 Most viewed - Parks on the Air |
549 viewsPOTA 01-12-2023 - Crockford-Pigeon Mtn. WMA K-3742. Tony WA4TW was on 20 meters and made 82 contacts, 24 P2P, 7 Canadians, and 1 Maritime Mobile, a 30 ft. sailboat on the Mississippi River. Allen KN4FKS handled logging. John KB4QXI was on 40 meters and made 37 contacts with 3 P2P. Operating was tough with the ever increasing lightning crashes on both bands. Before the storm hit we shut down operations, disconnected coax and laid down the vertical antenna. We enjoyed a long lunch while the storm passed over. The wind blew, and the rain came down in buckets but we were high and dry inside the check station. The power stayed on the entire time as we kept a watch on the storm. We got back on the air after the storm passed but the bands were still noisy. I'm glad to report, no one overslept, no gear was left at home, and all batteries were fully charged.
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549 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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549 viewsDespite our fearless (underground) leader, Allen (KN4FKS), being otherwise engaged in the process of counting bats in a nearby belfry (cave), we had good attendance today as we activated K-2933, Booker T. Washington State Park, in Chattanooga. The weather was perfect, a warm sunny day. We found spots near Picnic Pavilion #2 overlooking Chickamauga Lake! The bands were up and down and otherwise kinda' funky but we managed to make some good contacts anyway!
Danny (AG4DW) had a total of 35 contacts (including 6 park-to-parks) working the 10 meter band. 9 contacts were SSB with five US contacts and three DX, including Bermuda (a park), Spain and Belgium. There were 26 digital (FT8/FT4) contacts with 12 US contacts and 14 DX, including Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain and France.
Ed Dionne (KM6UTC) worked FT8/FT4 on 20 meters using his loop antenna out of the back of his car and made 84 contacts. Two of those were DX to Canada and probably a few park-to-parks but we won’t know how many until the POTA databases work that all out.
Fred Mahler (AD4FM) worked 15 meters out of his truck using hamsticks and made 18 contacts, including 2 park-to-parks and 2 DX to Spain!
Dan Strickland (K2DTS) also worked out of the back of his car but his purpose today was to work out the kinks and configuration of some new equipment and antennas! He did not activate but nonetheless made a few contacts, including one to the Dominican Republic!
KJ4AFL, Tom Hill, crashed our POTA party. Tom lives just on the other side of the lake from the park and showed up to do a solo activation. Surprise! We welcomed him into our group. Tom worked out of his car and was having to work out some issues with an antenna that wouldn’t tune properly. It wound up being a bad piece of coax cable and he was able to take a quick trip home to replace the cable and got up and running. It was fun having Tom join us!
We had at least one visitor that was curious about what we were doing and we spent some time demonstrating POTA and Ham Radio.
We certainly missed having Allen there but we managed a good outing even without proper adult supervision!
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548 viewsPOTA, Nick A Jack Trailhead - Cloudland Canyon - 12-17-2020. W4TDH, N9MJH
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548 viewsPOTA - with the Rambler Radio Club - 5-15-2021
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548 viewsPOTA - 2022-09-01 - Today we went to Cohutta Wildlife Management Area K-7446 over East of Chatsworth GA. We set up two stations each using an end fed half wave wire rigged as a sloper fed from the bottom. Battery power ran the 100 watt transceivers. Peter KX4BE worked CW on 20 meters and had 42 contacts with 1 P2P and 1 DX contact. Allen KN4FKS worked SSB on 40 meters and had 34 contacts with 4 P2P. Tony got on 20 meters SSB and made 15 contacts with 6 P2P and 1 DX to Alaska. Another great day doing POTA !
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548 viewsWe activated Johns Mtn. WMA K-3758 today from the Johns Mtn. overlook. On his way up the gravel mountain road Tony looks into the woods and sees a large black bear ambling along. Tony had 15 contacts with 7 P2P. One park to park was in Canada and another was in Italy. The bands were open and he had 7 DX contacts: Cuba, Italy, Slovenia, Guadeloupe Czech Republic, and Canada. Ed
KM6UTC showed up, set up his magnetic loop and worked digital on 20 and 30 meters.
In the meantime an Army fellow (Special Forces) showed up and set up his military radio. He was operating in military frequencies just above our 20 meter band. He was also a ham but he just played on the mil frequencies.Â
The occasional hikers came by today They stopped and were all amazed by just how far away we were communicating with our simple little rig.Â
Allen Got on 10 meters. Contacts were W1AW/7 in Arizona and the second was RW1A in Russia. The total for the day was 28 contacts with 4 P2P and 5 DX, European Russia, two in Italy, Canada, Canary Islands and Australia! Yes I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard VK4NH come back to my CQ. That was a first for our POTA contacts distance wise.Â
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548 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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547 viewsWell the day started off dark and rainy. Everyone except me (Allen KN4FKS) bailed for one reason or another. When I arrived at the Nick A Jack trailhead for Cloudland Canyon SP US-2169 the rain let up long enough to get everything moved to under the picnic shed. Then it rained hard while I watched and waited.
A hiker came out of the trail and we chatted for a while and the rain stopped for a bit, he left and I set up my new 25 foot Chameleon vertical. Back under the shed and the bottom fell out again. I got on 20 meters SSB and made 52 contacts before lunch. The band was busy and the adjacent QRM was bothersome at times. Had lunch by myself (the usual peanut butter jelly) the rain tailed off and eventually the sun came out. After lunch I went to 17 meters to avoid the crowd and made 9 contacts there. One DX from Sweden. Went back to 20 meters and made several more Park to Park contacts. Finished up with one park to park on 40 meters and called it a day with 69 QSO's and 25 P2Ps.
After I got home and uploaded my log I checked my totals for Cloudland Canyon SP and suddenly realized I had gone QRT early and was only 18 QSO's away from my double KILO on the park. Could have made that easy in a short bit. Oh well next time will be the clincher. No pressure.
Peter KX4BE ventured out close to home at Harrison Bay SP US-2951 today. He used the mini Tarheel antennal on the car and made 18 quick contacts on 20 meters with 4 P2P and no DX. He reported a beautiful day there with a nice breeze. Oh well.
Field Day is coming up next weekend June 28-29. Just think of it as a looong POTA activation with better food and air conditioning ! If you haven't signed up yet RSVP now! Go to the club website https://tristatesarc.com/club/ and sign up. See you there.
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546 viewsPOTA, Nick A Jack Trailhead - Cloudland Canyon - 12-17-2020. W4TDH, N9ZEN
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546 viewsPOTA - with the Rambler Radio Club - 5-15-2021
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546 viewsPOTA - Russell Cave - 7-19-2021
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