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551 viewsPOTA - Red Clay State Historic Park - 11-19-2021
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551 viewsMade it ! Reached a POTA milestone for Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169 Thursday. The 'KILO' award is for making one thousand contacts from a specific park. (see attached photo)
The space weather cooperated for an exceptional day and the terrestrial weather cooperated as well by not being to hot in our shady location at the Ascalon Trailhead.
In addition to our radio gear we had two 12 volt fans running off battery power. Allen KN4FKS started off on 20 meters with Danny AG4DW logging.. Fred KQ4JXX provided adult supervision for the crew. Allen KN4FKS made a total of 107 contacts with 12 P2P and 13 Canadian contacts. After lunch Danny AG4DW got on 20 and made a quick 14 contacts before it just was getting too warm to be fun. Even on top of the mountain and in the shade it was 90 degrees F.
The rig we used was my trusty old ICOM 706 Mk IIG at 100 watts with 50 ft of RG-8-X coax feeding and end fed half wave rigged as a sloper with the balun on the ground stake. To make 107 contacts the battery meter showed only 6.5 amp hours of the 20 Ahr battery used. Fun day was had by all even after getting wasp stung.
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549 viewsMade it ! Reached a POTA milestone for Cloudland Canyon State Park K-2169 Thursday. The 'KILO' award is for making one thousand contacts from a specific park. (see attached photo)
The space weather cooperated for an exceptional day and the terrestrial weather cooperated as well by not being to hot in our shady location at the Ascalon Trailhead.
In addition to our radio gear we had two 12 volt fans running off battery power. Allen KN4FKS started off on 20 meters with Danny AG4DW logging.. Fred KQ4JXX provided adult supervision for the crew. Allen KN4FKS made a total of 107 contacts with 12 P2P and 13 Canadian contacts. After lunch Danny AG4DW got on 20 and made a quick 14 contacts before it just was getting too warm to be fun. Even on top of the mountain and in the shade it was 90 degrees F.
The rig we used was my trusty old ICOM 706 Mk IIG at 100 watts with 50 ft of RG-8-X coax feeding and end fed half wave rigged as a sloper with the balun on the ground stake. To make 107 contacts the battery meter showed only 6.5 amp hours of the 20 Ahr battery used. Fun day was had by all even after getting wasp stung.
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548 viewsPOTA, Estelle Equestrian Farm - 8-14-2020 - Allen KN4FKS
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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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547 viewsPOTA - Crockford-Pigeon Mtn Wildlife Mgt Area - 4-1-2021, W4TDH
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547 viewsWe activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 on Thursday May 29. We set up in the picnic shed on top of the hill at the highest point on the park next to the disc golf course. It wasn't raining when we set up but it certainly was when we were taking down.
Allen KN4FKS set up his new 25 foot tall Chameleon vertical and made a fairly quick 35 contacts on 20 meters. Then moved to 17 meters and slowed down a bit to make 19 contacts. Then moved to 40 meters to make 3 contacts. for a total of 57 contacts with 7 park to park contacts with 2 DX contacts, Mexico and Canada. The bands were wonky with signals coming and going or just non existent. The sun burped once more.
Danny AG4DW set up his elevated radial POTA performer vertical and made a total of 73 contacts, 47 on SSB, with 10 P2P contacts then 25 contacts on FT8 all on 40 meters, he then retuned and made 1 contact on 30 meters. Dan K2DTS used his mag mount HamStick and made 27 contacts on 20 meters, 16 SSB, 6 FT8, and 4 FT4.
Notable contacts on the day was first the US aircraft carrier USS Lexington W5LEX was hunting parks and gave me a call. Then later a booming signal 'park to park' came and it was David WK4DS calling from the Ascalon Trailhead in the same Cloudland Canyon Park property. He was probably two miles away. Then the next contact was in Washington state. \
The bands were odd short and then long. Did I mention it rained? I haven't packed away dry gear in over a month. I'm ready for some sunshine. Regardless a fun time was had by all.
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547 viewsThis Thursday August 7 we activated Crockford Pigeon Mountain WMA US-3742 from the Estelle Mine Road site.
Allen KN4FKS put up his 25 ft. vertical with 8 radials and made 36 SSB contacts with 26 P2P on 20 and 17 meters with 2 contacts on 40.
Dave KQ4GLQ made 26 SSB contacts with 6 P2P on 20 meters using his 17 ft. vertical with 3 radials. His activation was cut short by a call to work, Bummer how that happens.
John KB4QXI after having tire issues made 10 SSB contacts with 3 P2P on 20 meters with his roof mounted HamStick.
Dan K2DTS elected to stay closer to home and activated the Battlefield US-0716 where he made 15 contacts using his vehicle mounted stick antenna.
Danny AG4DW was enjoying the world's longest yard sale with his wife so he did not attend.
Earlier in the week there were some KILOs to be finished. On Tuesday Danny AG4DW activated the Battlefield US-0716 with 84 contacts on 20 and 40 meters. 51 were SSB and 33 FT8 with 4 DX two Canadians one to Spain and one to the Dominican Republic. He made and passed his TWO KILO mark for this park. When you get close to the goals POTA has such as the KILO award it gnaws at you till you get it done, especially if you are very close. Allen KN4FKS was 9 contacts shy of a triple KILO on Pigeon Mtn. US-3742. So on Saturday he set up on Blue Hole road and made a quick 20 contacts finishing the KILO quest. POTA will capture you so use caution!
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545 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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545 viewsOn Saturday, while a few were invited to spend time with the Ramblers, another crew of POTA operators went off to the Cherokee National Forest to activate.
This was made possible by a very cordial invitation by the Cleveland Ham Radio group and coordinated by Larry Wallace KN4JUU. Their club has a repeater at the top of Oswald Dome at an elevation of 3000’.
The drive up took us into the clouds/dense fog, where the taillights of the vehicle ahead were barely visible. My Land Rover has rear end fog lights from the factory I thought I’d never use… well they got turned on for this.
The road itself was not as in a poor condition as some may remember when heading to the Bat Cave . But it most certainly was much longer.
We arrived and set up with a variety of different radios and antennas. From that elevation even some 2m DX was easily possible.
The highlight of the day was lunch being cooked by our own Chef Boy R Jeff N2YYP. He had made up some Deer burgers the day before. Dangerous stuff! So good a person wanted to just keep eating them. Fortunately self control managed to prevail. Jeff I believe has been elected as the ‘official cook/chef’ for future adventures. I should mention there were dogs and sausages for those who didn’t want any Bambi. And also , Jeff brought some of his award winning Chow Chow. Stuff goes good on just about everything imo
Anyway, I digress. Activations went very well. What a wonderful locale to activate. Afterwards the fog had burned off, and the trip back down was simply Gorgeous! Vistas popped as we traveled down that were picture card perfect.
If the Cleveland crew ever offer the opportunity to go to their site again, I’d strongly encourage folk to take them up on it
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545 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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545 viewsWe activated Johns Mountain WMA US-3758 on Wednesday July 9 2025 from the overlook site. It was hot but there was as usual a breeze to make it barrable.
Allen KN4FKS set his usual end fed wire antenna and worked 40 meters SSB. He had 77 contacts with 6 park to park contacts and just 1 Canadian contact. John KB4QXI had 59 contacts with 18 P2P's on 20 meters SSB using his rooftop ham stick. Danny AG4DW set his 'POTA Performer' vertical and worked 17 meters with 8 SSB contacts and 62 FT8 contacts. He had several DX contacts 1 to Spain, 2 to the Dominican Republic and 4 to Canada.
The handy thing about operating from the overlook is that you can keep an eye on the developing weather to the west. When we arrived there was not a cloud in the sky. Then a line of small puffy clouds developed over the far ridgeline. Then as the morning moved into afternoon the clouds got bigger and then darker. About 1:30 we noticed a few far off static crashes. My shade moved and I was about to be in full sun. Enough fun, time to pack up and call it a day. We all got packed up and off the mountain then ran into heavy rains on the way home. Excellent timing. Fun day.
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