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288 viewsThis past Thursday July 17 2025 we activated Cloudland Canyon SP US-2169 from the main park site up at the disc golf course.
The weather cooperated with no rain or lightning. However the bands were a bit on the disturbed side. The ionosphere instead of being a nice smooth lake surface acted like there was a small craft advisory out there in space. Contacts would fade mid sentence or come booming in from odd places.
On the day Allen KN4FKS set up his 25 ft Chameleon vertical with eight radials and had 46 contacts with 10 Park to Park contacts and 3 Canadians all on 20 meters SSB. Danny AG4DW had 92 contacts using his POTA performer vertical antenna. He had 2 SSB on 20 meters then went to FT8 on 40 meters and made 49 contacts then went to 17 meters FT8 and made 41 more. John KB4QXI used his hamstick on top of the car and made 38 SSB contacts on 20 meters.. He had 14 P2P's and 1 air mobile contact. An airplane at 40,000 feet altitude over central TN made contact as well. Talk about antenna height !
Other folks were active as well on other days during the week. Allen activated on Wednesday, Dan also as well on Wednesday , Danny activated on Friday.
Remember the upcoming Saturday activation on the 26th and see you on the radio.
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285 viewsOn Thursday Aug. 21, 2025 we activated the Vann House State Historical Site US-7457 This small park is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so it doesn't see a lot of activations. There are lots of picnic tables and a wonderful shade tree to make it a pleasant site even on a hot day. The park manager lady is also a Ham so the staff is definitely POTA friendly. The adjacent museum and visitor center is worth a visit and the actual Vann house is amazing. Our native Americans did not live in Tepees.
Allen KN4FKS and Danny AG4DW shared a radio set up. They used the end fed wire and the ever trusty Icom 706 MKIIG. Allen made 37 contacts with 5 park to parks on 40 meters SSB. Danny made 22 contacts with 4 P2P also on 40 meters. It was tough work as we had a local QRM source giving us a 5-8 noise level on 40 meters and even 5-6 across all the bands. Don't know what it was but it made getting contacts a challenge. They could hear us but we couldn't hear them.
Dan K2DTS set up his trusty 17 ft. vertical on his car hood. He made 32 contacts on 20 and 17 meters on FT8 and had DX contacts in France, Slovakia, Belize, Guatemala, Czech Republic, Finland, and 2 in Germany. Dave KQ4GLQ set up his vertical and ran his ICOM 705 in a way cool go box set up. He made 61 contacts on FT8. I wore my special T shirt just for him. (see attached photos)
Earlier in the week John KB4QXI activated Berry College WMA 3734 on Wednesday and Danny AG4DW went to Estelle on Pigeon Mountain also on Wednesday. to edge closer to getting his KILO award for Pigeon. Dave KQ4GLQ and Tony WA4TW joined him there.
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284 viewsW4PLP did a very quick activation of US-2169 Nick-a--Jack trail head after. watching superstar Jody Carter W4LWC at Huntsville Hamfest on YouTube live stream.
Today's mission was two fold.
1) Since I am turning the age of Medicare in next Wednesday, I needed to relive when I 1st became a ham WN4QCH in the 1970's. Back then all I could afford was a double bazooka antenna built by my hand. For 2025 today I used a double bazooka purchased at Chatt Radio.
It rocked!
2) I also wanted to place into sevice a hitch mount "printed" by a 3D printer. See attachment.
I went QRT because 20 meter band had major QRM from the North American QSO party and blue sky thunder near by.
73 de W4PLP
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279 viewsOn Thursday Aug. 21, 2025 we activated the Vann House State Historical Site US-7457 This small park is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so it doesn't see a lot of activations. There are lots of picnic tables and a wonderful shade tree to make it a pleasant site even on a hot day. The park manager lady is also a Ham so the staff is definitely POTA friendly. The adjacent museum and visitor center is worth a visit and the actual Vann house is amazing. Our native Americans did not live in Tepees.
Allen KN4FKS and Danny AG4DW shared a radio set up. They used the end fed wire and the ever trusty Icom 706 MKIIG. Allen made 37 contacts with 5 park to parks on 40 meters SSB. Danny made 22 contacts with 4 P2P also on 40 meters. It was tough work as we had a local QRM source giving us a 5-8 noise level on 40 meters and even 5-6 across all the bands. Don't know what it was but it made getting contacts a challenge. They could hear us but we couldn't hear them.
Dan K2DTS set up his trusty 17 ft. vertical on his car hood. He made 32 contacts on 20 and 17 meters on FT8 and had DX contacts in France, Slovakia, Belize, Guatemala, Czech Republic, Finland, and 2 in Germany. Dave KQ4GLQ set up his vertical and ran his ICOM 705 in a way cool go box set up. He made 61 contacts on FT8. I wore my special T shirt just for him. (see attached photos)
Earlier in the week John KB4QXI activated Berry College WMA 3734 on Wednesday and Danny AG4DW went to Estelle on Pigeon Mountain also on Wednesday. to edge closer to getting his KILO award for Pigeon. Dave KQ4GLQ and Tony WA4TW joined him there.
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273 viewsThis Thursday July 31 we activated Crockford-Pigeon Mtn WMA US-3742 from the South Brow site. The bands were up and down crazy so short contacts were the necessity. The terrestrial weather cooperated till after lunch when a big thunderstorm moved in from the north and cut things short.
Allen KN4FKS had 48 SSB contacts on 20 meters with 16 Park to Park contacts. The early stoppage saw him stop 11 contacts shy of reaching the triple Kilo mark for this park. Bummer but that will be remedied soon!
Danny AG4DW made 41 contacts, 17 SSB on 40 meters 1 on 6 meters and 1 on 1.25 meters He also made 7 FT8 contacts before the storm came.
John KB4QXI made 17 contacts with 6 P2P with one P2P contact in Canada.
Dan K2DTS made 13 contacts on Pigeon then made 14 more at the Battlefield in spite of the static crashes on the way home.
Fun day in the big woods!
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260 viewsOn Thursday Aug. 21, 2025 we activated the Vann House State Historical Site US-7457 This small park is only open on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays so it doesn't see a lot of activations. There are lots of picnic tables and a wonderful shade tree to make it a pleasant site even on a hot day. The park manager lady is also a Ham so the staff is definitely POTA friendly. The adjacent museum and visitor center is worth a visit and the actual Vann house is amazing. Our native Americans did not live in Tepees.
Allen KN4FKS and Danny AG4DW shared a radio set up. They used the end fed wire and the ever trusty Icom 706 MKIIG. Allen made 37 contacts with 5 park to parks on 40 meters SSB. Danny made 22 contacts with 4 P2P also on 40 meters. It was tough work as we had a local QRM source giving us a 5-8 noise level on 40 meters and even 5-6 across all the bands. Don't know what it was but it made getting contacts a challenge. They could hear us but we couldn't hear them.
Dan K2DTS set up his trusty 17 ft. vertical on his car hood. He made 32 contacts on 20 and 17 meters on FT8 and had DX contacts in France, Slovakia, Belize, Guatemala, Czech Republic, Finland, and 2 in Germany. Dave KQ4GLQ set up his vertical and ran his ICOM 705 in a way cool go box set up. He made 61 contacts on FT8. I wore my special T shirt just for him. (see attached photos)
Earlier in the week John KB4QXI activated Berry College WMA 3734 on Wednesday and Danny AG4DW went to Estelle on Pigeon Mountain also on Wednesday. to edge closer to getting his KILO award for Pigeon. Dave KQ4GLQ and Tony WA4TW joined him there.
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259 viewsThe TSARC POTA crew has been busy this past week. On Thursday Danny AG4DW and Allen KN4FKS activated Sloppy Floyd State Park US-2187. The terrestrial weather was fine and the space weather was a bit noisy but OK.
Allen made 25 contacts on 20 meters SSB with 11 Park to Park contacts. Danny made 69 contacts 44 were SSB and 25 were FT8. He had DX contacts to Cuba, England, France, St. Vincent Island, and 5 Canadians. Dan K2DTS stayed closer to home and made 19 contacts on 20 meter SSB at the Battlefield US-0716 also on Thursday.
In other activations Danny AG4DW finished out his KILO award for Pigeon Mountain WMA US-3742 on Wednesday. Congratulations on hitting the 1 thousand contacts milestone.
Mat AF4MH was in Michigan and activated 7 Lakes State Park US-1537 with 42 SSB contacts. John KB4QXI was in West Virginia and made two activations. On Aug 29 he activated Fox Forest WMA US-12038 with 15 contacts SSB with 6 P2P contacts. Then on Aug 31 he activated Bowden State Fish Hatchery US-12052 with 21 contacts on 20 meter SSB with 13 P2P contacts.
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240 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park location.
The DNR Game Warden K-9 units from all over the state were training at the park Thursday. While Allen KN4FKS was setting up his vertical antenna a K-9 and two handlers came by working on a trail and an evidence search problem. They passed within ten feet but the dog was focused on the job and was not distracted by Ham!
Soon Allen was on the air on 20 meters SSB where he made 17 contacts. Moving he made 18 more on 40 meters for a total of 35 contacts with 14 Park to Park contacts. Just to see Allen called CQ POTA for ten minutes on both 15 meters and 17 meters with no success. Mid day these bands were just not happening.
Danny AG4DW set up and made 84 contacts total. 37 on 40 meters and 47 on 20 meters. 40 contacts were SSB and 47 were FT8. He had DX from Japan Spain and Canada.
Also on Thursday John KB4QXI activated Pigeon Mountain, Ed KM6UTC and Dan K2DTS activated the Battlefield from different sites.
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229 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park location.
The DNR Game Warden K-9 units from all over the state were training at the park Thursday. While Allen KN4FKS was setting up his vertical antenna a K-9 and two handlers came by working on a trail and an evidence search problem. They passed within ten feet but the dog was focused on the job and was not distracted by Ham!
Soon Allen was on the air on 20 meters SSB where he made 17 contacts. Moving he made 18 more on 40 meters for a total of 35 contacts with 14 Park to Park contacts. Just to see Allen called CQ POTA for ten minutes on both 15 meters and 17 meters with no success. Mid day these bands were just not happening.
Danny AG4DW set up and made 84 contacts total. 37 on 40 meters and 47 on 20 meters. 40 contacts were SSB and 47 were FT8. He had DX from Japan Spain and Canada.
Also on Thursday John KB4QXI activated Pigeon Mountain, Ed KM6UTC and Dan K2DTS activated the Battlefield from different sites.
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225 viewsWe activated J. 'SLOPPY' Floyd State Park US-2187 this Thursday Sept 25th. It was a sloppy activation on several levels. Because of the threatening rains we set up at the picnic shelter up by the restrooms on top of the hill. As we are setting up a big truck pulls up and is there to empty the sewage tank about 20 feet from the picnic shelter. The fellow said "this might stink a bit" He was right.
Then after a bit of aroma therapy the park ranger walked up and advised us the picnic shelter was reserved for the day and we needed to pack up and move to another shelter. Both of us had not noticed the little note in the sign on the shelter saying it was reserved. As Danny AG4DW noted in the future "We must check the reservation board on shelters from now on" (see attached photos of what to look for) So we quickly packed up everything and moved down the hill to the 'Not Reserved' picnic shelter, set up again and completed the activation. It never rained a drop! However on the drive home it pored down rain for a while. It was a fun but 'Sloppy' day.
For the activation part Allen KN4FKS made 32 SSB contacts 28 Park to Parks ( one of the P2P's was to California) with DX to Cuba and Poland.
Danny AG4DW cranked up the FT8 machine and made 31 contacts 25 on 10 meters and 6 on 40 meters. He had lots of DX into Europe. Germany(5), Hungary(2), Italy(2), Canada, Poland, Spain and Ukraine.
John KB4QXI was not able to attend, he spent the entire day waiting on a Windstream technician who never showed up. Customer service?
On Wednesday Danny AG4DW got to do something special in the POTA world. He was able to activate an "ALL TIME NEW ONE" (ATNO) A new state park was created in Tennessee on Sunday. Danny contacted the POTA coordinator for Tennessee and set things in motion. The park Ocoee River State park had the POTA number US-12663 by Tuesday night. Danny made tracks over to the park first thing Wednesday morning, set up and made 94 ATNO QSO's. He had 78 on SSB and 16 FT8 before the rain set in. Two other hams activated the park later that day. ATNO's don't last long so 'You snooze you loose" Congratulations to Danny on first getting the park listed then on grabbing the ATNO activation.
Fun days, fun hobby, always something new.
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221 viewsWe activated J. 'SLOPPY' Floyd State Park US-2187 this Thursday Sept 25th. It was a sloppy activation on several levels. Because of the threatening rains we set up at the picnic shelter up by the restrooms on top of the hill. As we are setting up a big truck pulls up and is there to empty the sewage tank about 20 feet from the picnic shelter. The fellow said "this might stink a bit" He was right.
Then after a bit of aroma therapy the park ranger walked up and advised us the picnic shelter was reserved for the day and we needed to pack up and move to another shelter. Both of us had not noticed the little note in the sign on the shelter saying it was reserved. As Danny AG4DW noted in the future "We must check the reservation board on shelters from now on" (see attached photos of what to look for) So we quickly packed up everything and moved down the hill to the 'Not Reserved' picnic shelter, set up again and completed the activation. It never rained a drop! However on the drive home it pored down rain for a while. It was a fun but 'Sloppy' day.
For the activation part Allen KN4FKS made 32 SSB contacts 28 Park to Parks ( one of the P2P's was to California) with DX to Cuba and Poland.
Danny AG4DW cranked up the FT8 machine and made 31 contacts 25 on 10 meters and 6 on 40 meters. He had lots of DX into Europe. Germany(5), Hungary(2), Italy(2), Canada, Poland, Spain and Ukraine.
John KB4QXI was not able to attend, he spent the entire day waiting on a Windstream technician who never showed up. Customer service?
On Wednesday Danny AG4DW got to do something special in the POTA world. He was able to activate an "ALL TIME NEW ONE" (ATNO) A new state park was created in Tennessee on Sunday. Danny contacted the POTA coordinator for Tennessee and set things in motion. The park Ocoee River State park had the POTA number US-12663 by Tuesday night. Danny made tracks over to the park first thing Wednesday morning, set up and made 94 ATNO QSO's. He had 78 on SSB and 16 FT8 before the rain set in. Two other hams activated the park later that day. ATNO's don't last long so 'You snooze you loose" Congratulations to Danny on first getting the park listed then on grabbing the ATNO activation.
Fun days, fun hobby, always something new.
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218 viewsThis Thursday we activated Cloudland Canyon State Park US-2169 from the main park location.
The DNR Game Warden K-9 units from all over the state were training at the park Thursday. While Allen KN4FKS was setting up his vertical antenna a K-9 and two handlers came by working on a trail and an evidence search problem. They passed within ten feet but the dog was focused on the job and was not distracted by Ham!
Soon Allen was on the air on 20 meters SSB where he made 17 contacts. Moving he made 18 more on 40 meters for a total of 35 contacts with 14 Park to Park contacts. Just to see Allen called CQ POTA for ten minutes on both 15 meters and 17 meters with no success. Mid day these bands were just not happening.
Danny AG4DW set up and made 84 contacts total. 37 on 40 meters and 47 on 20 meters. 40 contacts were SSB and 47 were FT8. He had DX from Japan Spain and Canada.
Also on Thursday John KB4QXI activated Pigeon Mountain, Ed KM6UTC and Dan K2DTS activated the Battlefield from different sites.
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