Author: Ed N2EC

After a fun trip to Four Days in May and Dayton Hamvention, my buddy Gersohn, KO4IUK, and I made our way back home. While at Hamvention on Saturday, we met up with Nick, AJ4YB, a member of MVARC who recently moved to the Columbus area. While exploring Hamvention together we came up with a plan to meet up Sunday morning at Buckeye Lake State Park which was conveniently situated near Nick’s QTH and also just off Interstate 70 on our way back home. Gersohn and I set the alarms for an early start and after having breakfast and packing up the car, we were off to the park. I had been hearing reports from friends that the bands were in bad shape the previous day. I had a friend who had a failed activation on the WA/OR border, although from the pictures I saw later on, it was a failure only in not getting 10 contacts … his operating environment could not have been more beautiful, being on the banks of a lake with a mountain visible in the distance. So with no small amount of trepidation, we made our way to the park with some new equipment in tow to give a 3-op activation a try.

Gersohn was lucky enough to get one of only two Chelegance MC-750 verticals that Chelegance had on display at Hamvention. Reviewers including Thomas, K4SWL, have been singing the praises of this design, which features a collapsible whip with screen printed markings to aid in tuning. The display unit had a damaged 4th ground radial that we didn’t have the tools to fix, so we made do with 3. Even with that 25% reduction in the radial field, we were able to get excellent SWR on the bands we tried almost instantly. With my RigExpert Stick Pro zeroing in on the perfect point of resonance was quick and almost effortless. For a radio we decided to use my Icom IC-705 as it has proven to be a capable performer in the field and very easy to use.

Nick arrived at the park shortly after we did on his motorcycle, and we showed off the new equipment while setting up camp on a picnic table on a creek that fed into Buckeye Lake. It was a beautiful morning and once we got everything set-up we decided to set ourselves up on 20m and hoped for the best. Scanning through the bands we saw a few stations on the waterfall, so we were hopeful and we spotted and called CQ on 14.312. It took several CQs, but after a while we got our first taker, a call from Colorado who boomed into our park with a 59 and heard our 10 Watt signal at 55. We then hopefully signed with a QRZ … but our hopes were not met with success. Instead they were met with silence. We tried for a while, then switched to 40 m, where we got no callers for our efforts. After no luck on 40 m we returned to 20 m on 14.322 and let our recorded CQ save our voices. 19 minutes after our first CQ, we got a call back from a station in Louisiana, again at 59 for us and 57 from his side. Then we kept going and got no callers for another 19 minutes.

It looked like we were going to have a failed activation, so Gersohn and Nick insisted I do some CW to see if at least one of us could make some contacts, so I set up on 40 m at 7.044 and the calls started coming in. A pair of callers from North Carolina started things off with strong signals, then Tennessee, super hunter K9IS in Wisconsin, Virginia, Connecticut, super hunter Joe N3XLS in Pennsylvania. Then things stopped dead on 40, this activation didn’t want to be complete. So I decided to go back to 20 m and I heard a quiet station who gave me a 339 in Texas and a pair of strong stations in Florida who got me to 12 QSOs and a successful activation with 10 CW QSOs in 17 minutes. If you need a reason to learn CW … this definitely isn’t a bad one. Gersohn and Nick needed 8 more and I didn’t want to give up so easily. So we went to 14.320, spotted ourselves and gave it another go.

(Photo Taken by Nick Bloom, AJ4YB)

We heard from Rhode island first (SSB #3), then after a few minutes got a caller from Florida (SSB #4), and after 5 minutes heard back from a station in Pennsylvania (SSB #5). Interestingly, while the QSOs were slow and far-between we were getting solid signal reports and strong signals. We were getting close enough to be able to start doing some inside-the-park park-to-parks. Since we had 3 ops, each person could get 2 P2Ps on each band. Not the way we like to do things, but with only 5 needed we could do one 20m QSO, 2 on 2m, and 2 on 70cm and get it in the logs. Interestingly enough I had a conversation the previous day with Jason W3AAX, the founder of POTA, about this and my general reluctance to do it on anything other than 2m/70cm. He said in no uncertain terms it was okay, so I made my way to the mobile station to get one more HF contact before switching to the HTs. As I tuned to the frequency on my 891 I heard Gersohn chatting with a mobile station, just a few miles a way going down Interstate 70. They were surprised they got us on ground-wave — they must have been super close (so alas their map locations are incorrect). I shut off the 891 and ran back to our operating position. The POTA gods smiled on us and the car had 3 ops in it. All 3 of us made contacts with all 3 of them for SSB contacts 6, 7, and 8. We thanked them profusely and now all we needed to get 10 was for each of us to make a contact on 2m. So we pulled out our HTs and called CQ POTA. We got no other takers than the ones we could see across the field from us, but that got us up to FM contacts 9 and 10. A successful activation for everyone.

From first QSO to the last we were on the air for 94 minutes. I got 20 in the log and Gersohn and Nick got 10. More importantly, the three of us had a great time together and Nick got his first POTA activation in the books. I had to reassure him that they’re usually easier than this, but we still had a blast. We also got to test out that Chelegance MC-750 antenna and it was an absolute joy to use. While many of my antennas can theoretically go without a tuner, this is the only one that I can confidently say doesn’t need one at all. I may have to pick one up myself.

After staying in the park longer than expected, we had to make our way back to the road. So Gersohn and I gave best 73 to Nick and headed back to Interstate 70 for home. We had initially planned on activating in Pennsylvania to get another state on the board, but with conditions like these we decided getting home before dark was the better plan. That will have to wait for another trip. Even with challenging band conditions, there is nothing like activating POTA with friends.

Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW, Red Pins = SSB, No Pins = FM / Green Lines = 40m, Blue Lines = 20m, Yellow Lines = 2m

Gear used in this activation

• Icom IC-705
• Chelegance MC-750 Vertical Antenna
• RigExpert Stick Pro Antenna Analyzer
• CW Morse Pocket Double Paddle Morse Code Key with Magnets
• CW Morse Steel Base for Pocket Paddles
• Icom LC-192
• Bioenno 12V 6Ah LiFePO₄ Battery
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

My buddy Gersohn and I decided that this was the year to make the trek out to the QRP ARCI Four Days in May (FDIM) conference and Dayton Hamvention. FDIM is the premier conference for QRP (low power) Amateur Radio Operators, with a focus on building radios, accessories, and sharing knowledge. Attending the conference was somewhat of a bucket list item of mine, so I was excited when the stars aligned and I was able to make the trek out to Fairborn, Ohio to attend. I was even more excited when upon mentioning it to my buddy Gersohn, KO4IUK, he was interested in joining me. FDIM’s big day is Thursday with the seminars, but there are also evening events on Friday and Saturday. Dayton Hamvention runs from Friday-Sunday, so you can easily attend both. So, as you can imagine, our thoughts immediately went to ways we could get activations in on the route to and from the convention. I planned a route and found a few parks along the way, but unbeknownst to me, Google Maps had different ideas and it took us on another route out to Ohio. I only realized this after we were past the point of no return, so we quickly found a park in West Virginia that was right off our route (less than a mile off the Interstate) and decided to do a quick mobile activation.

Coopers Rock State Forest is located a stone’s throw from Interstate 68 about 13 miles from Morgantown, West Virginia. Right as you get off the road there is a large gateway that you pass under to let you know you’re entering the park, and we immediately saw a parking lot that looked perfect for our activation. We could not have asked for more perfect accommodation as the parking lot was spacious and mostly empty, was surrounded by a beautiful sylvan setting, was high atop a mountain, had a picnic table under a shelter, and even had bathroom facilities. Amazing — this is a place I’d love to explore more of on a future visit. Since we had the mobile setup, we were able to get on the air quickly and chose to use the 20m band in the hopes of a getting a quick and efficient activation.

This would be an all SSB pass-the-mic affair, so we fired up HAMRS, spotted ourselves on the POTA spotting page, and started calling CQ. We didn’t have to wait long until we got our first contacts with prolific activator and hunter AD0WN in Missouri. He was coming in 59 to us, although he was doing some work on his side hearing us 44. Next up was a Park-to-Park with N2EOM at Two Rivers State Recreation Area in Nebraska. He was on the quieter side, but we were able to make the contact from high atop our mountain. Next up we got another call from Missouri, followed by a Park-to-Park with N5SLY at Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site in Texas with a 55 both ways. Next up we heard from Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Florida, Illinois, and Arkansas. Next we got a pleasant surprise (not reflected on the map, unfortunately) when WA1MAD gave us a call with a /VY2 suffix from Prince Edward Island, Canada. He was coming in strong and we talked about how beautiful it is up there (I had visited as a teenager many years ago). Finally we heard from another station in Florida and with 12 QSOs in the log, we decided to use a break in the action to call QRT and continue on our journey to Ohio. Even with 2 ops, we got 12 contacts in 12 minutes, not a bad rate when you consider that’s about one every 30 seconds for the 24 contacts in all. This is definitely a park I wouldn’t mind revisiting someday.

Activation QSO Map: Red Pins = SSB / Blue Lines = 20m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

It was a glorious Spring morning here in the DC area this morning and I was able to get up a bit earlier than usual so I was on my way to work bright and early. I was treated to abnormally light traffic as well, so I crossed the 14th Street bridge with plenty of time to spare and was able to take the exit to West Potomac Park and drive around Hains Point to one of my favorite drive-up activation spots in both Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT and Star-Spangled Banner NHT. My usual parking spot was cordoned off for the Police Unity Tour which I presume was scheduled to roll-through later on in the day, so I went a few feet down the road to the next parking area and got myself ready for an activation.

This morning I had time on my side, so I opted to give 40m a go, hoping I could get some of my LICW friends in the log and knowing that I would have some time to work the pile-up if it decided to happen. I sent out a note to the LICW group that I was QRV, spotted myself, and started at 7.042 MHz calling CQ. It didn’t take long for Mike N2PPI to give me a call with a solid signal into DC from NY — always fun to get him in the log. Next up I heard from a station in Michigan, followed by Ed N2GSL in NY coming in a bit soft (he was probably running QRP) but fully readable in the District. That made 2 LICW buddies in 3 QSOs, I was loving it.

Next up I heard from Georgia, New York, and Massachusetts. Next up was frequent hunter Dan WD4DAN with a strong signal from Georgia, followed by New York, North Carolina, super activator KU8T in Indiana, New York, Virginia, Ohio, Rhode Island, and another Ohio. Next I heard a very faint Rin W4RIN just above my noise floor in Georgia. Great to get another LICW member in the log (#3)! Then I got a call from super hunter Joe N3XLS in Pennsylvania (also an LICW member if memory serves me correctly, #4), then I was treated to another LICW contact with Chris N8PEM in Ohio coming in like he was transmitting right next to me for my 5th LICW contact of the activation. It was good to get him in the log and I am hoping to see him and Ed N2GSL at Hamvention next week.

The pile-up kept running, so I heard from Tennessee, Maine, North Carolina (x2), Ohio (x2), New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Virginia, Kentucky, Michigan, Ontario (Canada), Ohio, Michigan, Maryland, Pennsylvania (x2), Maine, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and finally Massachusetts. There was a stop in the action and I saw my time was running late, so I called QRT and called it an activation.

In all I had 40 contacts in 45 minutes on the air with 5 of those being LICW members (12.5%!). It was a lot of fun making contact with so many friends and familiar calls and a wonderful way to start the day. These two brought my activation count to 115 activations with 4,146 total QSOs. Definitely a lot of fun.

Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Green Lines = 40m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

Things have been busy at work recently with a multi-year project coming to its completion in the last month. As a result, I have not been able to get out into the parks for over a month as a lot of my “off” hours had been turned “on”. While things are still busy on that front, I had some time this morning before work to get into a park on the way into work for a very quick activation. The month gap had been one of the longest periods of time between activations since I had started activating. It felt good to be back.

With time limited, I decided to hit up Hains Point in DC and one of my easiest to activate 2-fers at Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT and Star-Spangled Banner NHT. It was a cool and cloudy morning that was threatening rain. While there were some drops on my way in, they stayed away while I was in the park. I had been listening to the bands on the commute and 40m had seemed to be alive. I even was able to make a quick POTA contact with a station in Southwest Virginia while I was stopped at a gas station refueling. When I got to my activation site I decided to go up a bit into the 30m band where there was less of a chance of an endless pile-up so that I could do a relatively short activation without leaving anyone out with a reasonably quick QRT.

I set-up shop on 10.111 MHz, checked my tune on the ATAS 120A, notified some LICW friends, and put out a spot on the POTA spots page, and I was off. It didn’t take long for me to get my first contact with a station in Illinois with a 599 both ways. Next up with Missouri with another strong report, followed by fellow LICW instructor Gary, W5GDW, in North Carolina. It was good to get him in the log. Next up was Arkansas and Massachusetts, followed by a frequent hunter in MD just a few miles away, N3VO. I was excited to hear Marc so clearly — usually getting him on 30m is much more difficult being so close-in since we’re shooting over each other with our RF. Next I got another Massachusetts station, then Iowa, Tennessee, Massachusetts again, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana, and finally Michigan. There was a lull in the action, and looking at the clock I saw it was time to make it into the office, so I sent QRT and called it a day.

If I had more time I would have dropped down to 40m as some of my LICW friends had tried to hear me on 30 with no luck, but it just wasn’t possible today. In all I got 15 contacts in 21 minutes on the air getting a nice spread across the Eastern United States. It felt good to be back out in a park and hearing the rhythmic music that is Morse code contacting friends old and new. I’m looking forward to my next outings. I have some new gear to test and with the weather getting nicer everyday, it will be great to be outside playing radio.

Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Green Lines = 30m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

I have been interested in getting a Mountain Topper radio for a while now, but they have been mostly out of stock for a long time. Supply definitely has been outstripped by heavy demand and when a new tranche of radios is released into the wild, they are usually gone in a day’s time. I was looking at an online forum and saw someone mention that a set of 100 Mountain Topper MTR-4B radios had been released on the LNR Precision site, so I decided to go for it and get my order in for one of the radios. I believe I was #26 in-line and they said they hoped to ship some out immediately and others could take a month or more. As Tom Petty said, the waiting is the hardest part, but after about a month I received notification of my radio being shipped from North Carolina. It finally came in the mail on Friday, and on Saturday I was able to get it hooked up at home and run it through its paces. I tested it on all 4 bands (80m, 40m, 30m, and 20m) and was spotted with just under 5 W on all of them on the Revere Beacon Network. I even had a couple of really nice ragchews: one with a station in Binghamton, NY, and another with a station in Raleigh, NC, both on 40m, even with some challenging propagation conditions. The receive audio was astonishingly quiet with so little noise that I had to initially wonder if it was on, but the signals were very clear on receive. I was very happy.

Of course, that’s not all that is necessary for an ultra-portable setup. I pulled out an MFJ-971 Portable Antenna Tuner to make sure that it was well matched with my home antenna, and it did the job quite well on all bands with a 1:1 on 80m, 40m, and 30m, and about a 1.4:1 on 20m. It is on the bigger side, but it was what I had on hand. I have a smaller QRP tuner on my kit building queue that will allow me to get everything even smaller. I also decided to run on battery power with a new power bank during my testing as well. The MTR4B really wants 12V, and no more than 13V for its supply voltage, so I looked at various options for powering it. I could use my LiFePO4 batteries with some in-line diodes to drop the voltage, but I decided to investigate an idea that I found quite intriguing. Using a USB Power Bank that supports the PD standard.

If you’re not familiar with PD, it is short for Power Delivery, and it is one of the primary ways that fast charging is being implemented on USB C devices these days. Basically, there is a chip in the power supply that communicates with the load device that allows the load to request a higher voltage for a given current, allowing more power to be delivered. Regular USB uses 5V, but PD can also supply 9V, 12V, 15V, and 20V. To get the voltage you want for non-USB devices, trigger cables are created that have a chip in them to negotiate a desired voltage with the power supply and then provide that voltage as a regular DC power output. In my case, I wanted 12V, and I was able to find a trigger cable purpose-built for that voltage complete with the right dimension barrel jack with the correct polarity from Amazon from the vendor JacobsParts. It put out 12.0 V on the nose. Fantastic.

For the power supply itself, I got a 65W 20,000mAh PD USB power bank from Baseus on Amazon. This has the benefit of being able to power all my devices with ample power including my phones, tablets, laptops, and yes, my radios. For the MTR4B I’m using the 12V cable, for the others, I can use a 15V cable. The battery is below the 100 Wh threshold that garners extra scrutiny from the TSA and they see power banks all the time. For my upcoming trip to Greece, this will be an essential part of my kit. When I first hooked things up, it was with some trepidation as I worried that the boost converters on-board might introduce noise into the HF bands. Thankfully, no noise was heard, only quiet receive. Perfect. So we have power, we have a tuner, and we have a radio. How about the antenna?

For this first activation with the radio I decided to use my recently acquired Elecraft AX1 antenna for its maiden voyage. It is a multi-band whip antenna capable of being used on 20m, 17m, and 15m out of the box, and with the AXE1 loading coil, it can be tuned up on 40m and 30m as well. With that antenna and the coil, I can use 75% of the bands the rig can use. The antenna is certainly “compromised” with its small form factor, but there are a lot of POTA activators that have had success with it, so when you’re the DX, it might be a great tool to have a super portable antenna that can be deployed almost anywhere. We would certainly find out.

Rounding out the kit was a new Anker Soundcore Mini speaker since the Mountain Topper doesn’t have an internal speaker (or even a volume control for that matter). Unlike many modern speakers, this one has an 1/8 inch stereo jack, so I could connect the headphone out to the input of the speaker. I could also use headphones with an in-line attenuator if desired, but I knew that the park I was going to was relatively quiet and usually not busy enough on a weekday to have my beeping be a nuisance to other park visitors. I even got a kid and his mother come by and ask about the Morse code and who I was talking to, and they were stunned when I said I had just talked to someone in Colorado. But hey, I’m getting ahead of myself.

I had a window of time on my lunch hour while I was working from home, so I decided to head over to one of my favorite spots that also happens to be a 4-fer. I was able to have everything radio and CW related in the hip pack and the antenna was in the Maxpedition organizer. The tuner I carried by itself. I found an empty picnic table right on the banks of the Potomac river and started setting up the station. Everything worked perfectly, and after a few seconds switching the inductor to maximum noise, I was able to modify the transmitter capacitance to get a 1:1 match on the 20m band CW portion. I gave a heads-up to my friends in the Long Island CW Club, spotted myself on the POTA spots page, and started calling CQ on 14.042 MHz.

I’ll be honest, the going was slow. My first contact was with a station in Florida, followed by about 6 minutes of no responses to my CQs. Then I heard back from a station in Tennessee that was giving me a rather optimistic 599, but hey, I’ll take it. 2 in the log. Shortly thereafter I got a call from a station in Wisconsin who heard me 339, so 3. After another 4 minutes of calling CQ, I heard back from a station in Minnesota who heard me better than I heard him, so 4 in the log. After another minute I heard from a Texas station with a 559 both ways, followed by 6 minutes of unanswered CQs. Colorado was next, with a 559 both ways for the 6th entry in my log.

Shortly after that contact a woman and her son came by to inquire about the Morse code and I gave a quick explanation and told them I had communicated with someone in Colorado and they seemed very excited to hear that.

I kept calling CQ and after another 3 minutes heard back from a station in Illinois. 7 in the log. After a lot of 100W activations lately, I forgot how QRP can test your patience. But it felt good to be making my way toward the goal, so I kept calling CQ, quietly wishing I had set the memory keyer up before I started the activation with my CQ.

I would be calling CQ for quite a bit of time — 12 minutes, before I would hear from a station in Florida who gave me a 229. Glad he stayed with me, I really needed the contacts and was starting to worry I might have to fall-back to my mobile station and 100 W to finish this thing.

I kept going and after another 2 minutes got a call back from a familiar call, Dan, WD4DAN, who was loud and clear and gave me a (likely optimistic and kind) 599 both ways from Georgia. That made 9 contacts. So close. Unfortunately, I would be on the precipice for another 12 minutes, calling out into the void. Then 47 minutes after I started, I got contact number 10 from a station in Illinois. We had some QSB between us, but on the peaks I heard him 569 and he heard me 559. The activation was made. I decided to keep going and 2 minutes later got a call from Iowa, hearing me 319, very glad he was able to pull me out of the noise. After making 11, I decided to call QRT and call it an activation.

I packed up my station and made my way back to the car and saw an alert from my LICW friend Mike, N2PPI. He was down in Florida on a vacation and had been operating and asked the group if anyone wanted to make a contact. My QRP setup was dismantled, but I turned on the mobile rig and heard him calling CQ, so I called him back and we had a quick QSO. Since I was still in the park(s) I added him to my log and headed on home.

In all I had made 12 contacts in 1:06, tested out a lot of new gear, and got to enjoy a bit of a QRP adventure. When I got home, I saw that band conditions were not great on 20m and below, so that might have explained some of the challenge I had faced. Even with the slow rate, it was a lot of fun digging out the signals from the noise to find the auditory treasures beneath.

I am pleased with how everything worked. The Mountain Topper is a wonderful rig that is a pleasure to listen to super simple to operate. The AX1 has to be the easiest antenna to deploy I own — I look forward to giving it some more activations, hopefully on days with better band conditions. The Baseus USB PD Power Bank really impressed me with how easy it made powering everything. Even after nearly an hour on the air, I had gone from 100% to 98% on the battery pack. This thing can activate forever. The MFJ 971 did the job quite well. It is big though, so I’m looking forward to building a smaller manual tuner soon. And finally, it was a lot of fun having a setup this compact. This will be great for Greece and would be great for a long hike-in to a park or a summit. It still blows my mind that a radio in a hip pack and a skinny little whip can communicate clear across the country using a phone charger. So much fun.

Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Blue Lines = 20m (N2PPI actually near West Palm Beach, FL)

Gear used in this activation

• LNR Precision Mountain Topper MTR4B
• Elecraft AX1 Multi-Band Whip Antenna
• MFJ-971 Portable Tuner
• CW Morse Pocket Double Paddle Morse Code Key with Magnets
• CW Morse Steel Base for Pocket Paddles
• Baseus Power Bank (65W, 20,000 mAh, PD3.0)
• JacobsParts 12V/5A USB C PD Trigger Cable
• Anker Soundcore Mini Portable Speaker
• Topo Designs Hip Pack
• Maxpedition Fatty Pocket Organizer
• Amazon Basics Lightweight Mini Tripod
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

My car had been in the shop for 10 days for some repairs and I very quickly was reminded how much I’ve gotten used to having a mobile HF setup in the car. Suddenly, my impromptu activations before work were no longer an option, and I missed getting on the air on the way to the office. Thankfully, I got the call last night that my car was ready and I was able to scratch the POTA itch that had been calling to me for so long.

This morning was a dreary one, so it was especially nice to be able to activate from the car. As frequent readers here know, I like to activate in DC on these early morning excursions, but there was a potential wrench thrown into the works. The cherry blossoms by the Tidal Basin and Hains Point are in full bloom. While I love seeing them, so does everyone else, so finding a parking spot, or even getting around down there within the parks I frequent in DC would be a distinct challenge. So I decided to make a stop at Gravelly Point on the George Washington Memorial Parkway which is just before the turn-off into DC at the end of the runway of Washington National Airport in Virginia. Due to its location it is also in 3 other parks: Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT, Star-Spangled Banner NHT, and Potomac Heritage Trail NST. A 4-fer right off the parkway.

I had been listening to the bands on the commute and heard another activator on 40m CW calling, so once I was safely parked I gave him a call to his park Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area in Georgia. I gave him a 599 and he gave me a 559, and I was off to the races. I decided to move up to the 30m band to get a bit less noise and more distance. After tuning up and sending a few CQs I was answered by a station all the way over in California with a 599 both ways. Next up was Oklahoma, Tennessee, Georgia, and Minnesota. The going was slow, and there was a station 1 kHz below me that moved in shortly after I started and was blasting so loud that he could have been transmitting in the same parking lot. So I decided to move up to the third band of the day, 20m.

After re-establishing myself I got a solid 599 signal from Florida, followed by Oklahoma, and Florida. Then I heard a weak signal at 559 (although at times lower) just down the road in Woodbridge. We were probably just on the edge of shooting our signals over each other, but with some persistence we got it done. Then I got a beautiful signal booming in from an LICW friend, Greg KD5HIZ, in Texas. It was great to get him in the log. Next up was Dan, WD4DAN, who also had a booming signal from Georgia. Nice to get 2 familiar calls back-to-back.

Next up was a signal just down in my noise floor from Maryland, I heard him 539 and he heard me 339, but we did it. Given his location in Northern MD, I am surprised we didn’t skip over each other, but we made it. That contact was followed by a pair of strong signals from Florida both with 599 both ways. Finally the last contact of the day was a weak one from Georgia, 539 for me but 599 for him. I looked up at the clock and realized it was time to may my way to the office. 16 contacts in the log on 3 bands and 4 parks in 34 minutes.

The low number of contacts was curious — it seemed contrary to everything that has been happening with the setup. So I scratched my temple and got into the office and then decided to look at solar conditions. The A index was 60! That explains the challenge right there. I feel lucky I was able to make my activation. I’m glad I didn’t look beforehand, as I might have skipped it, and this was definitely a fun one, even if it was at a more leisurely pace. Interestingly enough though, I was getting out. Looking at the Reverse Beacon network, my CQs were heard in Australia (6dB), New Zealand (16dB), Samoa (15db) and Germany (6dB) on 20m, and in Samoa (8dB) on 30m! Interestingly enough, the path for Australia and Samoa were almost completely coincident, even with Samoa being on 2 bands. Now, if only it wasn’t the middle of the night for them maybe we could have made a contact.

Reverse Beacon Network Map (Where my signal was being heard by the network)

Shortly after the activation, I received an award that I had been working toward, the Early Shift Activator award. I didn’t realize that I was activating during that window today, but I guess with the change in Daylight Saving time, it must have shifted by an hour. Nearby parks have it set for 1300 Zulu, so now that is until 9 AM. I suppose that means I will have more Early Shift contacts in my future. This activation also was my 20th activation of the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail, so I was also awarded another Oasis Repeat Offender Award for the park. It is always fun to reach the goals you set for yourself.

I guess it goes to show, you can only trust the propagation numbers to a certain extent. The only certainty: if you don’t give it a try, you won’t make the contacts. This was a fun one, and I’m looking forward to more activations in the future.

Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Green Lines = 40m, Orange Lines = 30m, Blue Lines = 20m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

On Presidents Day my daughter had off from school, so she and I decided to visit a new park and do some hiking and exploring. With all my study of the maps for Parks on the Air, I had found some new-to-me parks that were on a short-list for a visit. One that I had been eyeing for a while was Widewater State Park near Stafford, Virginia. The park is on a peninsula at the confluence of the Potomac River and Aquia creek. The park is on the smaller side, with some private property interspersed within and was a relatively recent park addition to the Virginia State Parks. Getting there from Interstate 95 took a bit of winding through some back roads, but when we got there we put on our State Parks pass and went into the visitors center.

Inside the beautiful and brand new facility were a series of exhibits and a gift shop, as well as a glass case with a beautiful snake. My daughter was drawn to take a look and the rangers took the snake out of its glass case and allowed her to hold it briefly. Caitlin really enjoyed that and the rangers answered her questions and gave us some information about some of the best places to visit while in the park.

We were told that the Holly Marsh Trail would be a good route to take as it ended on the banks of the Potomac River and was home to numerous Bald Eagles. So we set out on the trail, going along the banks of Long Pond, crossing over Brent Point Road, and then tracing the waterline of Holly Marsh.

The trail was an easy out-and-back hike, just shy of a mile with gentle changes in elevation down by the water. As we made our way along, we heard the cries of many species of birds and saw a few gliding over the water. When we made our way around the mouth of the marsh where it opened into the Potomac, we were greeted by a rather large fish carcass, still mostly intact. This was one of our first indicators that there were plenty of eagles in the area.

When we made it to the banks of the Potomac, we saw what must have been at least a dozen eagles, some young and still having their youthful brown plumage, and others more adult, with their striking white heads. Unfortunately, the only camera I had with me for the day was my cell phone, so pardon the zoomed out image below. As we were taking the path down to a canoe launch, we saw another fish being dropped into the water with a thunderous splash by an eagle just 15 feet away from us in the Potomac. Lunch, evidently, had been served.

After watching the eagles playing in the air and looking majestic in the aeries, we took a look at the picnic area and playground that was there. This would be a great place for an activation. Being on the banks of the Potomac, this was a 3-fer, with Widewater State Park being joined by Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT and the Star-Spangled Banner NHT. Caitlin could play on the playground and I could play radio for a quick activation. With a plan made, we hiked back to our car, retracing our steps, and enjoying the Winter scenery and pleasant weather.

Once back to the starting point, we grabbed a couple ice creams from the visitor center and Caitlin played at the playground near the center, making a new friend along the way. After some play time, we hopped into the car and drove to the picnic area we had hiked to just minutes before. I asked Caitlin if she’d like to do some sideband with me, but the playground beckoned, so I decided to get started with some CW. I decided to start on 20m, to ensure that I could make the 10 needed in case Caitlin got bored and wanted to move on. It didn’t take long to get responses once I was spotted, and I got calls from New Jersey, Michigan, and from frequent hunter Dan, WD4DAN in Georgia within the first minute on the air. An auspicious start. Then I got a call from Ontario (Canada) followed by a call from Alaska and NL7V! It had that warble that you sometimes hear from DX, perhaps some auroral distortion, but I heard him clearly and he also gave me a solid signal report. Great to get Paul in the logs again.

Next up I heard from New York, Wisconsin, Ontario (Canada), South Carolina, Maryland, New York, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, Maine, Missouri, Massachusetts, Illinois, then frequent hunter KJ7DT in Idaho, then Montana, Virginia, Georgia, New York, Illinois, Arkansas, South Carolina, Michigan, Florida, and North Carolina. Then I was surprised with one of the most dit-laden DX calls I have ever heard … EI5JL from Ireland. In one go I had reached from North Pole, Alaska to Dublin, Ireland! What fun. I got 31 contacts on CW in 39 minutes.

My daughter had had her fill of time on the playground and came back and asked if she could take me up on the offer to allow her to operate sideband under my call sign. I was delighted to hear this, and I quickly wrote out the script she would need to follow on-the-air. We found a clear patch of frequency on 20m, got spotted, and she started calling CQ. After a few calls, she got a response from Tennessee. As usual the POTA hunters were kind and patient and Caitlin did a great job on the air. I handled logging duties for her and passed along the signal reports for her to give. Next up was a pair of stations in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Ontario, Canada. Caitlin was starting to get quite the pile-up! She even asked me the best question of the day “Why are so many people talking at once?”. I had to smile and I was proud of her keeping her cool in the pile-up.

I logged the calls that I could hear so she could read them back, or would give her partials I heard out of the pile-up so she could ask for repeats. She was a real pro and even said “This is fun, I want to get my license”. Music to my ears. We got another pair of calls from Tennessee, another from Michigan, Arkansas, Georgia, and Indiana. Finally we heard another young voice who asked Caitlin how old she was and then told her he was 14 and that she was doing a great job. All-in-all she got 12 contacts on SSB in 9 minutes and decided it was time to head home.

Lots of fun and a great day out with my daughter. I can’t wait to do it again soon.

International Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW, Red Pins = SSB / Blue Lines = 20m

Domestic Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW, Red Pins = SSB / Blue Lines = 20m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

We have been having some unseasonably warm weather of late. Life has been busy, but I have been wanting to get out into a park and activate it ever since my activation last Friday. When I found out that I had an early morning meeting that would make a before-work activation challenging tomorrow, I thought that perhaps using my lunch hour for a quick one might be a good idea. So I decided to go to one of my favorite spots to activate that just so happens to be in 4 parks at once.

Frequent readers of the blog probably have noticed that I number my activations on the title of each post. This particular activation was the 52nd time I have gone out to activate POTA. However, this doesn’t tell the story from POTA’s perspective. When I activate a park that is in fact multiple parks, each park I am in counts as an activation in the parlance of Parks on the Air. So while today I was out one time, from a statistics perspective on the POTA site, I was really out four times. So if we go based upon that metric — number of parks activated on a given Zulu day — today was a special milestone. It included the 100th park activation I have done for Parks on the Air (and also the 97th, 98th, and 99th). Hard to believe in just under a year I have 100 park activations under my belt. It has been a lot of fun.

Recently the higher bands have been very productive as we’ve been ascending sunspot Cycle 25, so I decided to give things a go on 10m first. While I was spotted by the RBN pretty quickly, I didn’t get any callers back after a few minutes. I decided to look at the MUF map, and although the rest of the country had a high-enough maximum usable frequency, it appeared that the mid-Atlantic did not. So, I took the hint and moved down to the 15m band, which was well within the frequencies that the forecasters said should be productive. As has become my recent custom, in addition to spotting on the POTA site, I have been dropping a note on the Long Island CW Club talkgroup’s group chat, and my first contact was from group member Gregory, TI2GBB, all the way down in Cartago, Costa Rica! I heard him a solid 559 and he got me 599 — with DX like that my lunchtime activation was off to an auspicious start. Next up I got a call from KJ7DT in Idaho, who has been a frequent hunter of mine on my CW outings. I was very glad to get him in the log again. Next up I got a response from Florida, and then a call from K1NGZ with his mobile bus station in Texas, followed by Michigan, Florida, Alabama, California, Alabama again, another California, and then some serious DX all the way from Germany! Next up was Louisiana and California and then more DX, this time from Spain! What a great run on 15m! I made a few more calls, but heard nothing back, so I decided to work my way down, this time to the 17m band.

After the RBN re-spotted me I was able to work a station in Minnesota, and then got another call from KJ7DT in Idaho. Then things quieted down again for another few minutes and I decided to work my way down again, this time to 20m.

20m is where the calls really started to come in with responses from Pennsylvania, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, New York, Georgia, Colorado, Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, Texas, and Kansas. After a nice run, things slowed down there as well — I guess everybody was out to lunch — so I decided to do one more move down to the 30m band before calling it an activation. The first response was from Virginia, followed by Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and North Carolina again. Looking at the clock I decided to call QRT, but just as I was about to put down the key I got a call from Georgia, so I got him in the log for the last contact of the day. He was very appreciative that I came back even after a QRT call and I am glad I was able to do it.

As my 100th activation came to a close I had 37 contacts in the log in 4 parks from 4 countries in 1:01. Not bad for a lunch break in the rain. In addition to the regular QRM an QRN, I had the pitter patter of rain to contend with, but I definitely enjoyed getting out to the park. Before heading out, I took a brief stroll by the water and enjoyed the beauty of the Potomac. Then it was back home to work.

International Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Orange Lines = 30m, Blue Lines = 20m, Purple Lines = 17m, Cyan Lines = 15m

Domestic Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Orange Lines = 30m, Blue Lines = 20m, Purple Lines = 17m, Cyan Lines = 15m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

After joining some friends for in a park to test some antennas earlier in the week on my lunch break, I felt the need to scratch the POTA “itch”. The weather in the DC area has been unseasonably pleasant, so I definitely didn’t need any prodding to get into the parks. I set my alarm for the pre-dawn hours and decided to see if I could get a jump on the day and get in another before work activation in DC. If the stars aligned, maybe I could get a few Early Shift QSOs in the log.

So I drove into the District of Columbia, watching the sun rise over the shimmering Potomac river and got myself QRV and spotted on the POTA spotting page and also with some friends on the LICW group chat.

I started on 40m and it didn’t take long for me to get a call from Illinois, 559 both ways. Next up with my friend Ed, N2GSL, working QRP on a Heathkit HW-9 and sounding great with another 559 both ways report. Always enjoy hearing that 72. Next up I got a call from Virginia, Michigan, New York, Ohio, a call from prolific hunter and activator Joe N3XLS in Pennsylvania, another from North Carolina, Kansas, Maryland, South Carolina, New York, Michigan, Tennessee, North Carolina, and a final one from New York. Knowing that the Solar Flux Index has been high I took a lull in the action as a good time to QSY up to 30m.

After getting the antenna tuned for 10.111 MHz, I called CQ, notified the LICW group, and the RBN re-spotted me. My first two calls were from friends in the LICW group. First up with Rin, W4RIN in Georgia who was coming in well for me at 559 but did the work digging me out of the noise with a 539. Was great to get him in the log. Then I heard Jimmy in Texas, WB5MET, another LICW friend who was soft but readable at 539, the ionosphere was working and this was a lot of fun. Next up I got call from Arkansas, followed by the second contact of the day from Ed, N2GSL making his HW-9 sing with a 559. He was able to pull me out with a 339 and it was great to get him again, 72! Next up I got Joe N3XLS on a second band in PA, and contacts in New York, Maine, Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia, New Jersey, Virginia, New York, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Maine, Missouri, and finally Texas. What a great run on 30m! After a few unanswered CQs, it was time to move one last time to 20m.

I announced the QSY on the LICW group and let the RBN do its thing, and Rin W4RIN had a nice strong signal on 20m, getting in the log for another band. Great to get another one. I also got another contact from Georgia that was also the second band from N0FUA, followed by Louisiana, Arkansas, a pair from Georgia, Arkansas again, Indiana, Florida, Ontario (Canada), Kentucky, Texas, South Carolina, Connecticut, Florida, Missouri, Illinois, Texas, and New York. Things quieted down after that run and I was about to call QRT when I heard a fragment of a call. First I heard a YZ, so I called back YZ? Then I heard an ON, so I asked for another send. Finally I heard ON7YZ, all the way from Belgium coming in 529! He heard me 559 and I was very happy to get some DX in the log. What fun.

I looked at the clock and realized I had to call QRT and make my way to the office. In 1:17 on the air I worked 61 stations in 3 countries, in 2 parks. 16 of those were during the early shift (so with 2 parks, 32 contacts for POTA). A very successful and very fun outing with a lot of friends and familiar calls in the log.

I also received a new award from Parks on the Air – the Oasis Repeat Offender Activator award for activating K-4567 (Captain John Smith Chesapeake NHT) for the 20th time. How about that? Looks like I am also nearing a Kilo for the park, with the current contact count for K-4567 at 787. I’m getting close to both awards for K-4581 (Star-Spangled Banner NHT) as well.

Happy Friday, indeed.

International Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Green Lines = 40m, Orange Lines = 30m, Blue Lines = 20m

Domestic Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Green Lines = 40m, Orange Lines = 30m, Blue Lines = 20m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App

You would think that having hit up 10 parks on the rove I did over the weekend, I’d be wanting a break from activating. Nope. I just can’t get enough lately. I had to come into the office today, so I decided to set the alarm for super early and get out into the parks for a morning CW activation. I had some errands to run, so I didn’t get the early shift time in as I would have liked, but alas the car needs gas and I needed coffee (both brewed and in bean form), so I had to make some stops on the way into the District.

I was going to do another activation at Hains Point, but when I arrived, the gate was locked, so that was not to be. Thankfully, about a mile from there is another location that is also a 2-fer that I have activated before. You do have to pay for the street parking, but that’s a small fee for 2 parks and a lot of fun. The DC area had a dusting of snow overnight, so at home I had clear the windshield. By the time I got into DC there was still a little snow on the grass (as you can see above) but thankfully nothing was sticking on the roads. It was a beautiful morning to activate in the shadow of the Washington Monument and on the banks of the mighty Potomac river.

I had mentioned to some Long Island CW Club members the previous evening that I might do a before-work activation, so as I tuned up my radio to the 30m band I sent a note out to our text group that I would soon be QRV on 10.111 MHz. After calling QRL and spotting myself on the POTA page, I was off to the races. My first contact was at 13:00:03 … so not an Early Shift, but that’s okay, I had coffee and life was good. That first contact hailed from Georgia, and the getting was good on 30m. Next came Florida, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ontario (Canada), Illinois, Texas, Connecticut, Florida, Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Arkansas, Dan from Georgia (for the first of 2 bands for the day), Texas, and Massachusetts.

Then I got a very pleasant surprise and got a call from Chris, N8PEM from the Long Island CW Club out of Ohio. He teaches one of my favorite intermediate CW classes and is an all-around great guy. I was very happy to get him in the log and have our first on-air QSO. Next up I got a pair of calls from Georgia, including one that would work me on the next band, and finally one last contact on 30m with a station in Michigan. Things slowed down a bit, and I noticed several of the folks on the LICW text group mentioned they could not hear me up in the NY area. So I decided to fix that and QSY down to 40m.

The band was busy — there must have been a contest or something. At first I started calling around 7.053, but shortly I had someone sending a wall of code over top of me, so I moved up to 7.062 and started calling there and updated the LICW crew. Very quickly I got a call from Virginia and then the pileup came! Wow there were a lot of people on top of each other. I was able to pull out a LICW member, Rin, W4RIN, out of the pileup with a solid signal out of Georgia. It was nice to get him in the log, next up was a station in Michigan, also booming. Then I heard Mike, N2PPI, also of LICW in NY with a solid signal, followed by super-hunter N3XLS in PA. After that I heard a quieter signal just off frequency with an N2 … I had a hunch that might be Ed, N2GSL of LICW working QRP, so I sent out an N2? and sure enough it was Ed! He had a nice 559 signal on a Heathkit HW-9 and showed how it is done working QRP, making his signal stand out by not zero-beating me. Good to get Ed in the log too, with a 72. Next up the pile-up kept coming with calls from Virginia and Georgia. Then I got Dan, WD4DAN on a second band out o NC, and another big hunter, NE4TN with a big signal out of Tennessee. Then I got calls from West Virginia, Tennessee, a repeat caller from Georgia on a second band, North Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and finally New Hampshire.

I looked at the clock and was faced with the reality that I had to end my activation and get to work. So after 43 contacts in 2 parks on 2 bands, I called QRT and called it an activation. It was great to be able to work so many friends early in the morning. What a great way to start the day.

Activation QSO Map: Green Pins = CW / Green Lines = 40m, Orange Lines = 30m

Gear used in this activation

• Yaesu FT-891
• Yaesu ATAS 120A Antenna
• CW Morse SP4 POTA/SOTA Mini Morse Code Magnetic Paddle (N0SA Designed)
• 2006 Honda Accord EX V6
• Samsung Galaxy S10+
• HAMRS Logging App