1494 2212 Coast FM via unid. SINPO 34333.
1620 1728 Radio Alabama. SINPO 34433.
1629 1743 Radio Professor Sickbock. SINPO 44433.
1642 1740 Radio Marskramer. SINPO 44433.
4875 1825 Radio Akenzo (pres). SINPO 54444.
5035 1828 Radio Deltracks. SINPO 44433.
5880 2200 Radio Rock Revolution. SINPO 34433.
6290 1722 Radio Ronalisa. SINPO 44433.
6325 1817 Radio Boomerang. SINPO 55444.

Yesterday was a rainy day, and Marianne and I vegged out for most of the day. The skies started clearing out in the late afternoon:

And we were rewarded with yet another beautiful sunset a few hours later:

This morning dawned sunny, bright and a tad on the chilly side. After breakfast and a few stops, Marianne and I headed out to Kring Point State Park, US-2091 for the second activation of our wedding anniversary getaway.

This time, I did not bring the AlexLoop along, only the Elecraft AX1. I was impressed by its performance on Tuesday and I was not to be disappointed this time, either!

Here are some photos that Marianne took of me doing the POTA thing:

And here are some photos that I took of the setup:

We arrived at the park at about 11:00 (15:00 UTC) and stopped at the Park Ranger booth only to be told that the picnic area was closed for renovation and construction, but that we were free to drive around and look at the park. That's when Marianne noticed quite a few vacant campsites that sure enough had picnic tables! So we stopped at campsite #12 and I headed off to the picnic bench while Marianne did some exploring,

I was set up by15:25 UTC, spotted myself on the POTA app and after calling CQ POTA on 14.062 MHz, I was immediately greeted by Hunters. I didn't want to stay too long as today is actually our anniversary and I didn't think it was polite and proper for Marianne to be bored out of her skull.

I quickly racked up another 14 QSOs in just 32 minutes and I pulled the plug when my batteries started going wonky. More about that in a minute. QSOs were made with New Jersey (NY to NJ on 20 Meters - strange!), WI, a Park to Park with WA9LEY at US-7256 in IL, SC, CA, GA, OH, VA, NC and AR.

The performance from this little antenna just blows my mind. As Craig WB3GCK said to me, "It defies all logic.", but there you have it, the proof is in the pudding. The AX1 will be my go to whenever I activate picnic table portable, The RBN map wasn't as impressive as Tuesday's but the snr figures were very nice! There was not a single skimmer that picked me up with a single digit snr report.

Regarding the batteries. I made sure they were fully charged and they did not last at all. That's probably due to the fact that they've been sitting in the shack for years without being used. I'll have to go to eBay to pick up some fresh ones or perhaps something else that will last a bit longer, but is still small enough to fit in my QMX bag.

Thanks to all the Hunters who worked me this week! My activations were not long or filled with triple digit QSO numbers, but they are valid activations and I had a lot of fun!

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The Radio Club of Tacoma is celebrating National Sasquatch Awareness Day with a series of special event callsigns that will be on the air October 16-21. Callsigns include W7B, W7I, W7G, W7F, W7O, and W7T. QSL cards and certificates will be available.

Radio Club of Tacoma (W7DK) club members will be operating the BIGFOOT callsigns starting on October 16th at 0000 Zulu, and the special event will end on October 21 at 2359 Zulu. Stations will be using CW, phone, FT8/FT4, RTTY and PSK modes, and will be operating on 80, 40, 20, 15, and 10 meters at various times throughout each day.

Source: Radio Club of Tacoma

My stand-alone W5OLF 10m QRP WSPR beacon has been on most of the day. 45 stations have spotted me. 

UPDATE 1807z: 62 stations have spotted my 10m 500mW WSPR today with the furthermost ND7M (8408km).

Thanks to those who replied with comments about part one of this series about QSL cards. The consensus seems to be that broadcast stations initiated the practice of sending post cards that hams eventually emulated. That’s a good enough explanation for me, though I prefer to believe it was more magical than that. What got me thinking about all this was coming across a lonely box in the attic that contained stacks of old QSL cards. These go all the way back for me…

I was licensed in 1977 near the end of my high school days. It took me a few months to assemble a Heath HW-16 and get it on the air. My Novice call was WD9GCT, an abomination for a CW operator. When I upgraded to General I asked the FCC to issue me a new call, anything would be better, and they handed me N9AVG out of the pool, a big improvement. I held that call for 25 years until a crazy notion about a shorter call sign that started with a “K” stirred and I picked up the vanity call KE9V which I’ve now held for more than 20 years.

The very first QSL card I ever received was from WB4AKY of Tampa, Florida confirming our 15 meter CW chat on August 4, 1977. This was during the summer I graduated high school and just before I was off to college. Several of the cards received during this period included “good luck in college” notes so I guess that transition loomed large enough in my head that I was pounding brass about it with random strangers. I have about a hundred cards from my Novice days and these are a historic treasure for me and indicate what would lie ahead.

After upgrading to General I began exploring the world of QRP and nearly all of the QSLs received during that period were for low-power contacts. Many more than I remembered were apparently of the two-watt variety. All small kits, a dozen or more of them prior to the Elecraft era.

Some of my favorites include one from W6ZH/QRP “Pete” Herbert Hoover, III. Pete was a prolific low-power enthusiast using his K2 (#0043) who also happened to be the grandson of President Herbert Hoover. Another from the father of the modern QRP movement, Ade Weiss, W0RSP/QRP who was running a home-brew concoction when I snagged him. Another from Ken, N2CQ a legend. My first QSL card for a 2x2 QRP contact with AL7FS in Alaska and KH6B in Hawaii remain special to me too.

Then there was this improvised, but priceless “card” from K7MOS in Billings, Montana (back). Charles was 70 at the time and had been using CW since 1953 - 49 years of CW only for this gentleman!

Another somewhat less traditional, letter and card confirmation came from my friend Carter Craigie, N3AO who only recently became a Silent Key. Back in 2002 he was on the Appalachian Trail when his few watts of RF tickled my galena.

There are so many others, all treasures that persuade me that QSL cards are much more than just confirmation of a contact, they’re historical markers in the slipstream of our radio lives. Electronic confirmations, like LoTW and others, are about as boring as watching paint dry. It’s only become preferable due to ever increasing postage costs that has made traditional QSLing unaffordable.

This needs to be remedied…

Parks on the Air (POTA) has taken the ham radio community by storm. According to POTA’s website, there are more than half a million unique “hunter” call signs participating in this volunteer program that was “first inspired by the outstanding work of Sean Kutzko, KX9X, and Norm Fusaro, W3IZ, from the American Radio Relay League in 2016.”

The POTA phenomenon sprung from the ARRL’s one-year National Parks on the Air program, which gave legs to today’s soaring interest in park activations. Earlier programs such as Ohio State Parks on the Air, which celebrated its 17^th year in September 2024, provided inspiration and operating details for the National Parks event. 

As of this posting, the list of available POTA locations includes 11,668 parks in the U.S., 5,915 in Canada, and 8,523 in Australia, with new spots being added weekly. At any given time, scores of parks around the world—from North Carolina’s Blue Ridge National Parkway to Sweden’s Kungsbro Nature Reserve—are ripe for keen park hunters (click here to see what parks are on the air right now).

Since its founding, Parks on the Air has captured the imagination of young and seasoned operators, both park activators and hunters, to the tune of several million QSOs. Activators have embraced both the challenges and sheer enjoyment of making contacts amidst views you simply can’t get from inside a shack:

“Parks on the Air combines a few of my favorite things—ham radio, the outdoors, and, if the conditions are right, the occasional pileup,” DX Engineering’s John Miller, KJ3X, told OnAllBands back in 2019 when the program was getting its foothold.

“Parks on the Air brings publicity to amateur radio, and amateur radio brings publicity to parks that normally might be overlooked. I’ve made contacts with people who never knew a particular park existed and have since visited that location.”

POTA Resources

The ARRL’s 144-page reference guide, “The Parks on the Air Book“, is an excellent source to launch your POTA pursuits. Available at DXEngineering.com., the paperback features a look at how 14 operators, representing a range of skill levels and backgrounds, set up and handle their park activations, including gear lists of each. The book also covers satellite operating, QRP, urban backpack portable, wire antennas for POTA, and more.

“Just a very informative book,” in the words of one customer.

We also highly recommend visiting POTA’s website to read “Getting Started with POTA.”

Still not convinced to add POTA to your list of ham radio activities? OnAllBands put together the following list.

10 Reasons to Give POTA a Try

1. POTA activations are an easy way to hold your own mini-DXpedition. Ever wanted to be a station in demand without having to traipse halfway around the globe? POTA is your answer.
2. It doesn’t require a mega-station to make contacts. For a modest investment you can start making QSOs from a park on day one.
3. With thousands of qualified sites, finding one within a reasonable driving distance shouldn’t be too difficult (this, of course, depends on where you live). How about picking a new spot every couple of months for a weekend getaway with the family or significant other?
4. While you may experience pileups, it’s still low pressure. Handle what you can based on your capabilities and improve your skills the more activations you take on.
5. Even if you don’t set the airwaves on fire, you’ll get to enjoy the foliage, an infusion of vitamin D, and perhaps some curious wildlife observing you from behind a tree.
6. Become an ambassador for ham radio. “Hey, what’s all this stuff you’ve got here? Looks like a blast,” someone—or perhaps dozens of folks—will undoubtedly inquire. It’s your chance to show them (without overdoing it) why ham radio is the greatest hobby in the world.
7. Like a personal Field Day adventure every time you set up, POTA is a great opportunity to experiment with a new antenna, QRP operation, and alternative power sources as you free yourself from the confines of the shack.
8. POTA offers plenty of achievable operating milestone awards for hunters and activators.
9. It will help you become a better operator, especially from an EMCOMM perspective. From the POTA website, the program is meant to encourage “amateur radio operations that promote emergency awareness and communications from national/federal and state/provincial level parks.”
10. The best reason of all—POTA operations are fun. After all, isn’t that why you spend hours thinking about refining your stations, getting on the air, and filling your logbooks?

In addition to “The Parks on the Air Book”, DX Engineering carries the gamut of POTA-friendly gear you’ll need to assemble the portable station that best fits your goals and budget, including:

• Transceivers
• Portable antennas from Bushcomm, Chameleon, Chelegance, Comet, DX Engineering (see TW Antenna package below), REZ, and more
• Telescoping portable masts, including DX Engineering’s Premier Telescoping Carbon Fiber Masts
• Bioenno Power LiFePO4 batteries; battery chargers; battery/charger combos; solar panels and solar charge controllers; and solar panel, charge controller, and battery packages
• Headsets
• POTA Kits (below)

Yaesu FT-891 HF+50 MHz POTA Kit (DXE-POTA-1)

Watch Tim Duffy, K3LR, DX Engineering CEO, interview Jeff, KB8ZWT about DX Engineering POTA kits, the SOTAbeams Bandhopper portable dipole antennas, and SOTAbeams compact mini-masts.

Check out these related POTA articles from OnAllBands:

• Diving into Parks on the Air
• Product Review: Chelegance MC-750 HF Vertical Antenna
• Working Through Managing Pileups During Park and Summit Activations
• Ham Radio Budget Pileups: Being Rare without Going Broke
• Low-Power Operating: How to Do More with Less

The post Fall Weather Offers Ideal Opportunity for Outdoor Fun! 10 Reasons to Give Parks on the Air® a Try. appeared first on OnAllBands.