 Most viewed - Parks on the Air |
610 viewsWe gathered this past Thursday at Red Clay State Park US-2970 for an activation day. It was a pleasant day weather wise with lots of shade and a nice breeze.
Danny AG4DW set up his POTA Performer vertical antenna for Jody W4LWC to use. A Rambler Radio Club graduate Emma Gillenwater who lives near the park now joined us. They made 72 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 4 DX to Canada and 1 to the Netherlands. It was great to see Emma once more.
Allen KN4FKS set up his 17 meter folded dipole and made 17 contacts on 17 meters SSB with 1 P2P and DX to Canada, France, England, and 2 Italians. Dave KQ4GLQ set up in the picnic shed and worked 40 meters SSB. I don't have his totals, but he had a good day. Dan K2DTS stopped by and without band pass filters could not get but 1 contact on 15 meters. However he moved away from us and ended up with 15 contacts on 20 meters. He was amazed that he actually heard stations in Bulgaria and Vietnam. They were strong but he was unable to break the pile up. Cool nonetheless.
John KB4QXI arriving fashionably late managed 11 contacts with 3 P2P after moving to another parking lot on the park to escape all the RF.
Red Clay State Park is a small historic park. It was the capital of the Cherokee nation for many years. So for POTA it is also a Trail of Tears US-3791 location.
Fun day on the bands, we also were able to introduce ham radio to several park visitors.
|
|
609 viewsPOTA - Pigeon Mountain - 4-24-2021
|
|
609 viewsYesterday we activated Crockford Pigeon Mountain WMA K-3742 from the check station on Rocky Lane. The DNR folks were gracious enough to allow us to use the check station for our day. We had HEAT, a bathroom and a fun day.
We set up one station on the main table and then took turns on the microphone. We used Allen's KN4FKS Icom 706 MkIIG at 100 watts into a Chameleon vertical with a long counterpoise out on the side yard. Allen KN4FKS started out on 15 meters and made 25 quick contacts with 6 P2P and 7 DX contacts (2 Austria, 2 Germany, Spain, Ireland, and Canada.) Danny AG4DW took over and made about 20 contacts with several DX contacts. John KB4QXI went next on the same 15 meter frequency and made 20 contacts with 5 DX (2 Canadians, Austria, Ireland, and Slovak Republic.) Fred KQ4JXX got on and made about 15 contacts with a few DX contacts.
We had a new operator present so we quickly went to POTA.APP on his smart phone and went through the quick sign up process. Now officially set we turned the mic over to Jeff N2YYP. New to all this POTA stuff Jeff stepped up and quickly sounded like an experience POTA activator. He made his first contact as a Park to Park to Barbados Island in the Caribbean. He made 12 contacts total with 2 more DX contacts. Ed KM6UTC was present acting as adult supervision over this bunch of Hams. Just having one station allowed everyone else to sit around the table and ragchew quietly while someone worked the radio. Fun day.
One of the special things about Thursdays activation was that Jeff's Grandfather used to own the property the check station is on before the state bought it. Delmas Fitzpatrick lived in the old house (now gone) across the creek. He and his brother Shields Fitzpatrick took and old style cable bulldozer and built the original Rocky Lane up the East side of Pigeon Mountain. (I believe around 1950) Quite and engineering feat that was. The current Rocky Lane follows some of their original route and was constructed in the late 1980's using lots more modern equipment.
|
|
609 views
|
|
609 viewsWe activated J. 'Sloppy' Floyd State Park US-2187 on Thursday Jan. 30 2025 from the lower lake site. The terrestrial weather was mild with mostly cloudy skies and only about 10 drops of rain at one time. The space weather cooperated as well and we all had a good day.
Allen KN4FKS rigged the end fed wire as a sloper and used the trusty old ICOM 706 MKIIG to run 100 watts. 20 meters SSB was active as usual and 71 contacts were made in short order. !5 P2P contacts and one Canadian contact. During the almost constant pile up I heard a partial of KC3 so came back with 'KC3go ahead' had another pile. To my amazement I had FOUR folks with prefix of KC3 calling me. Never had that happen before. John KB4QXI had a logging computer issue and had to work through that. Once he got set up with his Hamstick and YAESU 891 he went to work on 20 meters SSB making 87 contacts with 18 P2P and 3 Canadians. Danny AG4DW worked 15 meters and had 9 SSB contacts and 30 FT8 contacts. He had 15 DX contacts.to Canada, EH9 Ceuta & Melilla (a part of Spain in N. Africa) Columbia, Germany, France, Hawaii, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Also in other POTA news this week on Wednesday John KB4QXI went to Pigeon Mtn. US-3742 and made his 3,000th contact as an activator on that area. A TRIPPLE KILO ! Also as a POTA 'hunter' Allen KN4FKS has now contacted 2,000 distinct parks. So now he has a DOUBLE KILO as a hunter.
Hunting from the home shack or activating from a nearby park POTA has Ham radio fun for everyone.
|
|
609 viewsIn case you have been under a rock for some time this weekend was the ARRL Field Day event. Several of us with the TSARC set up at the Cedar Grove Community Center in SW Walker County. The community center is a great location for field day with one exception. It has air conditioning a big plus, a full kitchen, lots of space to set up, a basket ball court sized big central room And did I mention air conditioning!. The one problem with the location in the valley is that it is surrounded on three sides by nearby Lookout mountain and Pigeon Mountain. So getting a signal out of this hole is difficult but doable.
We got off and running Saturday afternoon and as usual a big thunderstorm rolled in over the mountain. Quickly we disconnected antennas and watched the rain blow sideways first one direction then the other. Ed KM6UTC has his vertical antenna support tripod blow down but luckily it was not damaged. Then late Sunday morning here came another big storm so we called it quits and hurriedly got all the antennas down and everything packed away just before the storm hit once more. The timing was excellent as we had just run out of cookies to munch on. A crisis was at hand.
Field day is POTA done large and all of us have gotten lots of practice operating portable. But field day is not POTA as there were no peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
|
|
608 viewsPOTA - Zahnd Wildlife Mgt Area - 2-19-2021, It was cold!
|
|
608 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.
|
|
608 viewsThis Thursday we activated Pigeon Mountain US-3742 from inside the check station. With rain showers all around and the hot muggy weather it was certainly nice to have air conditioning and a roof over our heads.
We set two stations and shared radios and bands. Allen, KN4FKS, started out on 20 meters with 14 contacts, 12 P2P and no DX. Peter, KX4BE, broke out the key and worked 20 meter CW and made 13 contacts with all 13 being P2P. Then John KB4QXI made 18 contacts on 20 meters. Danny, AG4DW, set up his digital rig on 15 meters and made 28 contacts on FT8. He had 4 DX contacts to: Columbia, Belize, and 2 Canadians.
Thanks to the GA DNR folks who let us use the check station to avoid the heat and rain!
|
|
608 viewsThis Thursday Nov. 21 we activated J. 'Sloppy' Floyd State Park US-2187. It was a bit chilly and at times very windy, One gust blew over Dave's antenna tripod and nearly tipped over my table. In spite of the weather we had a fun day.
John KB4QXI was the only smart one as he activated from inside his car .He made 46 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 17 Park to Park contacts in that total. The rest of us sat out in the wind. The sun was bright and the bands were good. Dave KQ4GLQ made 11 contacts on 10 meters SSB using his tripod vertical. Allen KN4FKS used his end fed wire to make 39 SSB contacts on several bands with 4 P2P contacts one to a park in Barbados. He had thirty contacts on 20 meters, six contacts on 17 meters, two on 12 meters and one on 6 meters. DX contacts were in Italy, Barbados and Canada. Danny AG4DW had 26 total contacts with 5 P2P contacts. Two SSB contacts on 6 meters, and 23 on FT8 on 15 meters. He had 7 DX contacts in Alaska, Canada, Czech Republic, Russia, Spain and Germany. By making his two contacts on 6 meters Danny qualified for the POTA "Activator N1CC" ten band activation award. He is the first of the crew to accomplish this award. Congratulations.
Dan K2DTS stayed closer to home and activated Chickamauga Battlefield US-0716 where he made 15 contacts, 14 on 20 meters and 1 on 2 meters. He used a homebrew tripod vertical with elevated radials This antenna set up shows great promise in really projecting a signal well.
This coming week Thursday is Thanksgiving so we'll not schedule a planned POTA activation. However there are lots of parks and everyone can slip away sometime this week and get in an activation.
A famous Thanksgiving activation is shown in the video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UOoXJhXzlw Enjoy!
|
|
607 viewsPOTA - GA QSO Party w/ Rambler Radio Club - 4-12-2021
|
|
607 viewsPOTA - 2022-09-29 - Prentice-Cooper State Forest TN K-5499 was the destination yesterday. At the far end of Tower Road is a cliff top site overlooking the Tennessee River Gorge. Ed ran FT8 using his Mag-Loop antenna, Peter used his end fed wire to work CW, and Allen hung his wire EFHW and worked SSB. Allen Had 41 contacts with 10 P2P contacts. Peter had 55 contacts with 4 P2P and Ed had 35 contacts with 1 P2P. Great day, beautiful day, great view, and great friends.
|
|
| 808 files on 68 page(s) |
 |
|
|
|
|
32 | |
|
|
|
|
