My typical park activation cycle is Friday afternoon, Saturday, and Sunday.  I took Friday off from POTA so this morning, it seems forever since I’ve been out.  Miss one day and I complain like a starving house cat.  Suffice to say, I was excited to get back out.

During our CW Beginners class Thursday evening, KB5TMU, Levent, agreed to a POTA playdate.  We shared the usual information and agreed to meet at Hagerman Saturday morning.  I always enjoy sharing an activation.

Preparation

I pack my usual tools, including tools for QRO. With a Dash-2 joining me, I hoped to be able show some effortless success.  I planned for QRO in case propagation was challenging. I included a portable picnic table, an extra chair, extra water, sunscreen, and skeeter spay (you never know).

RIG(s):

• Elecraft KX2
• Packtenna 9:1 EFRL
• Spiderbeam 10m telescoping mast
• Throwline and weight
• Bioeno 6AH battery
• Bama Key

• Yaesu FT-891
• MFJ-921 Travel Tuner
• Wolf River Coil & Sporty 40

Setup

Fearing high winds, I decided to forego the mast and used throwline and weight to put my Packtenna random length wire in a tree.  I used 20ft of ABR Industries RG-316 to feed the 9:1 transformer and 17ft counterpoise. I set my portable picnic table between the trunks of two oaks I knew were well spaced to facilitate a sun fly should nature suggest it.

With my little KX2, supplemented by the 6AH Bioeno LiPo battery and some final shuffling of key and clipboard, I was set up. While I always log with pencil and paper, I decided to log in my HAMRS iPhone app as I went and as the tempo allowed.

Activation

I started on 40m, listened, called QRL twice, spotted the park on pota.app and called CQ  at 19WPM with 5w at 13:51 UTC.  The first QSO, K9BRS, came back at 13:55. The QSOs came, but came slowly. 17 minutes and 8 QSOs later, I gave in to my impatience and QSY’d to 20m.  20 wasn’t much better.  I had 12 more contacts by the time Levent arrived.

Him sitting at the end of my portable table, we chatted about POTA, radios, and antennas.  Levent is a retired mathematician and engineer and asks good questions. In retirement, he experiments with homebrew robotics and automation – you know, simple stuff like automated satellite tracking antennas.  It was clear I was way out of my depth in the technical aspects, but he was genuinely gracious and accepting. Unique to super-smart engineers in my experience, Levent could quickly value the compromises of fielding portable radios and antennas.

He brought a BuddiPole antenna, complete with coils and tripod.  To be honest, it was a little fiddly to set up.  After more than 250 park activations, I’ve evolved my personal criteria for valuating portable field antennas:  Speed of deployment, Deployed/stowed form factor, performance – in that order.  While the Buddipole set up was tedious, I’m sure an operator could cut the deployment time with experience and good field notes.

We tried 20m with the system in both horizontal and V configurations. Both were quiet and as, or more, effective than my wire.  Antenna performance is really subjective when measured as an activation.  Volume and dispersion of contacts are as much a factor of Hunter participation as they are of antenna performance.  Probably influenced more by who’s listening than how you’re getting out.

We pulled in 18 more contacts on 20m to complete the activation with 39 contacts: 9 on 40 and 30 on 20. The day was overcast and windy but better than any day at work.  We broke down the station and pack up at about noon then went to Watson Burger in Denison.  I am thoroughly impressed with Levent’s breadth and depth of RF experience, learned from him and enjoyed getting to know him.  A good day with a new friend.

CU AGN ES 73,

KA5TXN
DitWit