My first FAILURE at POTA was Today

 

How I felt after FAIL

Oh man, it was brutal.  So about 11AM I looked at the weather and it was a nice 73 degrees, with about 80% humidity...no rain in the forecast, but I could hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance.  We got about 20 minutes of sprinkles and then it was gone.  If you have ever lived in the midwest then you know a thunderstorm or a tornado can pop up just about any time in June and July....they pop up, dump rain for 20 minutes, and then they are gone.  That's how it went today. 

No need to fear!  

So before heading out to Atterbury FIsh and Wildlife Area I checked the propagation conditions and found them to be somewhat depressed, but I had worked station in worse conditions so I decided to head out and do an activation.  To remind everyone, a POTA activation only needs 10 contacts.  Well I got five. 

Here's the deal: 

1. Propagation conditions were iffy

2. It was 83F in the shade

3. It was 90% humidity

4. It was the last day of Field Day

5. I was running 8 watts CW to the Eagle One antenna
6. Forgot hat

First thing I did when I arrived at Mink Meadow, was to setup my table and chair in the shade of a gigantic walnut tree.  Good thinking on my part, I was pretty happy with that decision...for now.  The sky was overcast and there wasn't any really direct sun to speak of.  I got the antenna setup, and strung out the feedline with a couple radials, and by then I was drenched in sweat...time for bottle of water number one. 

Once I was setup I turned on the KX2 and tuned around looking for a place to operate. Did I mention that the ARRL Field Day contest (YES IT IS A CONTEST) was in the last throes of being when I got on the air at 1:35PM EDT. 

I started out on 20m, 14062.00 Khz to be exact and called CQ POTA for 15 minutes...not a single taker.  So I went to the POTA spotting page and tried to work a few of those guys, I managed one Park to Park contact in Oregon, on 15m. Considering I was running 8 watts and he gave me a 589 report I was delighted.  I ended up working 2 more Field Day operators (They count as contacts) when something hit me in the head.  I figured it was a piece of tree or something since I was setup right under it...nope.  I reached up and my hand found a GOB of little green caterpillars wriggling in my hair.  Perhaps baby bag worms, not sure...but they were green and they were wiggling like there was no tomorrow.  Did not have the sense to get a picture...I'm sure it would have been priceless. 

14062 Khz - Nothing...but nothing

By this time it was about 2:30PM and I was drenched in sweat, the shade was gone since the clouds left the area.  My KX2 was overheating, my smartphone was overheating, I was overheating, so I decided to surrender to Mother Nature and I packed it up.  It was now 88F according to the thermometer in my SUV...humidity was about 329% by then, I almost needed gills to breathe. 

My last great act of chickening out was after I got everything loaded up, I yanked down on the tailgate to close it, without remembering my head was in the way.  I hit my head hard enough with the tailgate to see stars and almost cried for my mommy.  I hurt. I cussed. I stomped around. Had to sit there for about 5 minutes before I started the SUV and headed home. 

Story over?  Oh no.  As I pulled onto SR 252 a local police officer pulled out of his hiding place and followed me for about 15 miles.  I was doing nothing wrong but it was a bit unnerving.  Happy to report we parted ways, and no citations were given. 

Better luck to me next time...and yes I am filing my POTA log with five contacts so the other guys at least get credit for the contact. 

73 de KB9BVN

Back to POTA again...finally

Pisgah Lake at US-4183 Atterbury 

Well it has been a very busy month at the KB9BVN household.  Spent a week at the beaches of North Carolina a couple weeks ago, went with my oldest son and his family, there were twenty one of us in total and it was a GREAT time.  Weather was a little cool for the beach but the kids and all of us managed to get some significant beach time in.  

Then back to work, took several days to get caught up from being gone on vacation but by the end of the week it was all back to normal.  Then we got a fantastic holiday weekend.  This weekend is also our wedding anniversary, and we have been busy celebrating 46 years, all weekend.  Cookout, another cookout, a great dinner out at Ruth Chris, it's just been non-stop here. 

This morning we took a drive to visit some of the family cemetery plots. I had purchased a jug of stone cleaner, a garden sprayer, and a few gallons of water to use for cleaning headstones.  Several of them had become stained with mildew and moss and we wanted to clean them up.  We finished up around 1:00PM and headed home, I had POTA on my mind, and Ann had arranged to have a early dinner with her sister at the Cheesecake Factory in Greenwood.  So there I was, with a hall pass to POTA! 

Today I didn't stray too far from home.  Drove down to Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area (POTA US-4183) and decided to set up near one of the lakes there.  I chose Pisgah Lake, I hadn't been there in about a year, and it is the largest lake on the wildlife area property.  

POTA Mobile with Eagle One Portable Vertical

Two 30 foot radials attached, with hopes of working 40m

I think it took about 20 minutes to get everything setup and ready to go.  I spent a total of about 45 minutes on the air, and ended up with 14 contacts today on 7060 Khz (40m band). 

Station in Action! Contacts being logged!  

14 Contacts on 40m this afternoon. 

As you can see, none of the contacts were any great distance, the band seemed a little muffled, and was in a state of changing every ten or fifteen minutes.  I have not looked at the posted solar conditions but I would have to guess we were in the midst of a solar flare, or the remnants of one.  When I got home I checked the Reverse Beacon Network and I can see where my signal was being heard and how the signal strength was bouncing around due to atmospheric conditions. 

I managed to get a little bit sunburned, but to tell the truth, the sun felt good today, as it has been unseasonably wet and cool the last couple of weeks.  Looks like that will all be changing next week.  I love summer! 

I hope you all were able to participate in Memorial Day activities, and I am glad we have this day to honor those who gave their all, their lives, in the service of this nation.  

Best DX until the next time! 

de KB9BVN

When 5 Watts is TOO MUCH!

Hi gang, 

The bands have been absolute garbage for most of this weekend. Lot's of state QSO parties going on and virtually all of Saturday and Saturday night, I was hearing nothing. I got a chance to get back on the air Sunday night (May the 4th be with you!) and instead of breaking out the Elecraft radios, I decided to dig out an old monoband kit rig I built in 2001.  

The Norcal SMK-1 Transceiver - Designed by Dave Fifield AD6A -  April 2000

I built this radio in 2001 and decided to take it to the QRP gathering know as Four Days in May over near Dayton Ohio.  I entered it in the show-n-tell competition and was awarded "Honorable Mention - Best Attempt at Bribing Judges with Food".  

The following is an excerpt from the SMK-1 construction manual:

This little radio was capable of about 350 milliwatts on 40m.  It was one of the first kits to be primarily surface mount.  Norcal put this together to see if a hobby builder, like me for instance, would be able to build a kit that was constructed of surface mount parts.  It's a very cool kit.  

The SMK-1 circuit is basically a modified Tuna Tin 2 transmitter integrated with a modified MRX-40 receiver. It is a further modification of the modified TT2/MRX-40 that I built for the indoor foxhunt at Pacificon 1999.

All this is fitted onto a small 2.475” x 2.25” PCB. The transmitter consists basically of the two 2N2222A transistor lineup of the original TT2 but with electronic keying. A key-switched crystal oscillator that has some degree of VXO feeds a medium power packaged version of the 2N2222A as a final in class A mode. 

After harmonic filtering, the result is about 350mW of fairly clean transmit power on 7.040MHz (+/- a bit). The RX front end uses the ubiquitous NE602 mixer/oscillator with a crystal VXO. The RX is a direct conversion receiver, so you will hear both sidebands as you tune through a station. 

The input stage of the NE602 has been biased a bit harder than normal by R1, a 22K resistor (this resistor may need tweaking, if your receiver is overdriven, increase the value of this resistor. Try 27K or 39K). This gives the device more conversion gain. 

The audio output of the NE602 direct conversion front end goes through a FET switch that serves to mute the audio to an acceptable sidetone level during TX and then on to a standard LM386 audio power amplifier running as much gain as it can. 

End of excerpt from the SMK-1 Construction Manual

Here is a shot of the front knobs.  I mounted this in a plastic food storage container. 

This is a shot of my finished circuit board.  Even though it was almost a quarter century ago when I built this, I remember it very well.  It was super fun but man did you need a magnifying glass to make sure the parts got in the right place. 

Here's how I wired it up:

Here it is, all ready to go.  The round thing on top is a speaker, I also had a WM-2 Wattmeter connected and set on the ONE WATT setting. 

So I started listening.  The SST contest was in full force so I heard a LOT of stations.  The one I heard the loudest was Mike AD9CA over in Newton Illinois, which is about 125 miles due west of me.  He gave me a signal report of 449, I gave him a 579.  The frequency was 7039.6 Khz. This is what my signal looked like on the Kiwi Receiver in Edinburgh Indiana (about 30 miles south).  This receiver is owned and operated by Bob WA8VZY and he allows people to connect over the internet and use it to listen to the bands. 

Mike AD9CA was the red signal, I am the Green signal

One last picture, my wattmeter showing about 300 milliwatts of output.  I think the most I ever got on this little radio was about 340 milliwatts.  My battery may not be totally charged.   My contact with Mike 125 miles away is equal to about 500 miles per watt!! 

WM2 Wattmeter showing right at 300 Milliwatts on the 1W Scale

Just goes to show, when the band is open, you don't need mega power to make a CW contact!! Try milliwatting sometime, it's a hoot! A Giant THANK YOU to Mike AD9CA for taking the time to tune me in and pull me out of the ether!! It absolutely made my weekend. 

73 de KB9BVN

Brian

Cikana State Fish Hatchery Part Deux

Today was the first really nice day we've had in a week.  So after work I grabbed my POTA station in a carrying case and headed out to play radio in the outdoors. 

I had originally planned on heading down to US-4183 Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area but I've been there so much I decided to drive out a little further and try another Parks on the Air entity.  It just so happens the Cikana State Fish Hatchery is only about 7 or 8 minutes further than going to Atterbury, so that's where I headed! 

It was pretty much a straight shot south on I-69 (or State Road 37 as we Hoosiers know it) to State Route 44 near the city of Martinsville.  I visited here briefly about a month ago.

I arrived at my spot at 4:40PM and by the time I got setup and on the air it was right at 5:00PM.  Today I was going to go out on a limb and try something new with antennas.  I almost ALWAYS use my 10m tall, collapsible, trailer hitch mounted, venerable Eagle One vertical, but today I wanted to try something different with my Elecraft AX1 antenna and a new way of mounting it.  One of my buddies used his 3D printer and made me a puck looking thing that the antenna mounts in to, then you screw in a set of legs and attach the coax and you're off to the races! 

Elecraft AX-1 Antenna set for 20 meters 

The AX-1 antenna from Elecraft is not much more than 4 maybe 5 feet in length when full extended. The coil I am using here today will work on 17 meters, and 20 meters.  There is another coil you can buy that will allow the little antenna to tune up on 40 meters as well.  The wire coming off the puck to the right, over the top of my truck, is a single radial I clipped on that is about 30 feet in length...the wrong size for 20m I know...but hey...it was what I had on hand.  The auto tuner in my KX-2 had NO problem getting a 1:1 match...BUT would it radiate? 

Elecraft KX-2 set for 8 watts, connected to Antenna and CW paddles - Empty Log

I started out on the air today at 20:57Z (4:57PM), called CQ POTA a few times and my first contact of the day was Joe WA2SPL up in Vermont.  So I guess it's working. By the time I left I had 13 contacts, ranging from Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas, Florida, and Louisiana. I was really happy with the way this worked out.  It was so much easier than setting up the big antenna.  

The Cikana State Fish Hatchery is great place to birdwatch, and they have a few relatively mild hiking trails, and a few picnic tables hanging around just waiting for an impromptu pitch in lunch or dinner.  Just click the link to learn more about it. 

Three of the 16 fish ponds for Indiana DNR to raise hatchlings

Map of today's contacts - W8APS was in Florida 
Using 8 Watts and the Elecraft AX-1 on 20 Meters

Well that's the report from today in the wilderness.  Until next time! 

73 de KB9BVN

Brian

And then...the rains came...

I think it started raining about a month ago but the last week has been incredible.  Thunderstorms, tornadoes, hail, snow flurries, and more thunderstorms.  Ahhh..the joys of living in Tornado Alley in the Springtime.  This is not conducive to POTA activations around here, and it may be a week or 10 days before I will be able to venture out into the soggy bottom of Camp Swampy, also known as the Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area. 

So what's a rained out, bored to death, CW operator supposed to do?  Well I have been enjoying doing some SWLing, shortwave radio listening.  I get a kick out of finding the strange and odd CW signals out there and then trying to figure out what it all means.  This week I have been logging in to a Kiwi SDR receiver in Michigan.  This one is run by Bruce Johnson KX4AZ out of Athens Georgia.  Bruce has SDR receivers in Michigan and Georgia.  The particular one I was listening to was KX4AZ/T - the T means Tustin Michigan. which is about 315 miles due north of my location.  You can tune in by aiming your web browser here: http://kx4az_t1.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/

On the night of April 3rd, I copied a Canadian Coast Guard transmitter located in Fort Caldonia, Nova Scotia.  The time was 22:30Z and the mode was CW.  It looked like this: 

VVVVVVVVVVVV DE VCO/B FN15

So what they were sending were 12 V's  (It's a CW way to gather attention) DE (from) VCO/B (a beacon station with a call sign of VCO) and finally FN15 (This is a maidenhead grid square reference, you can look on a maidenhead map and tell the general area of the globe the signal is coming from).  My maidenhead grid square at home is EM69.  

What was interesting is this was copied on a frequency of 6770.15 Khz.  I have done some google checking and VCO hasn't been heard on this frequency before...at least that I can find.   

The same night, I also copied a CW signal sending the same three letters over and over.  This was on a frequency of 6782 Khz and it looked like this:

ODX    ODX    ODX    ODX    ODX    ODX 

This one is a stumper.  I have checked Google, and chatGPT and I am not coming up with anything. Normally beacons will have a /B after the call sign, but this just keeps repeating the same three letters over and over.  I logged it at 22:20Z on April 3 2025.  If anyone has any idea on this one, please leave a comment. I think it is some kind of channel marker...but not sure. 

Another thing I have had fun doing is listening to some pirate radio stations that like to hang out in the 6935-6980 Khz range.  Usually these stations only pop up on weekends, or holidays.  They use names like Syco Radio, Wolverine Radio, Thunder Chicken Radio, and Appalachia Radio (Great bluegrass and bluegrass gospel) .  You can go to HF Underground forums on the web and read about the reports and their activities.  Most of these stations operate in Upper Side Band mode, but you'll also find a few running AM.  Just another way to kill time until the ground dries out. 

So today I decided to take my Norcal 40A off the shelf and get on the air with it, while it CONTINUES to rain. 

I built this little 1 watt or less radio in the fall of 1998, and I used this radio to make my very first ever CW (Morse Code) contact.  It was with a station in Mississippi on Spetember 7, 1998, from the picnic table in my backyard. KF4EWO Brian Kusler in De Soto Mississippi. I was so excited I could hardly breathe.  By this time I had been a amateur radio operator for just over 10 years, but this was the first time I had a radio that would allow me to operate in the HF bands.  Up to then all my other stuff was geared for UHF/VHF radio.  What's the difference?   I can use UHF/VHF to communicate across town, maybe a few counties.  With HF, I could work the world. 

Norcal 40A 

Norcal 40A - Back 

Norcal 40A - The guts. Built by hand in 1998

Homemade Battery Pack for Norcal 40A

My sorry antenna for this first contact was a pair of 22 gauge telephone cross connect wires that I had made a rudimentary dipole from and had slung it over the roof of my house.  I tuned it with a antenna tuner I also made from a kit, the venerable ZM-2 Z match antenna tuner.  

I get the old girl off the shelf probably once a month to make sure it's still working, and every contact with it is exciting to me.  So today while messing around, I tuned to 7041 Khz and heard a station calling CQ CQ DE N0SS MOQP  - this was N0SS The Mid Missouri Amateur Radio Club.  MOQP meant they were looking for contacts to log in the Missouri QSO Party.  A QSO Party is normally run over a 12-24 hour period, and the mission is to make as many contacts as you can in the time period.  Then you turn in your logs and we see who wins.  

This is what the Kiwi SDR screen looks like at Tustin Michigan.  That yellow line under the green bracket thingie is me calling CQ from home, and that's my 1 watt signal in Michigan!  

Kiwi SDR - KX4AZ/T in Tustin Michigan

This next picture is N0SS working KB9BVN in the Missouri QSO Party, he gave me a 599 signal report, which is about as good as it gets.  Likewise he was loud and clear here in New Whiteland Indiana.  It's amazing that my one watt radio is making it in good shape.  The SDR in Michigan is 315 miles, and the N0SS station in Jefferson City MO is 335 miles as the crow flies. 

A little bit later I worked station W0I, which is a special event station participating in the Missouri QSO Party.  It is being operated by Kevin in Olathe Kansas.  He gave me a 599 signal report and I returned the same. We were on a frequency of 7044 Khz.  This time we're out 510 miles! 

OH BOY...hung out a bit longer...used the Kiwi SDR in Michigan to visually see the CW stations on 40m.  Wow what a nice aid to operating...but is it cheating?  Only the shadow knows.  So I just tuned to 7038 Khz and managed to get a 599 from station W0R in Missouri.  He was a solid 599 here as well. 

Well that's about it for today, I think I will continue playing on the air with the Norcal 40A and using the Kiwi SDR that KX4AZ/T has up for some extra help. I hope my next post will be a report on my next great outdoors adventure. I'm tired of being cooped up in the shack.  Thoughts and prayers going out to all the flooding victims, this has really been a wet few weeks and from the vids I have been seeing, the flooding is terrible in many parts of the central US.  

72 es OO

de KB9BVN

Brian

My 50th Park Activation!

Obey the Rules or Pay the Fines

Sometimes reaching goals can be so exciting, and so anti-climatic at the same time.  Today I completed my 40th POTA activation at US-4183 Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area.  That makes 50 times I have gone to a park and made at least ten contacts. The goal of 50 activations was something I was sure I'd hit last year but life isn't all ham radio and playing outside, other things happen.  As you can see here, my operating position was on the shore of beautiful, bug infested, Beaver Bottom Lake in the Atterbury Fish and Wildlife Area.  This place is almost uninhabitable in the early summer, as the bugs are so thick you're certain to be carried off and drained of all bodily fluids. This time of year the lake is clear of weeds, the bugs haven't come up out of the ground yet, and it's just a great place to spend an afternoon hour or two enjoying the hobby of amateur radio. 

So today I loaded up the Trailblazer as soon as work was finished at 4:15PM, traffic this time of day can be thick, and it was.  I arrived at Beaver Bottom around 4:45PM, I had the antenna up, the table installed, my chair unfolded and the 10 Watt KX-2 connected to the Eagle One antenna by 5PM.  The first contact rolled in on 14.046 Khz at 5:02PM...which is always a good sign.  The first station logged was Steve in Texas, K5SJC and I ended up with 19 total this time before I decided to pack up and head to the home shack.  Signal was getting out well.  Montana to the west, New York to the east so almost coast to coast.  I can setup the Eagle One and the coax with a couple radials in less than 10 minutes. 

DNR Supplied Ham Shack

I was very surprised to see the DNR had already installed the portable ham shacks this early in the year.  Usually this doesn't happen until mid April.  The lake was busy today, I counted close to two dozen fishermen scattered around on the bank.  This lake also has a nice aluminum walkway that provides wheelchair access to some nice spots to fish from. 

I don't think I could have asked for better weather today, it was sunny and it was warm, and not a raindrop in sight. That might change later this week, here in Indiana, this time of year can bring on some pretty treacherous weather, including tornadoes, hail storms, and high winds. 

Here's my basic setup, the KX-2 of course, my little 3D printed paddles, the round ball looking thing is an external amplified speaker to pull out the really weak ones. I found these little notebook things at Dollar Twenty Five Tree. 

KX-2 Station for POTA Action

My QSO Map from Today 

Reverse Beacon Spots the last half of my Activation of US-4183

Well that's about all for now. Until the next adventure! 

de KB9BVN

Brian