I love my Ham Club, the Grayson County Amateur Radio Club K5GCC, but I’m not much of a meeting guy. The meetings are fantastic, well organized, informative, and the people are great to be around, but the monthly meeting runs kinda late for my work schedule – having me home about 2200. That doesn’t leave much beauty sleep before my typical grind starts at 0400. But if I could get in a park activation (insert thought bubbles).

Days before…
My friend and Elmer, James KW5CW, drove up to Ohio for Hamvention and was kind enough to pick up a key for me from the Begali booth. On meeting day, I dropped by his QTH, picked up the Key of Keys, then hit US-6553 Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site for a quick activation before the meeting.

My friend, Levent KB5TMU, has joined me on a park activation or two and in conversation, showed some curiosity about portable and QRP rigs. That’s all it takes! I put a kit together for Levent, shack in a bag, with everything he needs for a POTA activation. However, this simple exercise made it blaringly obvious I have no history of, “Just what you need for an activation”.

I have a ton of redundancy squirreled away in my car – chairs, a table, half a dozen antennas, two or three batteries, a bag of backup keys, every cable adapter known to radio, and miles of feedline and jumpers. I won’t get into the tools, tarps, tent poles, stoves, fuel, drinking water, weapons and ammo. Suffice to say, my Outback is a storage shed on wheels. As a result of this rolling junk drawer, I seldom consider what one really needs for an activation.

Well …… I’m not loaning my Outback to Levent. I wanted to coolly hand him a bag with everything he needs but without my frenetic-logistician-brain chain barking like a Chihuahua on crack. So, I planned an activation with just the bare minimum. Whatever I actually used would go in the kit – a kit trial, a log demo (Logistics Demonstration) to those in the biz.

Loadout:
• QCX Mini, 40m and 20m
• 5AH Expert Power LiPo
• Weaver throwline, weight, and bag.
• Packtenna 20m EFHW
• Homebrew RG-316 feedline
• N6ARA Tiny Paddle
• Anker Soundcore Mini
• Power cable and 3.5mm cables for key and speaker.
• A man purse (Messenger Bag)

That’s it. Everything for an activation in a single, over-the-shoulder bag. Let’s get this out of the way – I used my new Begali Adventure instead of N6ARA’s Tiny Paddle. Duh.

Activation:
Rolling up just before closing time, I found the flowerbeds manicured, birds singing, bees buzzing, and the pavilion empty. Perfect! This activation being the first use of the kit’s throwline, I tied it to a post, laid it all out, then stretched it tight like a water skier leaning away from a towline.

With the 20m EFHW raised in a convenient tree and my station establish on a picnic table, I called QRL, spotted, and called CQ POTA on 20m with 5 watts at 2128 UTC. I think QRP is a bit like fly fishing. It’s a beautiful mix of science, art, and experience…and lots and lots of casting. I cast a QC POTA four times before KO4BSX in North Carolina came back. Fish On!

Truth be told, I’d forgotten how much I admire the QCX mini. The transceiver itself is as quiet as a library, with all the reasonable features, and the keyer is fantastic. I’ve come to believe not all keyers are created equal. As you use your fingers on the key, the keyer generates audible dits and dahs. There’s some intuitive rhythm in play between hands and ears. Some keyers don’t blend well with the timing of my internal metronome and will rob a dit or add a dah when least convenient. The QCX keyer is very forgiving and lets me send better than I am.

My station went up in about 15 minutes, including stretching out the throwline. All told, I made 20 contacts on 20 meters in about 30 minutes, if I discount the time spent piddling around. This isn’t bad at all for a QRP activation in North Texas. Breaking down the station, CSMO, took another 10 minutes and everything fit back in the shoulder bag for Levent. I hope finds time to try it.

The AI generated images are a hoot! (at the top) It reads my post and whips up an image. Hope you don’t mind.

TNX ES 73
KA5TXN
DitWit