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462 viewsWe had a fun relaxing activation at the Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 this Thursday Nov. 14. We started at 1 pm and caught the afternoon POTA hunter crowd.
Danny AG4DW made 28 contacts on 10 meters using his vertical antenna. He had 17 FT8 contacts and 11 SSB with DX to Canada, Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Uruguay. Allen KN4FKS used his Chameleon vertical whip with the extender section. He had a total of 38 SSB contacts. 10 on 40 meters, 24 on 20 meters, 1 on 15 meters, and 3 on Ten. Included in those totals were 23 Park to Park contacts with no DX other than Canada.
Tony WA4TW, Matt AF4MH, and Alan W4PLP stopped by to hang out and simply enjoy the day in the park. They helped with checking spots and providing adult supervision for the two operators. My bad I didn't take the first photo of this activation. However I have attached a photo of our latest line throwing gun we will use to get that long wire set in a distant tree.
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462 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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461 viewsKN4FKS, Allan - POTA, Sloppy Floyd Lake 5-13-2020
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461 viewsPOTA, Fern Cave 11-18-2020 - KB4QXI, KN4FKS, W4TDH, W4LWC, N9MJH
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461 viewsPOTA - 2022-09-16 - With the crew scattered to the winds this week there was still POTA activity to be done.
Allen activated Chattahoochee WMA K-7447 and Hardman Farm SP K-3718. Peter activated Fort Mtn. SP K-2176, John activated Berry College WMA K-3734 and Tony activated Pigeon Mtn. WMA K-3742.
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461 viewsWe activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn. Wildlife Management Area today (1-26-2023) at our Dougherty Gap location. We were hoping the sun would break through the clouds and spread a little warmth. That didn't happen, the wind blew, it was cold and it occasionally spit a little snow.
Allen KN4FKS worked off the Cameleon vertical with the extendable whip and four radials on 20 and 15 meters. Sixty contacts were made with 14 P2P and 3 Canadians. Danny Wooten AG4DW sat in Winston with Allen and handled logging duties keeping everything straight. John KB4QXI used his end fed half wave wire with the end up in a tree and rigged as a sloper with the feed on the ground. He covered 40 meters with 20 contacts and 1 P2P. He kept getting covered up by rag chewers who could not hear him.
Our CW whiz kid, Peter KX4BE used his new 75A Tarheel antenna on the 30, 20, 17, 15, and 12 bands. He had 84 contacts with 10 DX (all on 15m) and 2 P2P.
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461 viewsThursday August 17 we activated Chickamauga National Battlefield K-0716. Tony WA4TW did the talking and Allen KN4FKS kept the log. They recorded 50 contacts with 16 P2P's and 4 Canadians on 20 meters SSB. Danny AG4DW had 21 contacts, 8 SSB on 17 meters and 12 FT8 on 15 meters. Fred KQ4JXX came by and probably was overwhelmed by everything that was said and done. Luckily we did not have to use the line gun to get the antennas up both stations used ground mount verticals. (see the photos for our line gun)Â
A fun day was had by all. It's always great to have a new face and coax them over to the dark side of POTA
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461 viewsWe activated Booker T. Washington State Park TN K-2933 yesterday Thursday Nov 30 2023. It turned out to be a wonderful weather day in a really nice park. The park is one of those reminders of a segregated past. Now used by everyone we had a great time. For the activation we established four stations. Peter KX4BE worked CW on 12 m and 15m using the 'screwdriver' antenna on his van. Danny AG4DW worked FT8 mostly on 10 meters. One SSB contact was a park to park contact in England. He had a total of 26 contacts, for DX he also had 2 Brazil, Spain, Netherlands, and Canada. Danny used his elevated vertical antenna set up. Tony WA4TW worked 20 meters SSB with his Chameleon vertical and had 50 contacts with 9 P2P and 2 Canadians. After Tony got 50 QSO's Allen took over the rig and made 21 contacts also on 20 meters with 3 P2P's and 3 Canadians. After Allen Fred KQ4JXX took over and made 12 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 3 P2P's . John KB4QXI finally arrived and made 10 contacts with 2 P2P's on 40 meters using his 'Buddystick' on top of the car. Ed KM6UTC provided the needed 'Adult Supervision' necessary to keep the POTA crew out of trouble.
Band conditions were "wonky" all day signals would be strong then fade to next to nothing and suddenly be back strong in the midst of one QSO. You might see a 5-9 signal go to 4-3 on the next over then back to 5-9 mid sentence. Everyone just worked through the fading and made a successful activation. We utilized the loop road in the 'Recreation Area 2' and Pavillion 2 on top of a small hill and it made an excellent place to set up with some distance between stations yet close enough to enjoy visiting with each other We wondered about the odd layout of the hill top site.
While there the Park Ranger came by and stopped to chat. Very friendly fellow and he mentioned he had seen other folks like us in the past and wondered what it exactly was. We explained the Parks on the Air Program (gave him a brochure) then explained HAM radio in general and about our equipment. We then asked about the history of the hilltop and he said it was originally a campground, not for RV's but for tents. He also said they built a boat marina but neither were used much as back then the folks who came here didn't have a lot of boats or camping equipment. Times have changed he said. Well spoken. He then recruited us to help him with the parks Junior Ranger program next June. We'll be there whatever it takes!
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460 viewsPOTA, Johns Mountain Overlook 4-30-2020
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460 viewsPOTA, Crockford Pigeon Mtn (Estelle Trailhead) - 20201202
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460 views
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460 views5-25-2022, I activated the Dahlonega Gold Museum K-7456. To set up radios I set my vertical antenna in the grass half way between the building and the street. The radio and tuner were placed on a low brick wall and that was my operating position. Got on the air on 20 meters and had a noise floor of S-7 to 8. Made 13 contacts with 1 P2P and 2 DX (Spain, Canada) before I had to go QRT because it was about to rain. With all the passers by and tourist I spent a fair bit of time explaining what I was doing.
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