On Being Invisible

Late last week, I was made aware of some concerns that the POTA team were having relayed to them by various official agencies about the poor behavior of activators in parks and on public land. This led to a great post by Thomas K4SWL and some good discussion over in the ham radio corner of Mastodon.

This kind of discussion is right up my alley because, as I’ve discussed before, I am all about being as inconspicuous as possible when I’m out activating a park. In many ways, that simple fact has driven the gear I carry and the modes I use when I’m out and about. It also plays into site selection. I figured I would talk about that a bit and tie it back to the two activations that I did this weekend.

Picking An Activation Site

I’m a creature of habit. When I decide on a park as a place I’m going to spend some time, I immediately try to find the most out of the way place to set up my station. This is more difficult in some places than in others. When I’m working out at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, there are several places near trailheads where picnic tables are isolated and leave a lot of room for people to enjoy the park with a bit of space. There are other places where the only tables are in very conspicuous spots and near a lot of foot traffic. I tend to gravitate to the former and leave the latter alone unless there are no other options. When I know I’m going to be in the line of sight of traffic, I handle my station appropriately by ensuring that no one could step on or get tangled up in a counterpoise and that I’m not using wires in trees which can cause all forms of grief near a trailhead.

When I’m activating West Branch SP – K-1999 this isn’t too difficult. The spot that I go to most weeks is in a field that is being reclaimed by nature per the parks department’s plan. There are a couple of tables here that I might use, but I take the one that is off on the point near the water. The general feeling out in this part of the park is one of desolation. I feel like the last person on earth out here except for the disc golfers who wander by at a good distance – 500 yards out or more.

What Gear To Use

I have come to appreciate and adore the efficiency of a wire antenna in a tree. I keep a random wire antenna and a 40-20-10 in my bag with a weight and throw line. It’s an elegant solution and it always works.

But…

There are a number of parks where putting lines into trees is not welcome. It’s also true that it can be distracting to have line in trees and wires dangling. If one is going to take this approach, there is a lot more to the site management portion of the activation. It’s up to the operator to ensure the safety of the other park patrons. This means that a wire in a tree might not be a great solution. I wouldn’t even consider it in more heavily travelled parks.

Masts are great for deploying wire antennas. I like to take a mast with me when I ride my bike to the park as I have a couple of clamps that will hold the mast to my bike and that removes the requirements for guying out the mast and making more of a mess. At that point, I’m really just managing the antenna and the feedline. I got pretty good at that deployment strategy last summer.

But…

Masts do draw attention to themselves. It’s difficult to minimize that. Sometimes, it’s easier to deploy a whip with a ground spike. I have a Chameleon setup that works every time. I always use it when we go camping because it’s low-profile when setup behind our camper and I can keep it close to the camper itself so that I don’t have a feedline out there waiting for one of the dogs to get wound up in it.

But…

Whips and spike mounted antennas still have radials to be managed. I find it’s easier to manage them because the antenna can be deployed out of the path of most other park visitors. That said, there are plenty of parks that do not allow for spikes to be driven into the ground. I keep a nifty clamp for my Chameleon whip on hand to attach it to a grill or picnic table to avoid breaking that rule.

All of that said…

Look, I broke down and got the Elecraft AX1 after watching a ton of videos where Thomas K4SWL went off and made more than enough contacts with really good distances with that little antenna. It’s almost impossible to see if you’re at a picnic table, it doesn’t require anything more than my cool table clamp or even the bipod to keep it upright, and it’s quick to setup and tear down. It doesn’t even feel like a compromise most times. I’m still getting coast to coast and Europe in there. There is a counterpoise, but it’s easily managed. Is this antenna for everyone? No. But boy does it work for me!

Modes

I’ve talked at length about how I don’t like doing phone at the park. Sitting at a picnic table and having what sounds a very dull phone conversation not unlike what one might expect in a call center isn’t something that I enjoy. I do OSPOTA every year and I will hunt with phone, but activating using phone isn’t my thing. What’s that mean?

I was very much a digital activator for most of my early POTA career. I have tuned my digital portable station to the point where there is very little left to optimize (in my opinion at this date). I can set up quickly and activate a park using FT8/FT4 or even RTTY. I’d love to get more digital modes into my repertoire and that’s something I’m working toward. Sure, I have to carry around my tablet and manage that, but it’s fun! It’s also QUIET.

The other mode that I’m finding is very low-profile is CW. It further reduces the footprint of my station and, through the judicious use of headphones, produces no impact on the park around me. The AX1 is fantastic on CW. QRP and CW go hand in hand. My key doesn’t make a sound that anyone can hear unless they are sitting right on rop of me in which case, I care a lot less about the noise.

We don’t talk about this enough: We need to respect the sonic space of a park.

Is there anything more irritating when you’re camping than to hear the music of the site next to you? Is there anything less fun than being on a hike and unable to pass a group with a Bluetooth speaker that is cranking out song after song that gets in the way of you hearing the breeze in the trees or the river and the birds? Personally, I would rather sit next to a crying baby on a Trans-Atlantic flight than listen to the oldies coming out of a tinny speaker hanging from the fannypack of a speed-walking grandmother.

What’s that mean? It means that I want to have a little empathy for other park visitors and make sure that the sound of my radio goes into a pair of headphones rather than into the sonic space we’re sharing. No one wants to hear the beeping of my rig or the voices coming to me from the west coast. I’m very mindful of that. Keeping myself unheard is very important to me.

My Personal Practice

As you can see in the above photos, I’ve been frequenting a park that could be the set of a post-apocalyptic thriller. In fact, on Sunday, the only humans I saw at the park were this fisherman:

and two people paddling kayaks in February in Northeast Ohio. Yeah. The water is liquid, gotta be in the boat. I have to imagine that they’re pretty chilly sitting on the water like that.

I’ve talked with one ranger in my entire time visiting this park. I’m including my childhood in that. He was out emptying trash and I asked him a couple of questions about the facilities that were being torn down. Good chat. He asked what I was doing and nodded along. OSPOTA has been around a long time and the parks department is well aware of us. It’s a good relationship.

In short, I go where it’s not crowded and use as little gear as possible, in the most compact way it can be deployed. Those are the guidelines. How does it work in practice?

Saturday Activation (10-Feb-2024)

I got to the park Saturday morning and set up. It was a dramatic and overcast day. There was a touch of wind – more than I’d normally like – but it was warm enough that I didn’t need gloves for most of the time I was out there.

40-meters was respectable and treating me well. I got most of my activation done there and then switched over to 30-meters. I managed to grab two contacts there and then…rain. Unpredicted rain. Cold, miserable, throw-the-radio-in-the-pack rain. I got everything packed up and headed out. I didn’t feel like setting up in the Jeep, so I went home and grabbed a nap.

QSO Map

The reach wasn’t all that impressive, but I got the contacts I needed. Not too shabby for 5 watts.

Sunday Activation (11-Feb-2024)

Superbowl Sunday is a great day to go to the park. There’s no one there. As I said above, there was not a single car anywhere in sight. Nor were there dog walkers or people fishing along the shore. It was me and the boats.

I got on the air and went from 40-meters which was maybe not as chatty as the day before and jumped right over to 20-meters. That was zipping along as one would expect. There was plenty of fading and QSB as the hour progressed and I got some fun comments in the POTA.app spotting log.

But the upside was getting my Mastodon buddy WJ3FF in the log with a more proper contact than our last go:

Remember gang, always read the POTA spots if you can. There’s fun stuff in there.

QSO Map

A little more distance than the day before.

Final

There is no doubt that when we’re out in the parks activating, we are representatives of the entire ham radio community. Not just POTA, but all hams. Poor behavior on the part of a single operator will sour other park patrons and park staff to our presence as a whole. The last thing anyone should want to do is wreck a great hobby for others. Being polite and respectful are table stakes here. If anything, we should go above and beyond the basic expectations of park goers and do what we can to leave the place better than we found it.

Thanks for reading and 72!

My birthday turned out to be a fantastic day in terms of November weather for NE Ohio. It was sunny and the sky was perfectly clear. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 40s and there was the slightest breeze. Given that it was my birthday and a Saturday to boot, it was a perfect day to partake of my hobby and get outside. I decided that West Branch SP – K-1999 would be the park of the day.

I can’t emphasize enough how much I love this time of year. Not only is it my preferred weather, but also the park attendance drops significantly. On a Saturday like this one, it’s the disc golf crew and a couple of really, really hardcore fishermen. Maybe the occasional hiker, but it’s rare. I have seen an uptick in nature photographers, which is great! They don’t want to be talking to people any more than I do. In short, people who are out at the park on a day like this one are people who are there with a purpose. It’s wonderful.

My original thought was to use the AX1 since I’ve been really into that little guy, but I changed my mind and put the EFHW up in The Tree. I did not get it into The Tree on the first, second, or third try. So much for birthday luck! Once it was up, I was ready to go.

The thing that POTA gives us as a gift is silly statistics. Why are they silly? Because they don’t mean anything. Maybe they show a level of dedication to the hobby or how often one is getting on the air. That’s a pretty good metric to have around for mental health and all. These stats also give us points of interest. On this particular Saturday, if I got the park activated, it would be my 100th activation! What’s that mean? NOTHING! Again, one of the reasons I love POTA so much is that the points are imaginary and no one ever “wins”.

I got on the air and immediately noticed the my copying was A LOT better. I was grabbing full exchanges now and picking up the subtle differences. I was most pleased with myself when I copied in the parks of other activators who were getting us those sweet Park To Park contacts. This was noticeable improvement. That is exciting!

At one point, I had the wildest experience. A station was calling back to me and it sounded like there was a multi-tap delay and then it devolved into muddled garbage. At first, I thought two stations were doubling so I sent “W0?” because I definitely had that much for one of them. But things didn’t improve. This station had a serious issue. Finally, I made out W0DAN. OK. Cool! Then, immediately after that QSO, W0MM came back to me. What are the odds of that? I mean, probably pretty good, but this was completely new to me! The MM was making picking out the DAN almost impossible. When the stations sent “W0” they were just barely off in their timing. I don’t think either station could hear the other at all. Radio is weird magic.

For the day, I managed 27 CW contacts. It was a really wonderful way to spend my birthday. I can only hope the next 100 activations will be this much fun!

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

72!

Bachelor Weekend!

This past weekend was one where my son and I were living the bachelor life as the ladies were off camping. Given that my son is a big time sleep in kind of guy, I took the opportunity to go to West Branch State Park – K-1999 for an activation. Why West Branch? The temperature was in the low 50s and the winds were blowing. I didn’t have all day, so a 3-4 hour excursion to Cuyahoga Valley National Park by bicycle didn’t seem like a great idea given other commitments. So why not West Branch again? Why not indeed!

When I arrived, the park was nearly empty. In fact, from what I saw, it was just me and a group of Disc Golfers. Those are some hardcore dudes. They will Disc Golf even after the snow flies. I have respect for that, but I also think that it’s weird. Yes, the guy who hurls low-power radio waves at the ionosphere is gonna give side eye to some dudes throwing frisbees into chain nets?

Maybe not.

In any case, the place was looking abandoned. Since they tore down all of the structures, pulled the grills, and removed almost all of the picnic tables, the park on the side nearest the beach has a very abandoned feel to it. Even moreso now that we’re into my favorite time of year when the temperatures drop and the parks empty out.

I settled in at the picnic table near the water as I did last week. The plan for the day was to use my EFHW hanging from a nearby tree. My newly acquired 8 oz. throw weight was on my line and ready to hit a really great tree branch. Instead, I launched it into orbit and got a branch that was much higher than intended and even better than the original position. Who knew that moving from 10 oz. to 8 would make such an enormous difference? I maneuvered the antenna up to the branch and then noted that I didn’t have a tent stake in my antenna bag to tether the other end of the antenna. This was most unfortunate, but wouldn’t have been a great solution anyway. The ground in that area is very hard and it took a rubber mallet to get the ground stake for the vertical in the weekend before. However, the clamp mount for my Chameleon kit was in my backpack and I was able to clamp that to the table and have a very nice position for the antenna. Not too shabby!

The entire setup took less than 10 minutes from getting to the picnic table to powered up and on the air. The bands seemed to be in really good conidition. I started on 20m which, looking back on it, might have been a bit silly. This was the California QSO weekend. The CW area of 20m was packed. I found a sliver of the band and held it. I was on the air for about 40 minutes and pulled in 15 contacts. Given that I was competing with a popular QSO party, I take that as a complete win!

There are some things about CW operation that didn’t make sense until I was doing it. Before, when I was listening to the bands and there was a pileup, it just sounded like a mad cacophony. All of these beeps happening at random and on top of one another. Even with as little experience as I have now, it’s far easier to hear the subtle differences in pitch and tone. Even the speed of the characters adds information to the signal which synthesizes itself into a unique voice. Reading about that in books is one thing. Hearing it and experiencing it for oneself is something else entirely. There were several times when there were competing stations and signals were fading in and out but I was able to lock in on one (usually the one where I got the first 2 characters or a number) and pull them out of the noise enough to make the contact.

It was a successful activation and a lot of fun!

Here’s what the QSO Map looks like:

And then there was Sunday…

The ladies returned from camp early. The weather took a nasty turn and there is a point where, as a Scout leader, one must make the call: are we building character or being miserable for no reason? Given the scenario, the adult leaders made the right call and bugged out which put the ladies home at about 9:30 PM on Saturday night. That meant, when Sunday morning rolled around, no one was motivated for anything other than to make a quick run with dad for donuts and then get straight back to a PJ Day.

With everyone more or less decided that it was going to be a slack day, I tossed my gear in the Jeep and went back to West Branch. The truth is, I had so much fun Saturday that given a little free time on Sunday it seemed foolish not to head out to the park. Here in NE Ohio we’re running into that time where daylight becomes quite precious and we need to take advantage of every minute.

Sunday would prove to be quite different from Saturday. The same winds that forced the Scouts to pack it in were still in effect. There were 30 mph sustained winds and gusts into the 40s. What worked on Saturday with my EFHW was not going to work on Sunday. Sunday was going to have to be a vertical whip kind of day. The big bummer was that with the winds as high as they were, keeping log paper settled enough to write and even hearing signals over the wind was a challenge. Much to my chagrin, I would have to work from inside the Jeep.

Remember: Everything about ham radio involves compromising something.

I set up the antenna in the grass at the nose of the Jeep and ran the feedline through the window on the passenger side. I keep the lighting mount that I use with the IC-705 in the Jeep console. Pulling it out and getting the radio in place was easy enough. One thing I noticed right away was that not having a tablet or laptop to wrestle made working from inside the vehicle (which I truly hate) much more comfortable.

I tuned up and got to it. 40m was dead. I heard one other station as I spun up and down the band. That was weird. On 20m, things were livlier. It was one of those days where people didn’t hear me and just set up shop on top of me. I don’t blame them as 5 watts isn’t much, but it’s still frustrating to have to bounce all over the place. Like the day before, I was on the air for about 40 minutes and snagged 13 contacts. One of the notable ones being the station in Quebec that exploded out of the noise like a cannon! I had the volume up on the 705 and all of the suddem – BAM – this station was RIGHT THERE. I’ve never been startled like that while playing radio.

Looking at the map for the activation, it was quite a wild spread of stations.

Back to back activations made for a great weekend. I don’t imagine that I’ll squeeze in too many more like that in the weeks to come. It’s always possible and I will keep my eyes open for any chance I can get to head out to the parks. I still want to get in as many bicycle activations as I can before the snow flies and things get weird. How many will that be? No one can say. I do know for certain that snow and freezing temperatures won’t keep me from heading out to the parks with my radio, but at the same time, I’m going to enjoy every day I get before winter sets in.

73!