Good Morning, Friends, Today, I’m taking most of the day to focus on organizing, administrative tasks (FEMA applications, insurance, etc.), and some much-needed cleanup around the house. After several days of intense labor, we all need some time to recuperate. Basically, we all smell like sweat and chainsaw exhaust. If you haven’t read my previous … Continue reading Helene Aftermath Update: Aid, Community Resilience, and Egress/Ingress (Thursday, October 3, 2024) →

Hello All, Our friend Thomas and his family are doing well as can be expected in the face of a 500 year flood, washed out roads and bazillions of trees downed around them. He has expressed a desire to post in the evenings after he’s done assisting others in his neighbourhood. I know he is … Continue reading QRPer marches along →

Editor note – Please enjoy this guest post from Jeff Bourgeois VE7EFF. Today, September 6, I hope to POTA activate Inonoaklin Provincial Park CA-3626 in Southern BC, Canada, located on the shores of the Lower Arrow Lakes. On this activation, I will be using my novel experimental homebrewed Coaxial-Sleeve Dipole. The results were surprising! We … Continue reading Experimental Antenna Reins-in Surprising Results →

Hello, Friends, On Saturday morning, I shared an update regarding the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene on our community here in western North Carolina. I’ve received an overwhelming outpouring of kindness, support, and well-wishes… in the best possible way. Thank you. In the two days since that update, I’ve had more time to survey the … Continue reading Helene Aftermath: Long Update, Monday September, 30 2024 →

Good Morning, Friends, As some of you may know, my area of western North Carolina (Swannanoa) was hit hard by record-setting flooding and high winds from the remnants of Hurricane Helene. We live in a rural, somewhat remote part of Buncombe County, and while we were prepared for power outages, downed trees, and general disruptions, … Continue reading Aftermath… →

As always there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things! by Vince (VE6LK) In August and September 2024, I was travelling around Southern Ontario for some family matters and naturally I brought my radio kit with me to squeeze in some radio therapy stops along the … Continue reading Big ships and 78GHz by chance! →

by Matt (W6CSN) The Mountaintopper MTR-3B is a popular QRP portable HF transceiver that has a bit of “cult-ish” mystique about it. The radio seems to hit the sweet spot of size, weight, performance and capability desired by so many portable operators. While I have operated the MTR-4B, and quite like it, I have yet … Continue reading New Mountain Topper MTR-3B Details →

On Monday, September 2, 2024, my good friend Vlado (N3CZ) and I spent Labor Day morning playing POTA. Our first activation was at Lake James State Park, using the new CFT1 QRP transceiver. It was a lot of fun–you can read the field report and watch the video by clicking here. For the second activation, … Continue reading QRP POTA: Pairing N3CZ’s Homebrew Transceiver with the TennTennas 49:1 EFHW! →

Many thanks to Jeff (VE7EFF) who shares the following guest post: 2.5 km Trek into Wrinkly Face Provincial Park, BC, CA-4307 by Jeff (VE7EFF) My goal this summer is to do more backpacked-in POTA activations. This is my 3rd POTA outing over the past week.  Being in Canada, I don’t have much time left this season to … Continue reading Trekking into POTA Heaven: Wrinkly Face Provincial Park Activation →

Many thanks to Bob (K4RLC) & Alanna (K4AAC) for the following field report: Cabot Trail Activations on Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia  – August 2024  By Bob K4RLC & Alanna K4AAC In August 2024, K4AAC, my YL Alanna and I took a trip to magical Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It was Alanna’s suggestion to … Continue reading Bob and Alanna’s POTA Adventures Along the Cabot Trail! →

by Teri KO4WFP Friday, September 13th, I headed to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge (US-0265) for a POTA activation and was without Daisy as dogs are not allowed at this refuge. Pinckney Island is a 4,000+ acre wildlife refuge off Highway US 278 on the way to Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The refuge consists … Continue reading The POTA Babe Spreads Her Wings at Pinckney Island →

I’ve had a production unit of the Xiegu X6200 since June of this year and have made several field reports using it for both SSB and CW. You may have noticed, though, that I haven’t used it much in the field since June. The reason? I’m primarily a CW operator, and the original firmware had … Continue reading Xiegu X6200: Does version 1.0.1 firmware fix CW keyer timing? →

As always there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things! ? by Vince (VE6LK) In August and September 2024 I was travelling around Southern Ontario for some family matters and naturally I brought my radio kit with me to squeeze in some radio therapy stops along … Continue reading When three contacts equals a successful activation →

Labor Day weekend turned out to be full of labor here at QTH K4SWL. My wife and I had numerous projects to tackle, and my daughters had various activities scheduled as well. By Sunday, my wife looked at me and said, “You need a break. Why not spend tomorrow catching up on POTA?” That was … Continue reading CFT1 QRP: Labor Day Morning POTA with Vlado at Lake James State Park! →

Many thanks to Jeff (VE7EFF) who shares the following guest post: Off The Beaten Path – Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve, CA-3925 by Jeff (VE7EFF) This is the 2nd backpacked-in POTA activation outing that my wife and I have done this summer.  I’m the 2nd person to have ever activated the Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve (CA-3925).  Last year was the … Continue reading Jeff’s Backcountry POTA Adventure: Campbell-Brown Ecological Reserve Activation →

Our friend Alan (W2AEW) has just posted a video showing the process of building, adjusting, and aligning the CFT1 5-band CW portable transceiver. If you’ve been thinking about building a CFT1 kit, this video will help guide you [update: see note from Alan below]: Click here to view on YouTube. Thank you for making this … Continue reading Video: Alan (W2AEW) Builds the CFT1 5-Band CW Field Transceiver →

Many thanks to Rod (VA3MZD) for sharing the following guest post: Operating POTA from the interior of Quetico Provincial Park CA-0359 with a (tr)uSDX By Rod Murray (VA3MZD) In a previous guest post here on QRPer I gave a brief history of my introduction to Ham radio and specifically POTA and my experiences activating local … Continue reading Navigating Quetico: Rod’s POTA Adventure with the (tr)uSDX →

As always there are lots of links within the article. Click one! Click them all! Learn all the things! by Vince (VE6LK) In August and September 2024 I was travelling around Southern Ontario for some family matters and, naturally, I brought my radio kit with me to squeeze in some radio therapy stops along the … Continue reading Castles and Trains at Dundurn Castle NHS →

by Teri (KO4WFP) After an interesting and successful activation at Fort McAllister, I turned my sights southward and further back in time to Fort Morris Historic Site (US-3717). Fort Morris Historic Site contains earthen fortifications that date back to the Revolutionary War. The site is simpler than that of Fort McAllister. Fort Morris was built … Continue reading The POTA Babe Learns Some Lessons →