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668 viewsWe headed south on Thursday November 16 to JF 'Sloppy' Floyd State Park K-2187 just below Summerville GA. This quiet park offers several excellent places to set up radios and antennas for POTA.
We activated near the dam of the lower park lake at the end of the road. We set up the ICOM 706 MK II G 100 watt radio and used an end fed half wave wire rigged as a sloper. Allen, KN4FKS, talked and Danny AG4DW handled logging duties.
We were chasing parks and making several contacts when we heard a helicopter getting near. It kept getting closer, passed over us about 50 feet above the trees and proceeded to land on the dam of the lake in front of us. We kinda stopped playing radio and went to chat with the crew after they had shut down completely and were ok with us approaching. They were a US Forest Service contract fire suppression crew standing by for possible call to two nearby forest fires on National Forest land. Their support crew , their fuel tanker and a Forest Service official joined them on the dam.
We went back to our radio after all the excitement. Allen made 36 contacts 18 park to parks with 6 DX stations 1 Canadian, 2 from Spain and 2 from Italy. After lunch Danny AG4DW took over the mic and made 24 contacts all park to park. John KB4QXI showed up after lunch and used his Yaesu 891 and a Hamstick to make 62 contacts 14 park to park and 6 Canadian contacts.
Another fun day in the woods.
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667 viewsPOTA - Berry College Wildlife Mgt Area - 10-01-2020, Allen KN4FKS
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667 viewsPOTA, Nick A Jack Trailhead - Cloudland Canyon - 12-17-2020.
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667 views
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667 viewsWe activated Pigeon Mountain WMA US-3742 this Thursday June 5 2025. We set up at the South Brow road site. Without an audience I am deadly accurate with my arborist throw bag putting a string up over a high limb to set up the end fed halfwave wire antenna. If anybody else had been there and watching it would have taken six throws.
After getting set up I quickly made several Park to Park contacts on 20 meters SSB. Danny AG4DW arrives and was followed soon thereafter by the DNR area manager in his big tractor and mower. Luckily my sloper antenna was just high enough to clear the tractor cab to allow him access to the field he was to mow.
Danny set up his Pota Performer vertical antenna and made 15 SSB contacts on 40 meters then 8 FT8 contacts on that band as well. He shifted to 15 meters FT8 and made 17 more contacts bringing his total for the day to 50 contacts with two DX contacts 1 to Spain and 1 to the Dominican Republic.
Allen KN4FKS finished the day with 60 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 20 Park to Park contacts and just to Canadians for DX. So after 70 activations Allen is approaching a triple KILO for Pigeon Mountain WMA current total is 2941 leaving only 59 to go.
The South Brow site is nice and shady and being on top of the mountain our antennas are certainly high. Before we left the DNR Game Warden guy stopped by and we chatted with him for a while. Nice fellow. The view from the Hood Overlook on the way out was a bit hazy but still impressive. Another fun day in the big woods doing POTA!
Dan K2DTS couldn't make it to Pigeon Mountain Thursday but was able to sneak in a quick activation at the Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716. In the hour he had he set up made 2 SSB and 8 FT8 contacts for a successful activation with 2 DX contacts to Cuba and Canada. He then packed everything away and was only there for an hour. We are blessed with lots of easily accessible parks near us.
On Friday John KB4QXI was in Helen GA for a meeting and eased down to Hardman Farm State Historic Site US-3718 and fighting local QRN made 25 quick SSB contacts on 20 meters. He gave up when the noise floor exceeded S-9 level. Sometimes noise just jumps up and bites you. Especially at some parks, RV power inverters, noisy solar panels, LED parking lot lights, etc.
Anyway fun was had for a while and that's what POTA is about.
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666 views
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POTA 2022-07-28, Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169666 viewsAllen KN4FKS had 25 contacts on 40 meters with 9 Park to Park contacts. John KB4QXI had 64 contacts on 20 meters with 9 P2P’s. He had 3 DX contacts, Chile, Alaska, and Canada. He also was hunted by W1AW the ARRL HQ station. Ed KM6UTC activated for the first time and had 12 contacts on 40 m with 1 P2P. Welcome to the dark side… Matt AB4MH had about 30 contacts on 40 meters before a storm came up and prompted an early QRT.
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666 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.
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665 viewsCrockford-Pigeon Mountain - 05-27-2020 - W4TDH, Tony
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665 viewsPOTA - Crockford-Pigeon Mtn. WMA K-3742 - 1-19-2022
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665 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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665 viewsAgain it has been a POTA active week. The week started with John KB4QXI activating Berry College WMA US-3734 making 26 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 5 P2P and 2 Canadian contacts. This gave him a total contacts as an activator on Berry of 961.
On Tuesday Ed KM6UTC activated Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 from the Cravens house site on Lookout Mountain. He made 84 FT8 contacts for the day. Also on Tuesday Allen KN4FKS activated Pigeon Mountain WMA US-3742 from the Estelle Mine road site. He made 58 contacts SSB mostly on 40 meters with 4 P2P and no DX contacts.
Then on Thursday Ed KM6UTC went back to the Cravens house site and made 108 FT8 contacts with 3 P2P and lots of DX into Europe and Eurasia. John went back to Berry to finish out his 'KILO' award on Berry making 46 contacts with 21 P2P. Danny AG4DW and Allen KN4FKS activated J. Sloppy Floyd SP US-2187 from the usual lower lake site. Danny made 27 contacts mostly on FT8 with DX to Canada, Greece, and Spain. Allen KN4FKS made 77 contacts with 25 P2P and 3 Canadians to put him over the 1,000 contacts mark for Floyd SP.
Another 'KILO' awarded to part of the TSARC POTA crew.
A busy week with TWO KILO awards issued and as usual lots of radio fun.
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