NC K-6947 #25 Sandhills State Game Land

Amateur Radio, K-6947, Portable, POTA

NC K-6947 #25 Sandhills State Game Land

I was attempting to do an antenna test between my CHAMELEON ANTENNA Mobile Antenna Elements V2L-ELEMENT and MFJ Short HF Mobile Ham-tenna and with the new to me LDG AT-200 PRO II Antenna Tuner. Apparently my signal was so bad my frequency was taking over so I changed to my MFJ-1984MP ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M W4JE modified antenna and ended up with 26 SSB contacts. The day started off cloudy so we didn’t have that hot sun to deal with until later.  I ended up using 3 different antennas.  I think we had four contacts on the Chameleon and had a test on two of them one saying they could see no difference and the other one saying Chameleon was better.  So result was inconclusive.  I have a video I’ll be editing with some of the test.  Thanks to the hunters and p2p.

Park #51 NC K-2741 Lake Waccamaw State Park

Amateur Radio, K-2741, Portable, POTA

Park #51 NC K-2741 Lake Waccamaw State Park

It took over an hour just to get 11 contacts. I met a friend half way to pickup a new tuner.  It will be nice just to push a button to tune up.  I know a nicer situation will be perfect swr but sometimes the trees make that difficult. Glad to get the 51 park activated. As a bonus I actually saw wildlife a slivering snake and an eagle flying right above me. Unmistakable.

K-8010 #27

Amateur Radio, K-8010, Portable, POTA

NC K-8010 McKinney Lake State Fish Hatchery #27

To my CW veterans how do you handle those pileups?  It was slow getting started but ended up to be a good day for me with 21 SSB and 4 CW contacts I used my MFJ-1984MP ENDFED 1/2 Wave 40-10M modified and  CW Morse Blue Micro Morse Code Key W/ Aluminum Base. I was pumped after my 4th CW contact but when it seemed like 6 or 7 (maybe it was only 2)stations were coming at once I didn’t know how to handle it.  Thanks for the p2p and hunters. De n4mqu.

K-2888 #1 Cheraw State Park

Amateur Radio, K-2888, Portable, POTA

K-2888 Cheraw State Park

28 miles from home This made my 50th unique park activation and my 1000th p2p contact.  This is my 3rd South Carolina Park. It was a nice day at the park.  Thanks to all the hunters and p2p. 21 contacts 2 on 15, 1 on 17, 2 on 40 and 15 on 20.  Looking at the map to extend my park activation list I’ll have to do some driving that may be possible.  But I have 5 parks I can easily get to on a regular basis.

Park restrictions:  As I was leaving on of the rangers said not to use the trees to support the antenna, they are concerned about antenna wire getting caught in trees.  I did not know this when I checked in they didn’t give me any restrictions. 

 


NC K-6848 #1 President James K. Polk State Historic Site

Amateur Radio, K-6848, Portable, POTA

NC K-6848 President James K. Polk State Historic Site

74 miles from home 149 activations  I put it in Waze and it routed me on a toll road oh well it’s a bit far for me but glad I did it.

I arrived and walked thru the museum. I mentioned that I was an amateur radio operator and he said we can operate from there but just don’t use the trees for the antenna. 🙁 I was prepared.  I had my MFJ Short HF Mobile Ham-tenna. I made 26 contacts on 40, 17, 15 and 20.  Thanks to the hunters and p2p.

K-6962 Uwharrie State Game Land

Amateur Radio, K-6962, Portable, POTA

This one is 48 miles from home It was a nice morning for activating a park. It wasn’t roo hot. I used MFJ Short HF Mobile Ham-tenna tried 10, 17, 15, 20, 40 but only successful on 20 and 40. Check your radio settings if you are not making contacts. I called for 10 minutes before realizing I had the split function on. I made 20 contacts. Thanks to the hunters and p2p.

 





Operator to Ooerator Award N4NTO

Amateur Radio, Award, POTA, Uncategorized

 

Tripp Owens N4NTO and I have been friends over 40 years.  He helped me increase my code speed  to 13 wpm to where I could get my General ticket back in the day.  Last year I helped him get started in POTA the QSL card is from a simplex contact in 1987 several years after I got my general. This is a case of the student exceeding the teacher in activations and QSOs. Link to our first activation https://n4mqu.com/k-6956-1/

 

 

My first solo 2 fer activation NC K-6931 and K-8226

Amateur Radio, K-6931, K-8226, Portable, POTA

My first solo 2 fer activation NC K-6931 and K-8226

It’s funny how the heat didn’t bother me after I got busy making contacts on 20.  After the Sandhills Amateur Radio club meeting. We had a wonderful breakfast meeting at the Parkton Grill. Highly recommended if you are in the area.  I decided to activate my first solo two for activation K-6931 and K-8226. I used my MFJ Short HF Mobile Ham-tenna. I started on 40 made 8 contacts that means 16 contacts for a 2 fer. I tried 10 then I went to 20 and had much better results. I made a total of 28 contacts. I appreciate the hunters and p2p.