Category: Special Event

I’m very lucky in that my wife (who is not a ham) is pretty cool with POTA. On the way back from a day in Tampa for a Dachshund race (or pups had a blast!) we decided to make a minor detour to Hillsborough River State Park.

At this point, I have my POTA setup down to a science and I can load the car in under a minute with the 3 cases I need. I can also setup in under 10 minutes. Hillsborough River State Park is a nice little park with lots of picnic areas. I was able to find a table among some trees and setup.

This setup had some nice high trees that worked great for the end fed antenna. After using some arborist line and a weight to get it up in a tree. I use a 9:1 balun and a little over 60 feet of wire for the antenna and it tunes up well.

Band conditions for this activation were not great. After trying to call CQ for a bit to no reply, I was forced to switch to FT8. I was able to secure 13 contacts between 15 and 20 meters over the course of about an hour. After that, Kirsti and the dogs wanted to head home.

I really liked Hillsborough River State Park. It is a nice area with lots of shade. It seems popular with locals as there were several picnics that started after I got their. There is access to the river to kayaking and canoeing. Overall it was a great experience!

Another quick, mobile POTA activation from March 23rd, 2023. I was driving from my house in Clermont to Tallahassee for a FIRST Robotics Competition event (congrats to my team FRC5816 GraV for winning the FIRST Impact Award and advancing to Championship in Houston, Texas!) and decided to make a quick stop on the way up.

I used to live in Gainesville. In fact, I earned my license while a graduate student at the University of Florida. So Paynes Prairie was a familiar park. When I first got an HF rig, I spent a couple Saturdays operating portable from this park (if only I would have kept the logs separated to label them a POTA).

With my new organization strategy mentioned in my last POTA Report, it was super easy and convenient to grab the case and go. I brought my FT-857 and operated from my car, a familiar setup. I knew I only had a little time to active the park and got to work with some FT8 and some SSB contacts. I quickly made about 40 contacts (11 digital and 29 voice) before getting back on the road.

I have things pretty efficient with my FT-857D sitting on my center arm rest and then a logging laptop/digital modes on my lap. I’m setup and ready to go in under 5 minutes and it’s just as quick to pack up. With evening stored in the pelican case, it makes it easy to pick up and take to my hotel room.

I was finishing my last QSO just as the sun was setting. I had a pileup on both SSB and FT8 while I was on the air. Paynes Prairie Preserve is not a super common park to see on the air and there aren’t usually a lot of parks on a week night (I was traveling on a Thursday), so it was quite popular. As it got dark bugs were starting to get bad and I had to pack up and get back on the road to Tallahassee.

It might be hard to see in the photo, but I was also running APRS for my drive. I like to beacon APRS with my mobile digipeater on longer drives.

Overall the setup worked like a dream. I’ve really streamlined the setup. I still prefer being able to setup at a picnic bench or something out in nature a bit more, but these quick activations are still fun. This coming weekend is Florida State Parks on the Air so we will see what I get on the air to activate.

On March 12th I ventured a few miles down the road to Lake Louisa State Park again for another POTA activation. This time my wife joined me along with our dachshunds, Daisy and Max.

I decided to venture away from my car and setup on a picnic table. I strongly prefer getting out of the car and connecting with nature. This was also an opportunity to test out a new organizational strategy and a few cases I picked up at Orlando Hamcation.

For this activation I wanted to work both data and voice. I brought my usual portable FT-857D and matching tuner as well as an end fed antenna. The radio, tuner, Signalink, and associated cables live in one Pelican 1520 case. I used a another case to hold the antenna, coax, and arbor weights and lines.

I used my solar power case (another Pelican 1520) with a 60 watt panel and 15 Ah battery. The power setup is well tested with past ARRL Field Days and worked fantastically. I threw the end fed up in the tree using some arbor weights and line. The antenna tuned up well on 15 and 20 meters. This end fed is only 29 feet long, so I could greatly improve my efficiency by using a longer wire. I do have another end fed that I used on ARRL Field Day last year and I do intend to give that a try next time.

My wife took the dogs for a walk, but Daisy got tired and decided to spend some time with me. She was my “Bark Ranger” and patrolled the antenna. I really liked being able to do radio with my family.

In the end I made 94 contacts, of which only 25 were FT8. This was a ton of fun as I had several pileups. I also ventured on to 15 meters and made a few contacts on FT8. I consider this a huge success for a POTA. My goal is to earn a Kilo award for Lake Lousia and I’m well on my way with over 125 QSOs to date. With the park less than 5 miles from my QTH, I expect to hit this goal either this year or early next year depending on where my next activation takes me!

In my last post I mentioned that a mobile POTA is not as fun as setting up at a picnic table. Well this is another mobile POTA, but I tried to make it feel a little more connected with nature.

While driving back from Jacksonville for a conference and before heading to Magic Kingdom with my wife (going to Disney World after an activation seems to be somewhat of a trend) on February 4th, I decided to stop an active a park. I wanted to pick something close to I95, but also something where I could have a greater connection to nature. I found Faver-Dykes State Park. What attracted me to this park is how it is not as popular and had a parking area in the woods by the water.

I had only 30 minutes or so for this activation, so mobile was key. I had my car setup within a few minutes of arriving. The weather was fantastic and I enjoyed exploring a little bit before getting on the air.

The bands were busy and I was able to secure 14 FT8 QSOs before needing to tear down. I’ve noticed I prefer FT8 while in parks. I think that is maybe the quiet that it affords me. I saw some deer and some birds during this activation. Had I been making noise doing SSB, I don’t think they would have gotten as close.

Overall this was a quick and exciting POTA activation. As my third activation, I’m starting to get the hang of POTA. I’m really liking the activation side. I have had a good portable power case that I use for Field Day, but I’m now developing a good setup for the radio and antennas.

For my next POTA activation I hope to bring back my satellite operating and see if I can do some satellite contacts. I have also been taking the CW Ops classes and hope to bring my (improving) CW skills to make contacts. I might try some CW on my next activation as I have a good portable key. For now I’ve been having a great time and looking forward to Hamcation. Hopefully I can connect with some POTA friends in person.

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I wasn’t able to get out for Winter Field Day, but I wanted to get out and do a quick POTA on Sunday 1/29. I had about an hour before a trip to Epcot with friends, so had to do a quick setup and tear down. I live near K-1893 Lake Louisa State Park in Florida and it make for a quick trip.

I keep a lip mount on my trunk for hamsticks and I keep a tote with my solar panels and battery and another tote with my radio and some other supplies. I tossed them in my Honda and was on my way. My brother Tony, KD8RTT had gotten me a Florida State Park Annual Pass for Christmas so I decided to put that to good use.

I was able to setup my FT8 station within minutes in my car and was on the air. I put my Solar Panel on the roof to supplement the battery, but I knew there was no way I would drain it in the hour or so I was at the park. I came ready with both 20 and 40 meter hamsticks, but I stuck to 20 meters. I immediately had a pileup running just 30 watts.

I ran FT8 for about an hour and made 28 QSOs. It was fun, actually quite challenging to keep up with things. Some folks hiked by on the trail and asked what I was doing and ended up in some great conversations. I might have missed replying to a few folks calling me on FT8 while I chatted about the hobby. (Sorry if I missed you!) FT8 was super successful with 3 park to park QSOs. (My first ever park to park QSOs!) I made sure to send them a QSL card as working park to park is both challenging and fun!

I wanted to make some SSB QSOs before I packed up. My mobile setup is a FT-857D and it was super easy to stand outside and enjoy the nice weather. I have an extension for the microphone and I have the control head setup on a custom made (and VERY long) remote cable. With the laptop on the hood of my car, I connected with two stations. My favorite being a challenging park to park QSO with AB9JT in Indiana. It was my first time working him and at only 30 watts, was a challenge. I could have bumped up the power, but I like a challenge.

So while it was a successful POTA, it wasn’t as fun as my first activation. For a quick trip, working from my car was fine, but I really enjoy the outdoor aspect of POTA and taking in the park. This wont be my last mobile POTA activation, especially with Lake Louisa so close to home. However, I will be putting in some extra effort to hike a little bit and find a picnic table to an area to sit on the ground and really enjoy both amateur radio and nature.

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!