Friday, February 14, 2025

Dogs get a haircut and POTA US-3394

New radio setup, compromised antenna, first QRP activation attempt, and a high velocity solar flare.
Absolutely perfect conditions to go out and POTA.
KX2 @ 10W; AX1; BamaTech TP-III; QRPWorks MagPi
11 QSOs
52min

Propagation was extremely up-and-down. Started off with weak signal reports and hopped around the higher bands before settling on 20m.

KX2 handheld worked beautifully and the little AX1 definitely punches above its weight class :)
Clear and sunny at the Albany Flats but it was coooold.
Fun times.

 - U

Monday, February 10, 2025

Breaking 50 with WB0RLJ

How many hunters have this?
Always fun breaking into WB0RLJ's pileups :)

 - U

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

A break from the rain and POTA US-4571

So much QSB
Propagation on 20m was odd - skipped the Mountain West almost completely
FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
28 QSOs on 20m
60min

A little POTA therapy does wonders for a headache :)

 - U

Saturday, February 1, 2025

2025 SKCC SKM

That was fun!
Got the US and Colonies sweep, with Centurion and Tribune along the way.
I had ignored my straight key for too long.
Now I want a bug too :)

 - U



Sunday, January 26, 2025

Messy cleanup at POTA US-4578

Yesterday's activation ended up with 1 QSO in the next UTC day.
Turns out this creates a new activation with just that 1 and shows up as incomplete.

Stat carnage.
Clearly unacceptable.
I don't know if it was because I was rushing, there was a lot of QRM, or I was getting WFD responses that were confusing me, but I don't think I've had this hard a time copying in a while.
I also had a couple of busted calls which I was pretty confident I copied correctly :confused:
FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
9 QSOs (7 on 15m, 2 on 20m)
45min

Ended on a high note with a call from Italy. Grazie, Alberto :)

 - U

Saturday, January 25, 2025

Car service drop-off and POTA US-4578

 I thought there would be more band congestion due to WFD :shrug:
FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
27 QSOs (8 on 15m, 19 on 20m)
90min

 - U

Friday, January 24, 2025

POTA US-4571 Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail CA

Meh band conditions.
Probably should have started on 15m and not jumped to 40m that early.
FT891 @ 100W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
11 QSOs (10 on 20m, 1 on 40m)
37min

 - U

Sunday, January 19, 2025

POTA US-4578 Pony Express National Historic Trail CA

I didn't even think to look at the POTA trails close to our QTH - turns out there's two going through parks really close by!
These are going to become my go-tos for quick activations.

FT891 @ 50W; homebrew 49:1 EFHW; BamaTech TP-III
22 QSOs, including a few hunts

15m - MN, KY, WY, MI, OH, Japan, CO, VA, AR, OK
17m - NE (1st P2P with WB0RLJ, woot)
20m - BC, OR, AR, AZ, CA, WA, WI, NC, TX

Activation between errands.
I could get used to this :)

 - U

Friday, January 10, 2025

Fox Den at Chalco Hills



Thanks again WB0RLJ.
Legend.

 - U