monday, I activated Cloudland Canyon State Park (US-2169) as it was time to renew my annual Senior ParkPass! I set up at the picnic shelter at the top of the hill, at the Disc Golf Course, and made a total of 82 contacts, 17 SSB and 65 FT8 on 20 meters.The bands were tough and it took several hours to get those! 8 DX included Canada (6), Spain and Cuba. 14 of the total contacts were park-to-park.
On Wednesday I was restless and decided to activate Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefield (US-0716) from the recreation field on Glen Kelly road behind Wilder Tower. The bands were still not very cooperative but I did manage a total of 89 contacts: 56 SSB and 33 FT8, all on 20 meters. 5 DX included Canada (4) and the Azores Islands. 20 of the total contacts were park-to-park. In a first for me, I did have someone call the Park Rangers on me to report “suspicious” activity. The ranger pulled into the parking lot, walked over to my picnic table and said, “Parks on the Air, right?”. We had a good visit and he shared some good stories about well-meaning folks reporting suspicious activities in the park!
During my activation on Monday, I had an FT8 contact with KG4KTB, Perry Westberry, from McDonough, GA. Perry was visiting and staying with relatives near Mentone, AL, so this was a strong ground-wave call! Perry’s battery died just as we were completing the QSO so he contacted me via email afterwards to confirm the contact. He asked about parks to activate in this area so I invited him to join is at Otting WMA and he stopped by and visited with us for a couple hours!
Also visiting at Otting was K4WWE, Jim Sherrill, from Chickamauga! Turns out that he is practically my next door neighbor! Jim has had his ticket for a little over a year and has been checking in to some of the TSARC nets lately. Jim was wanting to learn more about POTA so we bombarded him with information and tips on equipment and park etiquette and much more. Jim said he felt like he was drinking from a fire hose today! Welcome aboard, Jim. We forgot to tell you that POTA is highly addictive!
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3 viewsOn Thursday April 30 we activated the Otting Wildlife Management Area US-7913 which is way south on top of Lookout Mountain almost in Alabama. The terrestrial weather was a bit chilly especially early and the space weather had a 'small craft warning' in effect. The bands were "wonky" to say the least. We had 3 operators, two ham visitors and two interested hikers visiting the area.
Allen KN4FKS set up his end fed wire sloper hooked to the 100 watt Icom 7300. Working SSB on 20 meters he made 44 contacts with 13 Park to Park contacts with 3 DX contacts to Canada. John KB4QXI actually got there on time and set up his mag mount Hamstick on 40 meters to his 100 watt Yaesu Ft-891. He made 14 contacts with 4 P2P contacts and no DX.
I'll let Danny AG4DW describe his activations this week:
Otting WMA - 46 total contacts. 10 SSB and 36 FT8. Started out on 40 meters and got a quick 10 SSB contacts before the bottom fell out. Switched to FT8 and got another 10. Moved to 15 meters and got nothing on SSB but did get a lot of DX activity on FT8, another 18 contacts. Finally tried 17 meters and got another 8 FT8 contacts before calling it quits! 10 DX contacts included Brazil, Canada (3), Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Netherlands and Spain. Only 2 park-to-park contacts today.
Earlier in the week, Monday, I activated Cloudland Canyon State Park (US-2169) as it was time to renew my annual Senior ParkPass! I set up at the picnic shelter at the top of the hill, at the Disc Golf Course, and made a total of 82 contacts, 17 SSB and 65 FT8 on 20 meters.The bands were tough and it took several hours to get those! 8 DX included Canada (6), Spain and Cuba. 14 of the total contacts were park-to-park.
On Wednesday I was restless and decided to activate Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Battlefield (US-0716) from the recreation field on Glen Kelly road behind Wilder Tower. The bands were still not very cooperative but I did manage a total of 89 contacts: 56 SSB and 33 FT8, all on 20 meters. 5 DX included Canada (4) and the Azores Islands. 20 of the total contacts were park-to-park. In a first for me, I did have someone call the Park Rangers on me to report “suspicious” activity. The ranger pulled into the parking lot, walked over to my picnic table and said, “Parks on the Air, right?”. We had a good visit and he shared some good stories about well-meaning folks reporting suspicious activities in the park!
During my activation on Monday, I had an FT8 contact with KG4KTB, Perry Westberry, from McDonough, GA. Perry was visiting and staying with relatives near Mentone, AL, so this was a strong ground-wave call! Perry’s battery died just as we were completing the QSO so he contacted me via email afterwards to confirm the contact. He asked about parks to activate in this area so I invited him to join is at Otting WMA and he stopped by and visited with us for a couple hours!
Also visiting at Otting was K4WWE, Jim Sherrill, from Chickamauga! Turns out that he is practically my next door neighbor! Jim has had his ticket for a little over a year and has been checking in to some of the TSARC nets lately. Jim was wanting to learn more about POTA so we bombarded him with information and tips on equipment and park etiquette and much more. Jim said he felt like he was drinking from a fire hose today! Welcome aboard, Jim. We forgot to tell you that POTA is highly addictive!
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3 viewsThis week saw folks in far flung places and right here at home.
On Wednesday May 20 Dan K2DTS activated the Battlefield US-0716 from the Brotherton Rd. Picnic area. He made 15 SSB contacts with 13 P2P contacts and then made one CW contact. He commented:
"Conditions were poor with a smothering noise floor and persistent signal fading. Even with those conditions, it was a good day. In many ways, it is more fun to have to work for every contact. And it was satisfying to make the CW contact, although I am sure the station on the other end was not impressed by my many sending mistakes." Small beginnings of a great CW operator !
On Thursday May 21 Allen KN4FKS activated Pigeon Mountain US-3742 from the check station site. It is nice to have friends who help you stay warm and dry while doing POTA on a rainy day Using 100 watts and the end fed half wave wire rigged as a sloper he made 61 contacts (29 on 20 meters and 32 on 40 meters) with 33 P2P contacts and 2 DX (Canada and St. Lucia )
On Friday May 22 John KB4QXI activated Sandhills State Park US-2351 near Hutchinson Kansas. John is out there attending a huge Geocaching convention so he and several other ham geocachers all headed out to the nearby state park. John made ??? contacts.
On Saturday afternoon May 23 KN4FKS Allen headed up top of Pigeon Mountain US-3742 to the Sawmill lake site to play with a different antenna configuration. Using the old faithful have wave end fed wire he rigged it as an NVIS antenna. Using three plastic electric fence post he rigged the wire horizontally waist high. He then deployed a slightly longer counterpoise wire along the ground directly under the antenna wire. A quick check with the antenna analyzer showed resonance on 40 and 20 meters. The bands were slow and he made a total of 16 contacts with 13 contacts in the first hour of calling CQ on 40 meters. They were mainly clustered around South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. At the end he went up to 20 meters and made 3 contacts there in Virginia, West Virginia and Ohio. So the NVIS concept works and now to see the next test might be to rig it about 8 feet off the ground using the horse hitching poles in the camp area. Might have this worked out in time for Field Day so we can contact those close in stations.
Danny AG4DW is across the pond in Ireland bemoaning the fact that he has no radio gear with him this trip. The POTA map even showed never activated parks along the route his tour is taking. Painful for POTA but beautiful country for touring..
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