Author: Andy, KK4LWR

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POTA Report: K-1184 Placerita Canyon State Park

On October 23, 2022 I was able to activate K-1184 Placerita Canyon State Park in California. This was my first Parks on the Air activation!

I was traveling to California for work and decided to bring my satellite setup. While times never lined up for a good pass, I decided to go to a local park and get on HF. I also brought an end fed antenna and an ATU-100 antenna tuner. I’ll save my thoughts on the ATU-100 for an another post.

I setup at a picnic table, along with SignaLink and Evolve 3 computer to do FT8. Running 2.5 watts and running off the internal batteries of the FT-818, I was able to enjoy an afternoon on the air! Even with FT8, I had to work hard to make contacts. After a few hours, I secured my 10 QSOs in my log for the activation.

Overall I loved the challenge of QRP and I enjoyed a relaxing afternoon outside. The Los Angeles area has some excellent parks and I have a few more on my list to explore. I’m looking forward to my next activation. Hunting is fun, but I think activating is the real POTA fun!

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Contest Report: Collegiate QSO Party

I had a blast on the Collegiate QSO Party, but it’s not shown in my score. As one of the event organizers, I just wanted to have fun with it. I made it a goal to only work school and try and spot as many as I could.

I spent most of the weekend monitoring social media and seeing what the 37 participating schools posted. This was a record year for school participation and it was a ton of fun to see spots popping up online and all the conversation. I had my radio going as well and got to hear a few folks make their first QSOs, which was a ton of fun. I also enjoyed listening to the pileups.

When things did calm down, I did try to get in a few QSOs. While I spent a lot of time on voice, I took advantage of the generally slower CW speeds to try my first QSOs! I was happy to make two: W4ODU, Old Dominion University, and W9HHX, Milwaukee School of Engineering. I was able to head copy all of the exchange. There was a lot of noise when I went to work W9HHX, but we made it happen! I had to send my exchange a few times for him to copy.

With 189 claimed points, I’ll take that. It was a good bit of fun and I got to make some unique contacts.

We are just a week after the event, but I already have seen over 20 logs submitted with 50% being from individuals. This was a super exciting year and I cant wait to start processing logs. It will be a few months before we have our winners announced, but I cannot wait for next year!

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Collegiate QSO Party

As some folks might know, I have been co-leading the ARRL Collegiate Amateur Radio Program with my brother Tony, KD8RTT. Besides running monthly calls and forums at hamfests, we also host the Collegiate QSO Party.

The Collegiate QSO Party is this weekend from 0000 UTC on Saturday, October 1st, 2022 until 2359 UTC Sunday, October 2nd, 2022. This is a great to support college and university amateur radio clubs. Awards are sponsored by the ARRL via the Collegiate Amateur Radio Program. At the time of this post, we have over 22 schools registered to be on the air!

You can find a direct link to the participating schools at here!

Rules for the event can be found here!

Tony and I recently talked on Ham Talk Live! about the vent. Checkout the recording below.

I will be on the air for this event and I look forward hearing others!

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Collecting QSL Cards

Now that I have a shack at home, I figured it was time to start hanging the QSL cards I’ve received. I don’t have a lot as I do a lot of Logbook of the World. Hopefully, now that I have a place to display them, I can more actively start collecting. If you work me on the air, please send a card!

I think I’ll use these as the header photo on the blog. As I get more, I’ll update the photo!

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New Amateur Radio Website

I’ve decided to publish a new Amateur Radio website to capture my activities. I will still be posting many of my projects to 08milluz.com, but this website will be contest reports, amateur radio projects, new equipment, hamfest reports, etc.

As a teaser for now, I’ll leave a photo of my “antenna farm” in my attic. I’ll write up a full post later on my Pinnacle QTH. I’m making due in an HOA and that challenge is part of the fun!