WITH

using

James Watt

As some of you know I do some QRPp Parks on the Air activations using the QRP Labs QCX Mini. For the past couple of years I've had GREAT results using my 40 and 20 meter QCX Mini with what I call, "My Smoke Detector Battery" setup

QRP Labs QCXX Mini 20 Meters

 

A few days later on May 1, 2024; I decided to give it another try but this time on 40 meters when conditions were not quite optimal. And again, I was amazed with the number of stations picking up my signal with "My Smoke Detector Battery"

QRP Labs QCX Mini 40 Meters

As most of you may know, during the month of June 2024, the sun has presented several Earth facing regions which have been quite active with solar storms, solar flares, large sunspot regions, CME's and HF radio blackouts. These conditions have not been favorable for QRPp communications. Living in Kentucky, USA this time of year also represents days and weeks of hot, humid weather with potential for almost daily thunderstorms. So far in June 2024; we've seen record low morning temperatures of 82 degrees and several days of temperatures exceeding 95 degrees with heat indices well over 100 degrees.

Finally the Solar Space Weather forecast for the first few days of July 2024 looked like an excellent opportunity to try some Parks on the Air CW activations using QRPp. However, terrestrial weather was another issue. Heat advisories were forecasted for the last few days of June 2024 and first few days of July 2024.  It was time to take advantage of this brief window to do some QRPp operating.

QRPp Equipment Set Up

The antenna I was going to use was the Tufteln 40 / 20 Linked EFHW. I made this antenna specifically for my QRP Labs 40 & 20 Meter QCX Minis.

Tufteln 40 / 20 Meter Linked EFHW

As for a keyer, I was going to use the American Morse Equipment Ultra Porta Paddle. 

American Morse Equipment Ultra Porta Paddle

Upon awaking before daybreak, I checked the NOAA Space Weather Predication Center's website for Space Weather conditions. It all looked favorable. Terrestrial weather had a Heat Advisory forecasted for July 2, 2024, so I decided to head out for a near sunrise Parks on the Air activation at Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve US-7956 which is less than 4 miles from my QTH.

Not knowing who would be hunting at 1130 UTC, I arrived on site; throw up my arborist line about 45 feet into a tree and pulled up my antenna in a sloper configuration, set up my 40 meter QCX Mini and was ready to go.

At 1142 I started sending CQ and 'BEHOLD" within a minute or two the hunters responded top my calls and kept me busy for the next 50 minutes. Below are the results of what a QRPp CW Parks on the Air activation yielded me.

The highlight of this day's activation was a QSO with Greg / VE3GSS  Port Carling, ON, Canada. A little over 920 km from my Kentucky POTA site with less than 1 WATT.

At 1235 UTC the temperature had risen to 84 degrees. It made no sense in pushing it as I had already achieved more than I expected. To say I walked away with a HUGE grin on my face is an understatement. It was a GREAT Parks on the Air activation.

                                                         

On July 3, 2024 my internal clock woke me at 0900 UTC with basically the same Space and Terrestrial conditions that were in play as the day before.  So why not make this "Ground Hog Day in July.  Same time, same set up on July 3, 2024. One difference; today I would try 20 meters.

Within less than a minute after my CQ on 40 meters at 1143 UTC, my activation began with hunters eagerly wanting to be acknowledged.  I didn't disappoint and neither did they.  QSOs were rapid fire for almost an hour.

 At 1240, I switched over to my 20 meter QCX Mini to see what I could garner, knowing that at time time of morning in the U.S., the likelihood of getting any action on 20 meters was suspect.   I did manage one 20 meter QSO.  Here was my catch for a July "Ground Hog Day"

  

The highlight of this day was as try for a Park-to-Park QSO with a station in Japan. I tirelessly tried for several minutes to make a 40 meter contact with a Parks on the Air station JJVAS at JP- 0128. The QSB was pronounced and the strongest I could get was a 229.  The operator was kind enough to send AGN? a few times but I was just trilled for that reply with less than 1 WATT.

This day like many others brought greetings from people who have become familiar with my operations as they get in their daily walks, runs and cycling before the heat sets in.  Today though I met Dr. Tamekka Cornelius, Ph. D, who was out on her daily walk. She, like others are inquisitive about seeing a man sitting in a mostly open field connected to some wires, a bicycle close by and some weird equipment strapped to his legs.   Dr. Cornelius and I had a nice chat about Amateur Radio, brief history of my broadcast career and my bicycling activities.

 

Operating QRPp reminds me of the country music singer Kenny Rogers' song: 

"The Gambler"

You've got to know when to hold 'em

Know when to fold 'em

Know when to walk away

And know when to run

Once in your ham radio journey, try operating QRPp.

You might be surprised with YOUR results.

73

Jim

"Ham on a Bike"

]

 

    

Golden Gate Park is a 1,017 acre city park separating the Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods in the western half of San Francisco. Although large and internationally known, GGP is a city park and thus does not qualify for a Parks On The Air reference. The park is a two minute walk from my Richmond District QTH, so it would be incredibly convenient if it were, in fact, a POTA park.

A few months ago, a POTA Slack channel discussion of multi-park activation opportunities in the Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Site revealed a “3-fer” that I had not recognized before. Activating from Mountain Lake would net you the Presidio US-7889, Golden Gate National Recreation Area US-0647, and de Anza National Historic Trail US-4571.

This got me thinking that if the Anza expedition traipsed north from Lake Merced to Mountain Lake, then they must have crossed what is now Golden Gate Park. And, if that were the case then there was the opportunity to do a legit POTA activation within the park.

Of course, the exact route taken by the Anza expedition through the vast sand dunes of what became known as San Francisco’s “outside lands” is unknown. But the route can be reasonably estimated. The NPS website for the Anza trail shows a historic trail corridor roughly aligned with Crossover Dr. and the Park Presidio Bypass in Golden Gate Park.

I figure anywhere within the historic trail corridor and that is public land is fair game for activating Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail US-4571.

The western portion of Strawberry Hill and Stow Lake extend into the corridor and with the hill being the high point in the park, this is where I chose to activate from.

Even though the forecast called for warm weather, at 9AM the marine influence was still holding firm, making the top of Strawberry Hill too cold to spend more than just a few minutes there.

My companion and I quickly gave up on the 409 foot “peak” and retreated down past Stow Lake to a meadow which was in the sun, protected from the west wind by Strawberry Hill, and by my reckoning, still within the historic trail corridor.

There I setup the GRA-7350T whip antenna using the ground screw and extension post which is part of the Gabil Radio GRA-GNT mini tripod mounting kit. This easily gave a match of under 1.5 to 1 with the KH1 tuner in bypass mode.

The bands were surprisingly active for a Monday morning and, being a West Coast QRP operation, it took a while to finish the activation. I could hear European DX calling on 17 meters, with the distinctive “flutter” signals get flying over the poles, but unfortunately was unable to raise any of them.

With 11 contacts in the log and one “eyeball” with Ben KG7KGE, who was also enjoying the morning in the park, I called the activation of US-4571 in Golden Gate Park a success.

A short walk later we were home for lunch and refreshment.

73 de W6CSN

Scroll to the bottom if you are only interested in the FD checklist! Is Field Day worth it? This year, more than any other, it seems this question was popping up on ham radio forums across the internet. Other versions seem to be what is the relevance of FD in the day and age of POTA and SOTA. Discussions (disagreements) on what modes should and should not be allowed. Or even what the entire purpose of FD is (emergency communications exercise? ham radio publicity event?) I probably missed it in years past, but this was the first of my five years of both Winter and ARRL Field Days that I noticed people saying they just did not feel like doing it, or alternatively they felt they were unwelcome when they showed up at a public FD site.

I got my chops as the Field Day Coordinator for the first amateur radio club I ever belonged to. I was assigned the role less than a couple months after I received my license. Although I no longer participate in that particular club, I will forever be grateful for all I learned during that time. I took the position extremely seriously, and went from never having turned on a ham transceiver, to understanding quite deeply the variety of systems necessary for a portable multi-op radio contest. I still remember having to inquire as to whether a “tri-bander” was a name brand for an antenna, or a type of antenna. In this case, the term was referring to a 10-15-20M multi-band beam antenna. I would like to think I had been a particularly good radio event coordinator, and went on to organize quite a few group radio events particularly through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Simultaneously, I developed a tremendous love for portable radio, and in particular the Summits-On-The-Air (SOTA) program. I am proud of the fact that I can set up an antenna in nearly any condition. AA1F’s POTA Lion Award effort demonstrated this quite nicely. And, I can do it usually fast and efficiently, especially with a 20M EFHW wire antenna.

So, back to the question. Is Field Day worth it? Given that SOTA and POTA, and other versions of portable radio operations, make a Field Day-like experience possible at almost any time, is Field Day still important and relevant to the amateur radio hobby? Yes. Yes it is. Field Day is worth it. It is important. And it remains relevant.

Our FD station is shown below. It does look like a messy jumble of wires and cables, but there is a reasonable amount of organization in that jumble. My station is in front with the Yaesu FT-991A. AA1F’s station (with an FT-891) is directly across from mine, in the back. And facing toward the window is the FT8 station (FT-857D). In compliance with FD rules, this transceiver is set-up to run FT8, but is not simultaneously capable of transmitting at the same time as another station, keeping us a two bravo classification. Why am I so confident of that? If you take a look carefully at the window, you will see two coax cables feeding through…we only set up two HF antennas! We need to physically move the antennas from one station to another in order to operate. In fact, we do think some sort of antenna switching system would be an improvement for next year. This was also the first year we used a communications headsets (Heil Sound Pro 7) with foot pedals. What a tremendous pleasure!!

Our basic information from the day is in the table below. We decided to keep our antenna system to a minimum given the impending threat of thunderstorms all weekend. This meant that we would set up one 80M off-center fed dipole at about 20-25 feet off the ground and mostly horizontal with its long axis in the east-to-west direction. And then we would set up another 80M OCFD in the north-to-south direction. The choice of the 80M OCF would be so that AA1F and I would each have access to an antenna capable of getting on all bands at the same time, with reasonable resonance, although we were using external tuners on all radios. The perpendicular placement of the antennas was to optimize our directionality of propagation, as well as to hopefully limit interference from one antenna to another. It was also because of the convenience of using our property’s natural tree lines as antenna supports.

Weather considerations made us leave out putting up any mast structures. Not only did it rain in sheets, there were numerous thunderstorms, and even a tornado watch. Using the trees for support at least made us feel as though we would be less likely to attract lightning bolts, at least compared to a nearly 40 foot metal military mast propped up in an open field. We ran 100 foot lengths of LMR-240 coaxial cable from each of the antenna baluns back toward our operating station. Unfortunately, we needed to add another 100 feet of coax (this time of RG8X) to one antenna and 50 feet of RG8X to the other. On the desire list for next year’s field day is a couple of more runs of LMR-240 so we are not mixing and matching coax.

Below is the rain coming down in sheets, with a blue pop-up tent protecting our generator. The generator, a relatively new one that we purchased to power our newest trailer (on the right), stayed on through the entire weekend and was turned off one time only for refueling. This is a 5000W Predator Super Quiet Inverter Generator from Harbor Freight. We have the 2000W version of this generator that we have used for years. I highly recommend this brand. Remember, our entire farm operation is off-grid, so we generate all power. That includes solar panels on the top of each trailer. We propped the genny on cinderblocks to avoid water pooling underneath it.

This year we were fortunate to have acquired most of what we needed for Field Day already. We did make a couple of new purchases from Ham Radio Outlet in NH in the week prior. This included one of the 100′ LMR-240 cables and the Radiowavz 80M OCFD antenna. And Marc and I did splurge for the Heil Sounds Pro 7 communication headsets with foot pedals that I already mentioned. And I am really glad we did! It made operating SSB a joy! I also purchased a gigabit ethernet switch, and networked all 3 of our computers with it. I described that all in this post, including a how-to on networking computers with N1MM+ logging software.

And since we are talking solar panels, we did manage to sneak in a battery charge between downpours during the event to get our 100 points alternative power bonus points. That solar set-up is a SunKingdom 60W folding panel (which unfortunately does not seem to be available anymore), a Renogy Voyager 20A charge controller capable of working with LiFePo batteries, and a 15Ah 12V Bioenno battery. This set up can produce 2.5A of current in full sun.

The SunKingdom solar panel uses a SAE connector. I use an SAE-to-bare wire jumper to attach the solar panel and its native power cord with an SAE connector to the charge controller. From the output of the charge controller, I then use a bare wire-to-SAE jumper, that I then add a Thunderbolt (Harbor Freight) SAE-to-barrel connector adapter to attach to the Bioenno battery. The exact Thunderbolt product is pictured below; this is NOT any sort of affiliate link and I do not make a single penny off of this website. I have included this (and the picture is linked to the right Harbor Freight product), because it is a way to locally source a barrel connector that fits the very popular ham radio Bioenno battery. The other jumpers, especially the SAE extension cable, are nice as well and can be modified to suit your solar connection purposes.

We used standard 30A power supplies running off of the generator to power our SSB/CW stations. The FT8 station however ran entirely off of battery power, including one of which was charged with solar power in the moments of sunlight that we had.

Below we start getting into the nitty gritty of our FD contacts. I made contacts on 5 bands with SSB and CW. AA1F on the other hand made SSB contacts on 20, 40, and 80, and he also made FT8 contacts on those as well as 15M. The FT8 contacts are the ones marked “KX1Q” in the graph below.

Overall, I am quite pleased with the general performance of our Field Day set-up. We made 362 QSOs and reached the entire continental United States.

This included 68 separate ARRL sections and 45 states. AA1F made 24% more contacts than I did, with 206 QSOs compared with my 156 contacts.

It is interesting too to see how AA1F and I “specialized”. Below is a breakdown of our various modes. I did manage exactly 1 FM contact on 146.52MHz with a local ham via a 2m/70cm magmount on my van. In general AA1F took the low HF bands, and I took the higher HF bands, although we both shared 40M quite a bit. Also, I operated CW, whereas AA1F chose FT4/FT8 as his digital mode. In fact, this is the first time AA1F really used these modes beyond looking over my shoulder while I tap away on WSJT-X, and he made over a 100 contacts! Fortunately, our digital modes radio, i.e., the now discontinued Yaesu FT-857D, still works, as it was burning up by the end of FD with the workload of a full duty cycle. In order to get the 857 to play with WSJT-X, we had to run it through the Tigertronics Signalink as an audio interface. Unlike the Yaesu FT-818ND, I unfortunately could not get the Digirig to work with the 857, and scrapped it for the Signalink.

Below is a map of our QSOs by band. The most interesting to me part of this is the very distinct propagations regions each band creates. 15M reaches the west coast and Texas. 20M is predominantly midwest. 40M is northeast and mid-Atlantic, and 80M is similar with a slightly smaller diameter. This map and the mode map below it were made by uploading the Cabrillo file to this website.

The locations of our QSOs by mode is shown below. The red pins, denoted oddly as “Standard” by the software, are CW, and they correlate to the fact that I made a lot of the CW contacts on 15M and 20M. Likewise, the yellow data pins show that most of AA1F’s FT* contacts were made on either 40M or 80M.

And let’s just talk a little bit about my CW contacts. I am not a particularly good CW operator, although I try. I needed to use a decoder. The one that I think is the best is the android app Morse Expert. It uses the same technology as CW Skimmer. All I do is rest my cell phone near the speaker of the transceiver and let the app decode the CW simply via ambient audio. It works extremely well, particularly in the type of event where nearly everyone at least to me seems to be sending CW via a machine. Now for sending CW (which I am reasonably okay at — my deficit is definitely at hearing it), I used the voice memory channels of my 991A using the “text-to-CW” mode. I programmed in “KX1Q” in channel 1 and “2B ENY” in channel 2, and made channel 1 and 2 into the soft buttons at the bottom of the Yaesu display. I also programmed in “TU” and “AGN” in channels 3 and 4, just in case I needed them. Although, usually I would just send these with the paddle if I did. With this set-up, and some reasonable knowledge of CW, I found making morse code contacts was like shooting fish in a barrel. This was the first time I used this type of semi-automated operation, and it was delightful! I expect I will get to be more efficient at it by next year. Or who knows? Maybe, I’ll get better at code by then too!

And we did also try for an FM satellite contact with a nighttime pass of SO-50. Given that it was in the middle of a thunderstorm and we were standing underneath the awning of our trailer to avoid getting soaking wet (not to mention pointing a handheld yagi at lightning bolts, hey, we wanted that contact!), it is not particularly surprising we did not make the QSO. We did hear SO-50 though, so we considered it a kind of win. We used two Yaesu FT-4X HTs to try to make the contact. The shame though was that it was otherwise a perfect 80 degree pass over our open field…

The farm is open to the public, so we did set up an information table. Oddly (surprise surprise! Look at that rain!) we did not get any visitors, but we did claim our bonus points.

…And the grill was DEFINITELY not just for show! Here is AA1F showing off his delicious meat. Yup, cooking in the downpour like the seasoned farmer that he is!

Georgie, our Field Day guard dog, watched over everything with her one eye. Including the coax. Okay, really this is just a gratuitous picture of this gorgeous mutt.

And finally, here it is! Our entire ARRL Field Day 2024 checklist (of radio gear only, you need to make your own toiletries list!) Feel free to download and adapt it as you would like!

So, successes? We made over 100 more contacts this year than last year which we consider a win. We were on the air nearly at the start of Field Day (okay, 11 minutes late, but still that is great for us!) This was because we set up nearly everything Friday night (including our antennas in a thunderstorm and by headlamp thanks to bad traffic out of Boston). The early set up meant we were less fatigued by start time. We operated 6 bands and 6 modes. We had little to no interference between our stations, made possible by using band pass filters on both operating transceivers at all times. We were never at a lack of station possibilities for contacts, and more often than not if we could hear a station, we could work a station. The use of multi-banded 80M antennas seemed like a good choice overall. Our antenna locations made working the entire United States possible, with only 5 states not contacted. I learned a way to semi-automate CW contacts and AA1F made a bunch of WSJT-X contacts for the first time. All of our computer equipment was networked and worked. In all, we considered the entire operation a success…

But of course there are always things we can do better. Quite frankly, I would like to get more contacts. I suppose we will try for at least 500 next year. Would it be beneficial to get the antennas up higher than 20-25 feet? Should we use only LMR 240 instead of mixing and matching it with RG8X coax? Should we put up a single banded resonant 40M antenna? Or maybe focus on more resonant antennas in general? We only operated for about 14 of the 24 hours in total. We did get tired fairly early in the event ( I think I turned in before 2am on Saturday; AA1F made it a bit more) and we slept a bit later than we wanted to. How can the two of us manage more on-air time given the exhaustion inherent to being a two-person FD operation? And one that needs a significant amount of travel time to reach our FD location?

And of course, the things out of our control. The bad traffic on Friday that turned a 3 hour trip into a 5 hour trip, and left us setting up in the dark and rain. The weather…thunderstorms (and tornado watches!) all weekend. And when it wasn’t raining, it was 90 degrees with air so humid you could ring it out. We also suffered from being distracted a decent amount by Georgie, who as a shepherd teenager still requires a lot of minding.

All that said, I am really happy with 2024’s ARRL Field Day. Despite what I see online, the airwaves were hopping and it was clear A LOT of hams were enjoying the event! It made me giggle a bit to think of the number of electromagnetic signals flying around the general public’s head, of which they had no clue. Don’t get me wrong, I know it is the same for cell phones, etc, but usually a giant international event would have some sort of footprint. Runners blocking streets as they raced along. Or traffic on the way to a particularly popular concert. But hams can take over the world in the quietest and least intrusive of ways, unless you know how to listen for it.

My radio friends in Beantown seemed to all have nice club Field Days as well based on the reports I have been seeing and getting. I am happy for them! I realize though, at this point in my trajectory through this hobby that I am not particularly interested in partaking in Field Day as a club event. Maybe this will change? Through the years I have done quite a bit to promote Amateur Radio. Heck, this website, although it is really for my own entertainment, does see quite a bit of traffic at least based on my standards and I would like to think it has a positive effect. And I am really glad for the club Field Days I have both organized and been a part of.

I am getting more protective though of my time. And particularly the time I get to spend on what has become one of the most important aspects of my life. Over these last five plus years, radio has burrowed its way into becoming a core component of my existence. I mean it with that intensity. When I started this journey, communication, as in the ability for one party to convey information to another, seemed to be the backdrop of this radio journey for me. In essence, it was a social experience. The ability to communicate was inherently social, and I took to radio in that manner: join a club, help provide radio experiences for others, provide a public service — a social service — in doing so. But as the wonder of the science of radio, the art of radio, and most importantly–radio for the sake of radio–seeps in, the social aspects have been fading away in some aspects. Don’t get me wrong! I love all of the real friends I have made in this hobby, and hanging out with them is not what I am talking about. Enjoying the company of other hams (which I do!) is also not what I am talking about. More so, an event like Field Day, the Super Bowl of our hobby, is something I want to do as a largely asocial experience these days, instead relishing in the marvels of RF and my own ability to tap into it. Maybe it simply comes down to the fact that I do not want to share. There are many ways in which I can share radio, and many ways that I do, but for the time being, I do not think Field Day is not going to be one of them.

And why Field Day? No other radio contest (non-contest?) has a wider range of amateur radio operator skills and stations available to pluck contacts out of. Overall, the event is not extremely competitive nor is it made out of the finest radio stations. It means you can make a lot of contacts with other stations that are also cobbled together…just like yours! It means that you can significantly improve from one year to the next, learn your equipment better, perfect your station set-up, and harden your skills. You are largely not competing with amplified multi- mult- contest stations blasting 1500 watts with giant directional antennas. In Field Day, you actually stand a chance. If used appropriately, ARRL Field Day can be a great way to become increasingly more proficient in the hobby, year over year. And it is an experience I want to grasp with both arms and not let go of for anyone.

Is Field Day still relevant? You better believe it is!

KM1NDY

I had a few tasks to carry out for my club, Newport County Radio Club, during Field Day 2024, which was hazy, hot, and humid (sounds familiar).

I was charged with making a satellite contact, something I had not done since 2020.  I spent two weeks before ensuring that I had calibrated all the satellites that were still in the air (and bemoning all the ones that were no longer available – CAS-x, XW-x, etc.).  My station is shown in the photo below (IC-9700, laptop running SATPC32, and a 3×11 Arrow antenna on a photo tripod).

The first available pass was for RS-44, and would be at the point of closest approach right at 1400 EDT.  With only about 8 minutes to make a contact at that point, I was pretty confident, but imagine my disappointment when I could barely hear any singlas on the satellite and couldn’t hear my downlink at all.  After that failed pass, I did some quick checking and discovered that the VHF and UHF coax cables had been attached to the wrong beam.  EEK!

There was a pass of AO-73 about a half hour later, and I had no trouble making 3 SSB contacts on it (I gave up trying CW as there were no responses other than folks going up and down the band to find themselves sending endless dots and dashes).  A couple of hours later there was a pass of AO-7, and I quickly made a SSB contact on that bird, just to pay homage to the little satellite that still does, 50 years later!

Another task was to pass a section manager message from our site at Glen Park (Portsmouth RI) through a VHF link to my home gateway (WB4SON-10 on 145.050 MHz).  Despite the 21 mile path and some terrain between the two locations, it was an easy S9+++ connection with a full speed data link.  This message was also part of the Winlink Thursday drill for the week before and after Field Day.

As I wrapped up the AO-7 contact, I felt a burst of cool air on my back, a 180 degree change of wind direction.  I suspected there was a downdraft nearby, so I quickly took my equipment apart, stuffed it in my car, and headed home.  A few minutes after I left, the skies opened with a deluge of rain.  I felt sorry for my buddies in various tents still at the site.

When I got home, I copied the W1AW CW bulletin.

My final task was to work the CW station for the final 2.5 hours of the contest on Sunday.  This year I decided to run Search/Pounce, and enjoyed contacts on 10, 15 and 20 meters.

As always, lots of fun

Bletchley Park

Most readers of this blog are probably familiar with Bletchley Park and the significance of this place in breaking the codes used by the axis military forces during the second world war.

The electromechanical systems developed and used here to aid the codebreakers in their daily work led directly to the electronic digital computers of the mid-twentieth century, and then to the modern world as we know it.

After boarding the London Northwestern Railway at Euston station, the hour long train journey took us from central London, through the suburbs, then the pastoral English countryside to the station at Bletchley, just south of Milton Keynes.

Bletchley Park is a five minute walk from the train station at Bletchley, the town of the same name. In keeping with the formerly clandestine nature of the work at Bletchley Park, there are no loud signs to welcome you, just the Union Jack flying over the nondescript visitor center in Block C.

Exiting the visitor center, any ham will quickly spot the three-element SteppIR Yagi perched atop a roof-mounted tower. Also from the tower, a folded dipole extends over the the Block B building which houses the Alan Turing museum exhibits. The other end of this antenna farm is plugged into GB3RS, the amateur radio station for the National Radio Centre of the RSGB.

The friendly and helpful staff of amateurs at the NRC played a crucial role in my hoped-for plan of activating Bletchley Park for Parks On The Air.

Surprisingly, the POTA page for GB-0507 showed only a handful of activations of this iconic location. Seeing as this is a heritage site, I sent an email to the NRC about week before my visit asking for advice on how to be a welcome guest POTA operator.

Note, the NRC is colocated on the grounds of the museum but they are not a part of Bletchley Park. The NRC is a separate organization.

Martyn G0GMB, the Director of the NRC, kindly responded to my enquiry and informed me that individual amateur radio activity is not generally permitted on the grounds of Bletchley Park due to the number of visitors they receive and concerns about RF safety. This could explain the low number of activations.

Martyn suggested I could set up in the overflow car park few minutes walk down the road from the visitor center. While not on the grounds of Bletchley Park proper, the parking lot operation would still be in the spirit of POTA and would reasonably count as a valid activation location.

When I arrived at Bletchley Park on Friday afternoon, I was met by Mervyn G4KLE who was expecting me thanks to a note left by OM G0GMB. Mervyn asked where all my equipment was and I motioned to the pack on my back.

Because my radio and antenna was a low impact, minimal footprint QRP setup, I was told that I could make use of the picnic table just out the side door of the GB3RS shack, with my antenna setup just beside it. This dead-end spot was not on any of the paths frequented by park visitors and my antenna would not be easily visible.

This was a much better arrangement than trying to activate from a car park without a car! I quickly deployed a GRA-GNT micro tripod with center spike pushed easily into the soft ground. The GRA-7350T loaded vertical and a set of short radials provided an SWR of 1.05 to 1.

I chose the QMX as a travel radio while in Britain because with it, the overall kit is very lightweight and compact. With the exception of the tripod the whole kit fits in my carry-on. The GRA-GNT antenna mounting kit has to fly in checked baggage due to several aggressive looking spikes that would certainly be flagged by airport security.

One of the display cases inside the NRC shows an original QCX radio produced by Hans Summers G0UPL, so it is only fitting for the QMX to be operated in its ancestral homeland.

I scheduled the activation for the whole day on the POTA app and thankfully the RBN connection was working well and spotted me just moments after starting to call “CQ POTA DE M/W6CSN” which was programmed into message slot #1 on the QMX.

I had no idea what to expect working a POTA activation in Great Britain and where most of the awake ham population would be European. As such I was a little surprised when the first call was from K2UPD in Kentucky, USA – and he was loud.

Throughout the hour that I was on the air there was alternating periods of sunshine and clouds with occasional light rain. The rain was nothing that couldn’t be handled by the Rite-In-The-Rain logbook and by simply closing the flap of the Maxpedition pouch that held the radio and battery.

However, needing just two more contacts for a complete activation, the skies started chucking down rain in large quantities. At this rate both the station and the operator would soon be thoroughly soaked. I hastily made an arrangement with Mervyn G4KLE where he turned the power down on GB3RS as low as it would go and I worked him both as GB3RS and then G4KLE to finish out the ten.

While that stunt may have stretched the spirit of the rules, they were valid over-the-air contacts and counted for POTA. I was simply working him line of sight off the side of his beam.

I quickly bundled all the stuff back into the GB3RS shack and tried to dry the wettest of the equipment before stowing it all back in my pack.

I can say with confidence that without the kind assistance from Martyn, Mervyn, and the whole gang at the National Radio Centre that my attempt to do a POTA activation at this important historical site would not have been successful, if it even happened at all. They really are a great bunch of guys.

If you ever visit Bletchley Park, which I highly recommend, and are thinking about doing a POTA activity it is imperative that you contact the people at the NRC ahead of time and make appropriate arrangements. GB-0507 is a sensitive and historically significant site, do not just show up with a bunch of ham radio equipment and expect that you’ll be able to operate.

Hyde Park

A couple of days after the successful excursion to Bletchley Park, I had some time available in the morning and I had been wanting to do another POTA activation while in London. Hyde Park is smack in the center of London and is designated POTA reference GB-0401 – I figured now was good time to try to get it.

I consulted the marvel of deception that is the London Underground Map and saw that just three stops from our hotel on the Jubilee Line would take me within walking distance of Hyde Park.

Bill Bryson in his book “Notes from a Small Island” has this to say about the London Underground Map:

What a piece of perfection it is, created in 1931 by a forgotten hero named Harry Beck, an out of work draughtsman who realized that when you are underground it doesn’t matter where you are.

Alighting at Green Park station it was approximately a quarter mile walk to Hyde Park Corner. I kept going, deeper into the park, hoping to put some distance between the operating location and what I presumed would be higher RFI emanating from the modern urban environment at the edges of the park.

A park bench which backed up against an area of taller grass seemed like a good choice since it was off the main trail and I could set up the antenna in an area unlikely to be frequented by people.

After spotting myself, I again set to calling CQ POTA with my “M/” prefixed callsign. Conditions weren’t great it seemed, but I did make three contacts before the rain once again began falling in earnest.

Waiting out the rain showers was no longer an option as I was running out of time. However, since theoretically I had until 11 o’clock that night to complete the activation, I could come back later in the afternoon and try to wrap it up.

It took several hours to help my daughter to finish packing up and getting moved out of her apartment and back to our hotel, from which we’d leave early the next day for Heathrow for our flight back to San Francisco.

After an early dinner we found our way back to Hyde Park which was a much busier place now than it was at 8AM. The park bench which I had used earlier was unavailable so I found a place to set up the station at the edge of a broad field.

This time around, while there were definitely stations on the bands, they either weren’t hearing me or not in the mood to answer my QRP calls.

The week of walking all over (and under) London, the chilly afternoon weather, and sitting on the ground making no contacts finally got the better of me. After an hour of trying I decided to throw in the towel.

The three contacts made that morning would have to do. I uploaded my log to POTA later that evening from the hotel. While not thrilled with being the first to attempt, but not complete, the activation of Hyde Park, I put a positive spin on it. All the other activators that come after me don’t have to worry about being the first to bust an activation here. Hi Hi.

Conclusion

Rain and Sun, complete and incomplete activations, these radio outings in Great Britain were a lot of fun and enabled me to tick the box next to one of this year’s ham radio goals, which was do to a POTA activation in a foreign country.

73 de M/W6CSN

A Long Weekend

I had the opportunity to take Friday off, so I did. And with a day off and no commitments until much later, I headed out to The Octagon at Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020. I just couldn’t think of a better way to spend a few hours in the quiet before a weekend of things and stuff.

A brief diversion? The summer has arrived, so my Jeep has its summer outfit on. This is a rag top with no windows save the front windshield and its safari doors. Look, I’m not made of sugar and I live in a place that is grey and cold for a decent chunk of the year. When I get the chance to enjoy the wind in my face, I take it. That does come with some risks. When it rains, well, I get wet. And to be absolutely clear, I expect it and embrace it!

The forecast for the day did NOT include rain. I tossed my clamp-on umbrella into the Jeep simply to keep the sun off as that can heat up the radio and get in my face. It’s a nice thing to take along for contingencies. Ya know, sun or…rain.

Halfway to the park, the skies opened up and it rained cats and dogs for about 25 minutes. I pulled over and looked at the weather radar. It was going to pass quickly enough so I kept going. Arriving at the park, I was met with some “jokes” from others in the parking lot. I smiled and grabbed my gear. They’d come back sweaty and gross while I was just freshly showered!

Getting to the picnic tables did show me that I had some obstacles. The table was wet and so was the bench. No worries! I brought my tarp (always do!) and I set up the umbrella to keep the water that was falling out of the trees off of my gear. I deployed the AX1 and hooked up the IC-705. I was ready to go!

Solar Goodness

Friday was great for solar weather. The conditions were good on 40 and 20 and I was able to grab enough contacts to call it an activation in relatively short order. It was so much nicer than the prior activations when the local star was blowing its top and making things difficult. It was great to pull in the contacts!

For a bit of extra fun, I tossed my Surface Go 2 into the bag and grabbed some FT8 while I was at it. It’s been quite a while since I did any digital work during a POTA activity.

QSO Map

With it turning from rain to clear skies I’d been on the air long enough and was feeling refreshed. Here’s what the QSO Map looks like.

Fun While It Lasted

Saturday rolled around and it turned out that we had a graduation party to attend and a few errands to run. What would normally have been a trip to CVNP on a bicycle turned into a quick drive out to play a little radio while the things that needed doing and didn’t involve me were done. I was very pleased to get two opportunities to get into the field in one weekend.

The wonderful solar conditions from Friday DID NOT flow into Saturday. The earth was spinning into all of the fun that comes from yet another CME. This was causing all kinds of problems. The bands would open for a bit and then go silent. As usual, I parked my IC-705 on a portion of the band where I could see the FT8 signals on the waterfall and watched them ebb and flow as I tried to nab enough CW contacts for an activation.

It didn’t work out that way. I managed to get 7 CW contacts in an hour. That’s not great. But I did bring along my computer and flipped over to FT8 to pick up an additional 4 contacts and validate the activation. I don’t know that I would have made it without moving to a digital mode.

The IC-705

It is not a secret that I am a huge fanboy for the IC-705. The switch from operating CW to FT8 was as simple as turning on my little WiFi router that I carry for these occasions and launching wvfiew and WSJT-X on my computer. That’s it. It took maybe 2 minutes and I was on the air and calling CQ on FT8. It’s brilliant and frictionless. Sure, I’ve been using it for years now and have figured out a workflow that makes things very smooth, but wow is this rig a dream for multi-mode portable. Which, again, is not a surprise as that’s kind of its purpose. It’s just amazing to me that it feels so simple when everything else (like the sun) is making things complicated.

QSO Map

Here’s what the activation looks like.

Final

As we get closer and closer to the solar maximum of Cycle 25 the conditions are going to get weird. I’ve decided that when I head out to do an activation I’m going to toss the computer into the bag just in case. More modes make a successful activation more likely. While activating isn’t the goal – being outside and playing radio is – it’s still nice to check it off as DONE. It also keeps me fresh on my digital operating skills. It’s probably time to play a bit more with fldigi so I can get some other modes in the log. Time for some more experimentation!

It might also be time to take the Hardrock-50 into the field with The Big Battery. We’ll see what happens if and when the mood strikes!

Thanks for reading and 72!

2024 is my fourth year of participating in CWT contests, and the gold medal (participating in at least 120 CWT contest for the year) arrived yesterday.

Gorgeous Weather

It was sunny and the temperature was darned near perfect for June in NE Ohio. My wife and I got on our bikes and cycled out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 so that we could enjoy the day. The plan was to spend a little time at The Octagon shelter area so I could play a little radio and then head into Peninsula to grab some lunch. I figured that I could get the park activated in about an hour while my wife did a little reading and we’d be on our way.

Well. Yeah. The thing is…

Sensing A Pattern

We’re heading toward the high point of Cycle 25 and it seems that conditions on HF are getting less and less reliable. I know very little about solar weather and I’m certainly not an expert on our local star. I know what I’ve read and I can compare that with my observations. I’m definitely not alone in observing that activations are harder and harder to complete and that makes me feel less like it’s a “Me Problem” and more like it’s a “Giant Ball Of Gas Problem”. That works.

When I set up my Go-To gear (IC-705 with the AX1) and I’m struggling to get it done, I start to doubt myself. Should I toss my EFHW into a tree? Should I have brought the SuperAntenna? But the truth is, if I’m sitting there and RBN is picking me up but I’m not hearing much, it’s very possible that there’s no one out there to hear me or conditions are worse than I thought.

In any case, it seems that budgeting an hour for an activation is not as likely to bear fruit as it was just a few months ago. Not that it matters. Being outside with my radio is the point. Relaxing and getting on the air are the ends.

QSO Map

Here’s what it looked like on the QSO Map:

Final

QRP seems to be about patience these days. Could be that all radio activities are going to involve more patience than they have in this solar cycle. There are still plenty of exciting times ahead. There are months of long, warm, bright days ahead and I plan to spend as many of them as I can in the field playing radio.

Thanks for reading and 72!

FT4GL Automation. So how can it be this automated FT8 operation from Glorioso (FT4GL) has been approved for DXCC?

This weekend is the ARRL June VHF contest. Its a fun way to test our your VHF Capabilities and your antenna systems…

The following is a “cut N paste” from the ARRL Website:

About

Contest Objective: For amateurs in the US and Canada (and their possessions) to work as many amateur stations in as many different 2 degrees x 1 degree Maidenhead grid squares as possible using authorized frequencies above 50 MHz. Stations outside the US & Canada (and their possessions) may only work stations in the US (and its possessions) and Canada.

Dates: The second full weekend in June. (June 8-10, 2024)

Contest Period: Begins 1800 UTC Saturday, ends 0259 UTC Monday.

Now this is a busy weekend for me (radio wise) as the Rideau Lakes Cycle Tour will be in Kingston during that time and its the only scheduled Public Service Event that our local group does every year.The picture on the left was taken the first year I assisted the Kingston Group on the event. Previous to that I lived in Ottawa and I participated with the Ottawa Group on the same event.

But lets get back to the contest for a bit:

First of all…. Head over to the ARRL website for the latest update and the full rules for the Contest.

Click on the ARRL logo below for the Rules PDF

Using my Yaesu FT991a I plan to be giving out the “Rare FN14” Grid square on both 2m and 6m SSB.

On Saturday my Bike tour shift will finish around 6pm (EDST) or 2200 (UTC) if I did the conversion correctly… So I plan to operate from 2300 UTC for a couple of hours.

On Sunday my tour will finish around 9am (EDST) or 1300 (UTC) once again if the conversion works and will try again then around 1400 UTC once I get home.

My 2m/70cm antenna will be a simple Halo or loop which will be horizontal at approx 20 feet above ground. The 991a has an output of 50w ssb on 2m. As the loop is “sort of” useable on 70cm I will be able to give some locals an extra multi.

My 6m antenna will be a simple “Buddipole 6m Dipole. The 991a has an output of 100w ssb so it should be able to get a bit of a signal out across the Lake (at least I hope it will).

Later tonight there is a vhf net that starts on 144.250 usb that is based in Eastern Ontario. Check out the West Carleton Amateur Radio Club for more into on that. After that they call the role on 70cm and 6m. I stand a change on 6m and 2m if someone has their beams aimed southwest. More on how this works later.

Lets see who can hear the “Popgun” with the tiny antennas…

73bob

You Read That Right

It was a dessert activation. Monday nights are Scout meetings so I figured I could sneak out to Cuyahoga Valley National Park – US-0020 and get an activation in after dinner. I thought of it as a bit of mental sorbet to cleanse the pallette after a long day. It worked out very well!

The past few times that I’ve been out at the park, the local star has been a royal pain. When the sun throws a tantrum, things get crazy for all of us radio folks – not just the QRP operators! As a result, the past couple of activations have been ones that I barely got over the line. Having taken a good look at the conditions for the day in question, it seemed like I might be hitting the right time in terms of solar weather which I normally don’t check at all. My approach is usually one of “Sure, they say the conditions are bad but what does that mean to me in the spot where I’ll be sitting when I’m sitting there? Best test it to find out!” After a few solar tantrums, I at least check to see how much water or coffee to take along.

Tried And True

The gear was predictable. I took the IC-705 and paired it with the AX1. I had my tarp out and everything set up in about 5 minutes. I have this kit down to SOP levels of repeatability. With everything deployed, I didn’t really take any chances. I went straight to 20-meters and I was rewarded.

Moving Around

I managed to get enough contacts for the activation rather quickly on 20. That’s not a shock, but it was nice to get them in the bag. I decided to move to 17 and see what I could hear. It was really, really quiet. I managed to get a contact in Idaho and one in Utah. A friend from Mastodon said I could be heard poking my head out of some serious QSB in Colorado. I can usually tell how well things are going by the number of other activators on the band. I was the only one, so I moved on to 40 to get the local crew. I was not disappointed.

Refreshing

Getting outside on a warm, sunny evening is a beautiful thing. Even if the bands hadn’t cooperated, it was still nice to be the only one at The Octagon. The field around the structure had just been mowed and there was still the smell of cut grass in the air. The birds were busy – including a few crows that were quite disruptive with some QRN (see what I did there?) while I was trying to copy.

The truth is that radio is one of those things where you can only focus on the activity at hand. Careful listening requires attention and when it’s done right all of those other thoughts from the day disappear. After a good hour or so on the air I almost always walk away feeling refreshed and reset. Every thing is cleared out and I can move on to whatever is next without any mental clutter.

QSO Map

With three bands in play, I managed to get 26 contacts. Here’s what it looked like on the QSO Map:

Final

I get the sense that I need to do more of these “Dessert Activations” this summer while we still have the daylight. As has been mentioned to me a few times recently, we’re hitting the solstice and that means that The Long Dark is slowly turning in our direction. I definitely want to make radio hay while the sun shines.

Thanks for reading and 72!