Those of you that read the final article for my spring-break Florida POTA trip know that I recently reconciled with someone dear to me. This man, Glenn W4YES, has moved to Savannah, Georgia and we are in a relationship. He is a CW op and the person behind CW Innovations’ Comprehensive ICR course. He knows … Continue reading The POTA Babe Gets a Partner! →

I got up at oh-dark-30 a few days ago and drove, pre-sunrise, to Flagler Beach FL to video the morning's beginning with my drone.On the way home, a park presented itself and I had all the radio ingredients needed to put it on the air. The highest band open was 15m and many Europeans were worked.Here's a brief sampling:..

MFJ-1979 & eBay whipMy go-to antenna for portable operation has become the MFJ-1979 telescoping whip. It operates as a no-compromise 1/4-wave vertical on 10-20 meters, provided I have four elevated radials.In Lowband DXing, John ON4UN (SK) cites work done by many lowband DXers (confirmed by antenna modeling) that four elevated radials is equivalent to 120 on-the-ground radials in terms of

 On my recent drive back from Nova Scotia, we were stopped on I-81 in Virginia for 40 minutes.A complete stand-still...engines off, people walking around on an interstate now having been converted to a parking lot.We knew it was more than road construction up ahead and I was wishing for a CB since I knew that truckers traveling in the other direction would be passing the status to their

Modified base and MFJ-1979 whipIn preparation for an upcoming mobile rove to Maine and the Canadian Maritimes, I've finally done something I should have done long ago - modified the magnetic base of my mobile antenna to accept radials.Previously, whenever activating from the car, I either used no radials at all (10-20m) or connected one radial to the FT-891's rear panel ground lug (when on 30/40m

True Pacific-Northwest style SOTA fun!

Lots of fun summit-to-summit contacts made in the High Sierra.

A quick overnight trip to the Sierra foothills, with some exciting contacts made!

I'm always trying to combine radio fun with my various outdoor activities—including backpacking and camping. But for quite a while, I've wanted to do a camping/backpacking trip with the primary purpose being radio fun—on a summit! With the SOTA "Flavours" Challenge 2020 going on, I also needed to get some contacts made on 160 and/or 80 meters—bands that work best at night. So, without much planning, I decided to do a quick overnight trip!