Pedestrian stuff

 Today I went for another pedestrian mobile activation of US-1518. The bands in a great shape and I could not pass up the opportunity. It was a cold, cloudy day with temperatures in the mid 20s (about -4C). 

I believe the KH-1 has to be quickest radio to deploy on the field in situations where you do not have the radio already configured for operating. So as long as you are comfortable with the 3 supported bands with the built-in whip and tuner, all you have to do is to get the antenna screwed in, and the counterpoise connected. You're off to the races! I chose to work the 20m band today.

In the previous post [https://motopota.blogspot.com/2025/02/qrv-from-sanatorium.html]  I had talked about making a few modifications to make using the KH-1 easier in a pedestrian mobile setting. I had also mentioned difficulty using the pen and paper logging on the field in the cold. The KH-1 has a facility where it can automatically log all the CW characters sent from the rig with timestamps. This is supposed to ease logging in the field. It is enabled very quickly by going into MENU:Logging and turning it on. [See pp. 22 of the printed manual]. The log can hold up to 50000 characters, more than enough for any POTA activation. The logs can then either be browsed on the radio [the 2 line LCD will make it painful...see below] or you can use the data cable and hook up the KH-1 to the computer and use their supplied utility to view the logs.

Built-in logging on KH-1. Notice how the call sign WJ5K and spaces between words are not just right

 

On this activation, I enabled the logging. However, I am not satisfied with the results. The built-in character recognition from the paddle inputs is very picky. First off it seems to be the best at about 19-20WPM. I like to operate at 25-26wpm. But at those speeds the logged characters are not what you sent. For eg. KE8UEX would show up as KE0IEX. I am not sure what Elecraft's idea of a perfect fist is; mine is not perfect but not atrocious either. The issue is present even when I am sitting down at the table; so any issues that are due to less than ideal paddle work when being pedestrian mobile is eliminated. At around 20WPM, the character recognition is mostly good, but the spacing between them is hit and miss. I have looked around for any settings to tweak this but have not found any. So until such a time I am going to stick to paper logging. Let me know in the comments if you use the built-in logging feature and if so how is it working for you.

QRV from a Sanatorium!

 The Elecraft KX-3 is what I usually use when activating the various parks around the region. It is the perfect rig to operate when sitting at a table or operating from within the vehicle during winder months. I have a KH-1 as well. I prefer to use it when I am pedestrian mobile (PM). I am still tuning the Elecraft KH-1 to become my perfect PM rig. 

The main issues I face with the KH-1 have to do its form factor. While one part of me cherishes its light weight and miniature design I found that holding it for long (especially when walking where I need to maintain a tight grip) really cramps my hands. It does not help that I have a relatively larger palm and longer fingers. I use paper logging using the provided pen and logging tray. The pen is a mini one as well and I did not want to lose it or drop it when walking.

Today I made a few modifications.

I added a hair rubber band at the back of the rig as shown in the picture below. This means I am able to now slip my hand between the rig and the band. I no longer fear that the rig is going to slip away if I loosen the grip a little. I find that I was able to keep the rig secure in the palm without having to tighten my fingers around it

KH-1 with the hair band mod

In addition I also used a piece of dental floss to secure the pen to the rig. So off to the sanatorium I went. [Maybury State Park US-1518 was formerly a sanatorium!]. It was pretty cold, around 20F (-8C) and the winds were icy. I found that I was able to slip the band over my gloved hand and the rig stayed put. Once ready, I used the built-in CW memory keying to put out CQ on the 20m band and started my walk along the paved trails. I had to be extra careful because there were quite a few patches of ice on the trail that I had to navigate around. The left hand stayed warm in the ensconce of the glove,  The issue was with the right hand (my paddle hand). I used cut-off gloves to get better feel when operating the paddles. But I lost all the feeling within about 10 minutes. 

My fingers were frozen like icicles. I forged ahead still seeking the elusive three contacts for a successful activation. When the responses came back, I could not write it down as the pen was too slim to hold in the cold and my fingers were not nimble. I yelled out the call to my XYL who took it down on her cell phone. The mild dyslexia added to the confusion. So I got a few calls wrong with transposed letters. Thankfully the hunters were patient and repeated the calls till I got them right! I got the required number of hunters soon enough and I was never so happy to wrap up an activation. I am confident that if I am able to operate the KH-1 pedestrian mobile in these cold conditions it should be much easier during the warmer months. The outlook for the upcoming year for my pedestrian mobile activations looks good.

KH-1 in the field with the mods

Note: The KH-1 has an automatic logging function where it logs all what is sent via the paddle into a durable memory. I have not yet tried it yet. But that should eliminate the need for a paper pen logging on the field

[Update: My attempt to use this in the field with limited success https://motopota.blogspot.com/2025/02/pedestrian-stuff.html ]

Yours truly at the park pedestrian mobile

David and Goliath

The ICOM-756 Pro III was my home station. I recently retired it when I got my ICOM 7610. I am still debating if the latter was a true upgrade. But that is a story for another day.

While I am trying to get the 756 PRO III rehoused to a nice ham home, I still find using it off and on. With winter approaching and temperatures falling I have resorted to using my car for my POTA activations. Alas the motorcycle will have to wait for another day!

Today on a whim, I decided to try the ICOM 756 PRO III as a POTA radio. So I loaded up the radio, its A/C adapter and a 2KWh power inverter for the activation. I had this all set up in the rear seat area. After reaching the park, I set the antenna up and hooked everything up. The radio powered up and tuned up well. My CQs got good RBN reports; however, the reception was very noisy. I moved the inverter away from the radio as much as possible, but I could not make a successful QSO. I ended up resorting to use my usual KX-3 to complete the activation. I was running the inverter and the ICOM power supply. The Elecraft did not suffer from the noise. So I am not sure what to make of this yet; but it is still a testament to what a fine receiver the KX-3 is. 

I will try the experiment another day using a DC power supply to the ICOM instead of an inverter.

73

Maybury Century

Most of the readers of my blog would know that Maybury State Park (US-1518) figures prominently in my blog posts frequently. This was the site of my first POTA activation and thus has a special place in my heart. In my last post I had expressed my disappointment where my attempt to activate this park for the 100th time did not go well. I had forgotten to take the power cord. When I mentioned this in one of our local repeater round tables, one of my fellow hams told me that he would like to join me on my next attempt to make the 100th activation. 

Mike (W8ZFM) lives quite a ways away from Maybury. So we had to coordinate a time and date that would be mutually convenient for both of us. Well that turned out to be Saturday Oct 12 at around 1800UTC. Mike turned up with his ICOM 718 and a 20m tuned dipole. I rode my motorcycle to the park with my KX-3 and long wire as usual. 

Mike usually works 20m only on FT8 and SSB. Today he chose to work only FT8. I was planning CW only. The early afternoon conditions were not conducive for QRP SSB work. We tried to keep our antennae away from each other as much as possible; however we both settled on the same picnic table. 

I started on 20m and did not find much takers that day. The slow pace even had me worried if I would have a successful activation that day. Once Mike started his FT8 activation on 20M I had to move away and went to the 30m band. The fish were biting there! I quickly racked up many contacts from near and far.

Midway through the activation, Mike had to take a little break. I took this opportunity to try his tuned dipole. My KX-3 loved it as it was tuned for the lower portions of the band. I continued to work on 20m until he came back. 

Back on my antenna, I then tried 17m. My CQs went unheeded. The RBNs indicated decent hits, but I had no luck. I finally wrapped up by making a few calls on 40m. Unfortunately, I had to wrap it up as the bands were heating up. I had other commitments back at home to attend to. 

Mike and I both had about 50 QSOs each during our outing that day.

Thank you Mike for sharing my 100th activation of the park

A big bust

 I was all excited for my POTA activation of US-1518 [Maybury State Park today!]. I was very eager to get there as this was going to be my 100th activation of that park. So I pick up the charged batteries, load up my motorcycle. I then negotiate the residual rush hour traffic and get to the park around 6PM. I was in a little bit of rush as sunset was at 7:15PM and I wanted to complete my activation before dark. 

I get to the park. It was a beautiful fall day in Michigan and the sun was definitely racing towards the horizon. I throw the arborist line over the tree branch and set up my wire antenna. After hooking up the feeder line, I pull the radio out of its box and set it up on the table. I hook the antenna up to the radio; pull the battery out. But wait! where's the power cable? Darn! I was working with another radio at home and forgot to put the power cord in back into the box. Nothing deflates the excitement as busted activation.

So much for the much anticipated 100th activation of the park. It'll have to wait for another day.

The itch that must be scratched

 Last weekend was a great time to be outdoors here in Michigan. Summer was still clinging on and the days were at mid 80F and no rain in the forecast. But life has a cadence of its own and my previous commitments meant I could not take this opportunity to go out camping for the entire weekend. However, come late Saturday I found that I had accomplished all I had set to do at home and had the rest of the day and Sunday all to myself. I had an intense desire to get out and camp. A quick check at the Michigan DNR website showed only one campground with open slots. Lake Hudson State Park, a park that I have not activated before was only about 90 miles away. This was also a designated "dark sky" park. My recent interest in astronomy means that I can get some stargazing done there as well.

So I quickly packed up my motorcycle with camping gear, food and my radios (KX-3 and KH-1) and set off for the park around 4PM EDT. It was a little too warm for my taste under the riding gear, but the 90 minute ride was fun and enjoyable. As usual, upon arrival, I found the access road to the campground was a gravel road. I had to take it very easy on the surface with my heavily loaded tour bike. I passed the campground office on the way [closed for the day] and headed up to the campground. I was hoping there would be someone there to check me in.

Alas, not only there were no campground staff, but I was asked to go back to the office and pick up a courtesy phone to book my campsite. [I was surprised that there were no drop boxes for cash payments at this entrance either]. I wish they had posted a sign by the office as I was passing through. So after tricky U turn I headed back to the office and got the wonderful site number 26. I picked this one because it was pretty secluded, but also close to the amenities [more on that later]

After speaking with a helpful agent and completing my reservation, I headed back to the site and took off my riding gear. The fresh air against my body felt nice. I then proceeded to set up my tent. I put up the wire antenna up the tree first[one of my criteria for the campsite] and then based on its stake point on the ground, I mapped out a convenient site for the tent that will allow me to operate the radio from inside the tent at night. Setting up the Cabela XPG tent was an easy affair; at least it wasn't raining like the last time I was out on motorcycle camping! I pulled the picnic table closer to the antenna stake point to set up my KX-3 for operation.

All the setup made my hands a little dirty. So I walked up to the water source across from my campsite. It was a water pump; it had some loose parts scattered around it, but fortunately, it seemed to work. When the water gushed out, I washed my hand. I did not fail to notice that the water was not clear and I did not want to use for drinking. Fortunately, I had a 2 liter bottle of water and a 2 little bottle of Gatorade. That will see me through the night.

I was all set to play some radio. There was no cell coverage at the campground. So I spotted myself using SOTAMaT. I started off with CW on 20m band. The spotting using SOTAMat seemed to have worked. The contacts came in at the usual clip as I was enjoying the cool evening breeze under the clear blue skies.

It was now 7PM EDT. Dinner Time! Time to take a break from radio. I pulled out my camp stove and proceeded to make my camping staple - noodles. I set up the stove on the rim of the fire pit and got the pot going. When the water boiled, the pot started to move and it was about to fall into the ash pit. I reached out and grabbed it. Ouch! silly me! My hand got a nasty burn on the ring finger and the pinkie in my right hand. I set the pot correctly and put some noodles. I then headed over to the pump to put the fingers under the cool water. It wasn't that bad, but the burning sensation was unpleasant. I was hoping it would not be much painful on my ride back home the next day. After consuming the noodles, I took a walk around the park. The light was beginning to fade. I decided to return to the tent and play some more radio.

KH-1 in the tent at night

I moved the KX-3 into the tent and started working some SSB and CW on 40 meters. It was fun.  It was dark by now. But being a dark sky park, I wanted to keep my light pollution at a low level. Fortunately, my head lamp has a low power red LED. I turned it on and used it for see what I was logging. Midway through the CW run, I changed to my KH-1.It performed well and I had many contacts at 5w or less late into the evening. By around 9PM EDT, the contacts started to taper off and I decided to call it a night. Time to put on some podcasts and have it lull you to sleep.

I woke up around 3AM. The near full moon had just set and the skies were spectacular. I was able to spot the usual suspects in the sky. Orion's bow was clearly seen. I could never see it from my residence. Gemini's Castor and Pollux and Taurus' Aldebaran were comforting to see. I took a quick walk around the site and enjoyed the views from various perspectives. It was back to bed again and wait for the morning light.

Out of bed again at around 6AM. It was still dark outside. Nothing to do, but to play some radio! I was looking around the band on 40m. I managed to work another ham in FL. We had a decent chat for about 20 minutes. After he signed off, I decided to slowly start putting things away. I wanted to get out as early as possible. I had heard from a friend that there was going to be a motorcycle show at Stockbridge, MI. I decided I want to take it in on the way back to home.

Sun rises over the campsite

Dawn at last! It is now 7:30AM. After the morning ablutions (well what counts for it in a primitive campground) I put on a cup of coffee and start packing. Packing up took up about an hour and I it was almost 9AM when I bid adieu to my campsite. 

Stockbridge was an hour away. The early morning air was almost fall-like. The ST1300 cut through the early morning breeze as I headed east and then north towards Chelsea and Stockbridge.

I rode into Stockbridge just as they were getting started. There were bikes already parked in the city square. I took a leisurely stroll and talked to various enthusiasts. I was specially interested in the section for electric motorcycle riders. I got into an interesting chat with a gentleman who makes his own electric bikes. 

Vintage Harley at Stockbridge, MI

I spent a leisurely couple of hours at Stockbridge and then made the trip back home.

 

The long and short of it

This is not a POTA story... but I found it interesting and felt compelled to narrate it here anyway. Most amateur radio operators cherish their DX contacts; they are quick to brag about their furthest contact. But the bands do not always play nice and sometimes produces results that can be quite surprising. 

The other day I was working on 17m CW and was happy to have a QSO with a Bulgaria contact.  DX contacts are not rare, but they are not very frequent either for my station. I was running CQ on the frequency and terminated the contact when a '8' station chimed in with their call sign. I did not respond initially thinking they might be trying to work the DX. They repeated their call. Since I did not hear the DX call back, I chimed in asking the station if they were trying to work the DX station. Surprisingly, they said they were actually looking to work me. So we got the QSO going and found out that the caller lived about 10 miles away from me. We had FB QSO and chuckled about our rare 17m contact. Sure enough I have more contacts on 17m to Europe than in my own state...

A little while later I hopped on to 40m CW to ride the golden hour for propagation. A '5' station responded to my call. During the exchange I was surprised to find that this station lived less than 6 miles from me. This piqued my interest and pulled up the QRZ. What I saw made my jaw drop. This contact was my riding buddy from many years ago. We had lost touch with each other. I was not a ham at that time, and therefore did not know that he was a ham too. He had moved in to Michigan from the '5' land years ago. So I went on with the QSO and told him who I was. We reminisced our rides in the past and had a fantastic QSO. We have decided to meet up again for coffee and talk radio in the next few days.

So the next time the bands are short, do not despair. Who knows what surprises it may hold.