i have been a amateur radio operator for over 38 years and getting into the Parks on the Air (POTA) has been the rewarding activity I have ever done in amateur radio in the area of learning about portable operations and antennas. I activated my 30th park today and achieved my Gold Activator award.

When a park has a visitor center with staff I usually let them know that I will be setting up my radio and invite them or visitors to come out.  This has paid off by getting invited to park events and getting to introduce the staff to amateur radio.

Thanks to all the hunters and P2P.

Follow my POTA activities on my POTA page.

 

Location: NC K-3841  Falls Lake State Recreation Area

Date: 202201209
15 contacts

Date: 202201210 
43 contacts 

Equipment 

• MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M
• IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

Operators Mark N4MQU, Chris W4CEC (part of first day)

It was so cold even the fire turned blue.  The temperature didn’t reflect how cold I felt. I even wore my insulated suit and didn’t help much.  I didn’t operate as much as I planned but did make 15 contacts on the first day and 43 on the second day.

 

 

NC K-6909 Harris State Game Land My biggest solo activation yet! 116 qso’s It amazes me how what ever configuration you need to use to set up your Endfed antenna it still works. Thanks for the hunters and p2p. The day started out foggy then it rained I ended up operating from the car with my professional looking installation.

Be sure to follow my POTA here.

 

MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M

IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

Operators Mark N4MQU

Very satisfying day activating my new home park once we close on our Wendell home. 103 contacts a new personal best for solo activations.  Thanks to all the hunters and P2P.  We had a first today a Mark to Mark contact.  We think it should be part of the award program. 
I talked to the ranger on the way out.  Very friendly.  POTA friendly park.

For the prior article on this park see K-8010 #1 20220709.

For my complete POTA report see POTA

 

My first activation at my new residence.  NC K-6934 Pee Dee River State Game Land I see 4 POTA parks that I can easily get to. Living in the metropolitan area of Raleigh in order to activate the parks you had to work around traffic.  I see more activations in my future of multiple parks.  I could only tune 20 and 15 meters and only made contacts on 20. Thanks to the hunters and p2p. De n4mqu

 

Location: NC K-3854 Middlesex 

Date: 20221109

Equipment 

• Chameleon Portable HF Antenna CHA HYBRID Micro
• IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

Fun fun fun activating my home park Flower Hill State Nature Preserve for the 27th time. I made it to QSO 806. I had a short time before darkness fell. I decided to use my Chameleon Portable HF Antenna CHA HYBRID Micro and the Cha Spike Mount and IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver. I have been getting Into the habit of hunting parks then I pick a frequency to call CQ. I also checked into the Virginia Fone Net of which I am a member on 75 meters then I decided to switch to 15 meters and call CQ. I was amazed at getting Idaho, California, Nevada, then I heard Japan answer my CQ. That was fun but a few minutes later I got my first Alaska POTA contact. Thanks to the hunters and P2P de n4mqu..

 

Location: NC K-3841 Falls Lake State Recreation Area

Date: 20221106

Equipment 

• MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M
• IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

Operators Chris W4CEC 35 contacts , Mark N4MQU 37 contacts 

 

 

 

Great same day activation planning with Chris Cancilla (W4CEC). He had to go to NC K-3841 Falls Lake State Recreation Area to check the area for the scout troop and invited me to come along so we could activate the park. Once again it didn’t take me an hour to string up my Endfed I will stop saying that.thanks for all the hunters and p2p. De n4mqu

 

 

I activated my home park today NC K-3854 flower Hill State Nature Preseve. If the FCC had an Aptitude test for getting your amateur radio license I would receive a low score but my enthusiasm overcomes that. I did have a few visitors to the nature preserve that was interested in what I was doing.
Equipment
* MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M
* IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver
Once again it didn’t take me an hour setting up the endfed. Thanks for the 101 contacts. This was the best solo QSO count I ever had. Thanks to the hunters and p2p. De n4mqu

 

 

 

Equipment

MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M
IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

Great weather for activating Flower Hill State Nature Preserve my local park NC K-3854.I had to get out of the house for another house showing. I used my MFJ-1984HP, ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M. It’s not taking me an hour to set up anymore. Thanks for all the hunters and p2p. De n4mqu.

 

 

 

Location: NC K-3854 Middlesex 
Date: 202201031

Equipment 

• Chameleon Portable HF Antenna CHA HYBRID Micro
• IC-706MKG HF/VHF/UHF All Mode Transceiver

There are various options in setting up the vertical antenna. Today I used the Cha Spike mount.

We had a busy month getting our house ready for the market.  I decided to start activating parks when we schedule appointments to show. This was the first day I did this. Chose to use my Chameleon Portable HF Antenna CHA HYBRID Micro with the Cha Spike Mount. Everything went perfectly even with me attempting using my iPad with the HAMRS software as I was making contacts. I used a hybrid method I wrote the call sign down on paper and typed it in.  I made 34 contacts.

My DX contacts.  I decided to start on 15 meters then switched to 40 meters.

Unfortunately some people like to use the park as a dump. I made a call to the management and left them a message.

As always follow my activations POTA page.