 Most viewed - Parks on the Air |
13 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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13 viewsWe activated Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169 today Thursday Jan 25 2024 from the main park site up on top of the hill at the big picnic shed. Luckily the shed roof kept us mostly dry but the mist that occurred between the rains blew through the open shelter and got everything a bit damp. Hopefully everything will dry out and still function. The terrestrial weather was ok with wet and rain but definitely warmer weather than last week. The space weather cooperated with no serious problems.
Ed KM6UTC set up his digital rig using the magnetic loop antenna and made quite a few contacts. Don't have numbers at this point. He also got Jeff N2YYP on digital as well and they had fun making contacts. Danny AG4DW set up his rig and used the vertical whip with tuned coil on 10 and 15 meters SSB. He made 17 contacts with 4 P2P and 5 DX contacts. One from the Netherlands was a park to park contact. He also contacted Italy, France and Canada. Allen KN4FKS then got on Danny's rig and made 25 contacts on 15 meters mostly with 3 P2P and 1 DX to Germany.
Then we changed operators again and Jeff N2YYP working 15 meters SSB made 23 contacts, with 6 DX contacts Spain, France and 4 Canadians. John KB4QXI worked on 40 meters through the static crashes and made 16 contacts. Fun day in the clouds at Cloudland.
POTA on!
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13 viewsThis Thursday Feb. 22 we activated the Zahnd WMA K-7903 which is in the middle of nowhere on the South end of Lookout Mountain. The small wildlife area consist of woodland, cliffs, and large sandstone boulders. The only public facility is a 10 car gravel parking lot just off the side of GA Hwy 157 south of Hwy 136.
Allen KN4FKS set up his station using an end fed half wave rigged as a sloper. on 20 meters and had 61 contacts, 11 P2P, and 3 DX. Ed KM6UTC set up his mag loop antenna and worked digital on 40 meters with 40 contacts, 4 P2P, and 14 DX. Ed was "slightly" delayed getting on the air searching for his cell phone which was hiding under his wallet in his back pocket. John KB4QXI set up his Ham Stick on top of the car and made 7 contacts on 40 meters and 25 on 20 meters with 12 P2P contacts. Danny AG4DW used the end fed rig to make 19 contacts with 3 contacts back to back from Spain, then 1 Mexico and 1 Canadian.
While there we had occasion to introduce two rock climbers and two hikers to Ham radio and POTA. Before we left Allen and Ed crossed the highway and walked a short distance to the top of the cliff line overlooking McLemore Cove and Pigeon Mountain to the East. The view is amazing even on an overcast day. Fun day once again.
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12 viewsPOTA - Pigeon Mountain - 4-24-2021
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12 viewsPOTA - Crockford-Pigeon Mtn. at Atwood Point - 09-23-2021
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12 viewsPOTA - Johns Mtn WMA - 09-10-2021
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12 viewsPOTA - Otting WMA K-7913 - 01-27-2022
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12 viewsWe activated Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169 at the Nickajack Trailhead on 3-11-2022. Peter had some antenna gremlins but still made 71 CW contacts on 20 and 30 meters with 4 DX contacts and one P2P. John had 37 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 5 P2P and had to shut down early with logging computer issues. Tony went first on 40 meters SSB, ran a pile up for over an hour and logged 89 contacts with 4 P2P. Allen got on 40 meters after lunch and made 45 contacts with 3 P2P.
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12 viewsWe activated Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169 at the Nickajack Trailhead on 3-11-2022. Peter had some antenna gremlins but still made 71 CW contacts on 20 and 30 meters with 4 DX contacts and one P2P. John had 37 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 5 P2P and had to shut down early with logging computer issues. Tony went first on 40 meters SSB, ran a pile up for over an hour and logged 89 contacts with 4 P2P. Allen got on 40 meters after lunch and made 45 contacts with 3 P2P.
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12 viewsToday we went to Crockford-Pigeon Mtn WMA K-3742 and set up on South Brow road on top of the mountain. Allen tried a new band today, 15 meters. In 4 hours made 14 contacts and used 75% of my battery calling CQ, made 1 P2P and 3 DX contacts. Got the activation but it was work. The first contact I had was from Italy and he was hunting parks. Had to QSY twice, once due to YL in Saudi Arabia (the first female ham in the kingdom HZ1HZ ) she could not hear us when she started and then the pile up was huge.
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12 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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12 viewsPOTA - 2022-08-04 -Our POTA activation today was at J. Floyd State Park near Summerville GA. John KB4QXI made 79 contacts on 40 meters. Tony WA4TW made 27 contacts with 7 P2P on 20 meters. Peter KX4BE made 53 contacts with 1 P2P on 30 meters CW. The assistant Park Manager Hope Cates came by and was very interested in our activation and visited for a while. Her father was a ham years ago so she remembered ham radio fondly. We had to quit early today as a thunderstorm came up from the south.
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