I Will Ride 200 Miles... And I Will Ride 200 More!

I am very last-minute when it comes to planning trips. I guess it is a holdover from planning motorcycle trips, which can be highly weather-dependent. Now, I am not averse to catching bursts of bad weather during a road trip. In fact, I cannot remember a single cycle trip where I didn't get at least a drop of rain on me. Such is life in the Midwest around the Great Lakes! However, I am also not crazy enough to ride straight into an extended patch of bad weather that blankets an entire geographic region.

Sometime early in the year, one of our POTA enthusiasts mentioned that the 3rd Annual Michigan POTA meetup was planned for June. I filed it away in the back of my mind. Unfortunately, I got distracted by some minor health concerns and work, and it entirely slipped my memory. Needless to say, when I finally tried to look up the dates on Thursday, I found out it was happening on June 6th, 2026—only a few days away.

I usually try to work in a camping trip around the POTA meetup. But this year, I was caught a little unawares. I didn’t have enough time to verify the state of my camping gear, so camping was out of the question. At best, this had to be a day trip. I checked the weather, and it was going to be a gorgeous day here in Michigan. In addition, this year's meetup was at Hartwick Pines State Park (US-1503) near Grayling, MI. It is in the central part of the state, so I knew there would be some new hams making the trip out there.

Riding weather

A quick check of the maps indicated about 200 miles each way, with an estimated riding time of roughly 3 hours per leg. I packed up my KX-3, my N7DDC tuner, the Micro PA50+, and a small snack bag.

I departed at 0630 AM local time. Of course, it was at the very tail end of a shower. So, my streak of never having a trip without a drop of rain remains unbroken! Thankfully, the temps were in the mid-60s (about 20°C), so the rain didn't really matter. About 15 minutes into the ride, the rain clouds cleared out and the sun started to peek through. I could not have asked for better weather. I was incredibly comfortable under my riding gear. On the ride up, I made a quick stop at a rest area to gobble down my yogurt and banana, followed by a quick stop for gas. I rolled into the park around 0940 AM. The organizers were already out and about setting up for the meet.

I decided to squeeze in a quick activation since I had never activated this park before. I set up the KX-3 and the JPC-12 vertical. I started off on 40m but didn't have much success there. After about 20 minutes, I was left with just a single QSO. It was still a little too early for 20m, but when you're desperate, you'll try anything. I adjusted the loading coil on the JPC-12 for 20m and found that it tuned to a 1.3 SWR. I set the ATU in the KX-3 to bypass and hooked up my Micro PA50+ between the transceiver and the antenna. This was going to be the second field test for this amplifier since the firmware upgrade. I started to run at around 30W. Success at last! The new firmware held up flawlessly, and I got about 14 contacts in the next 30 minutes.

After that, I packed up all the gear and headed over to the picnic shelter to see if I could help with anything. The area was already set up. A great feature this year was POTA Bingo. It's a little hard to explain, but the concept should be clear from the image below. This game ensured that the hams mixed freely and got to know one another. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

After shooting the breeze for a while, it was time for lunch. Some of the hams took the opportunity to secure a local activation. It was fun to work hams sitting right next to you via 2m/70cm. The occasional feedback squeal from being too close was hilarious to watch. For those who were short of their 10 contacts, walkie-talkies were passed around so other hams could help them establish a contact. I will need to check the activation status of US-1503 around that time block.

After lunch, it was time for the traditional raffle. Alas, my luck did not hold out for a prize! Not to worry, though—completing my bingo card netted me a custom Michigan POTA coaster.

I cannot thank the meetup organizers enough. I have been privileged to attend all three meetups to date, and I am glad to see this event thriving and getting better every year.

With a great smile on my face, I snapped a picture of the trip odometer when I pulled into the garage back home.

A brick becomes a diamond

 I dread firmware/software updates. Now I know they're necessary evil; but still that does not ease my tensions when embarking on an upgrade. One never knows what the effect of "fixes" may be. They could end up breaking your customizations that are running smoothly; or in worst cases can "upgrade" features by removing them, because some business overlord deemed that the formerly free feature now needs to go premium. My approach to updates/upgrades has been the tried and tested mantra: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"

But broke does not do effective justice to the Micro PA50+ portable amplifier that I had added to my collection. I had bought the amp to give my field activations a little more oomph on especially bad propagation days. I was hoping that it would complement my KX-3 CW activations well. However, after I bought it and tested it, I was in for serious disappointment. The power amplifier constantly rebooted or entered into protection mode making it unusable.  I could not rely on this amplifier in the field for serious activations.

After a thorough research, I found out that such issues were common among Micro PA50+. The root cause was found to be the overly sensitive SWR measurement by the amplifier. Some of the common fixes were to change the resistance of one of the legs of the SWR bridge to "trick" the amp into measuring SWR correctly. Additional fixes included using a capacitor to smooth out the instantaneous SWR spikes. Life got busy and I put off these mods for the time being. The power amplifier was relegated to my pile of "junk" equipment.

After several months, I found the time again to work on this issue. As I was scouring the web for authoritative fixes, I found a few mentions about the new 3.0 version of the firmware that as the "bee's knees". The few folks who installed it recommended that this solved "all" the problems. 

I had a "broken" Micro PA50+ power amplifier that exhibited all the symptoms that the update claimed to fix. If this didn't justify the application of the update nothing else would. So I downloaded the new firmware and proceeded to apply it.

Note that there are several variants of this amplifier around. Therefore, I am not providing links for the upgrade process here. You should be able to search and find the process for your particular variant. But in effect, in addition to the latest firmware you will use a USB Serial adapter and software that will flash the firmware. You would need to hook up about 4 or 5 pins from the serial adapter on to a header on your power amplifier

I ended up using  AVRDUDESS  for flashing the firmware. It provides a simple UI which allows you to select the COM port [corresponding to the USB serial adapter], the firmware file and the board type for flashing. Once I double checked all the values, I hit the upload firmware button. The process took about 15 seconds and went smoothly. 

I breathed a huge sigh of relief when the amp powered on again after the application of the firmware. The boot flash screen confirmed that the firmware version was indeed upgraded. Now it was time to put the amp through its paces.

Testing the Micro PA50+. Firmware 3.0 indeed seems to have made it more stable

For testing the update I drove the amp using uSDX+ QRP radio paired with N7DDC tuner.  The drive power varied from 1.8W to about 2.5W depending on the band. The Micro PA50+ was able to put out 40-50 watts across most bands. The difference was night and day. The Micro PA50+ was a transformed beast. It was rock solid during my tests. Its power and SWR measurements were now closer and seemed more accurate. It did suffer from a few reboots. It looks like it still suffers from instantaneous SWR spikes in CW call sequences. I was able to eliminate most such reboots by increasing the CW delay to about 500ms. This does mean that you may occasionally miss the first one or two characters of a CW response. However, I believe this is acceptable for field operations. My confidence in the amplifier was enhanced to a such an extent that I took this out for my field activation on 06/01. It performed almost flawlessly there. 

Field test of the Micro PA50+

There were one or two reboots in over 90 minutes of operation. I probably can overcome this by increasing the CW delay or it may very well be that I would still need the capacitor fix to smoothen out the instantaneous spikes. But if I learned the lesson right, perhaps I should procrastinate. The next firmware could very well address that issue as well. Who said that procrastination is not a virtue!

Stinker from an old timer

Note: I have redacted names, callsigns and dates in the narrative 

I was surprised to see an email titled "Interference with XXXX" in my inbox from a fellow operator. Here it is in its entirety. Note this was the second email (with a previous one nearly identical to this one. I am omitting that one for brevity)

Dear Ram,

I have to admit, I am a bit disappointed you started operating on the frequency I was using this evening. Especially with another SKCC member. I am operating a Special event Station (XXX) on x.044 @XX:XX this evening. Worst of all, you never first check to see if the frequency was clear (QRL?). If you had I would have zero beat to your freq to let you know I was there operating. Back in the day we all listened first, then put out a QRL. I realize with more crowded bands and younger hams getting their ticket in a weekend, and lack of ELMERS, it becomes paramount to be more courteous than ever. Since you took over the frequency I was operating, I will bow to you and stop operating the Special event station so you can operate your more important POTA. In the future, I kindly ask that you listen first, then send out a QRL to double check the frequency is in use before you just take it. 

--73--

XXX

I was a little shaken. I was saying to myself what did you do? Questions started racing in my mind. Did I stomp on someone else? I always put out QRLs. Did I forget it that day? So hurriedly I look up the log and found that I was operating 500Hz above the frequency mentioned. Even though the tone of the email irritated me and made some unreasonable assumptions about my operations (such as not putting out QRLs) , I sent the following replies. Originally I had checked the wrong date and responded with the following. Subsequently after realizing that error, verified the date and time in question and sent the second email below.

I looked up RBN Again and only see me on x44.5. I'm wondering if your filters were wider...

73 

XXX,

Rechecked XXX XX. I see no spots for me on x44 for me around the time frame.  All spots for me are on x44.5. Please see attached image. I usually shy away from round number frequencies especially when on the field. I typically operate 5w QRP or at most 10W on bad days. I was 10W that day with a simple wire antenna on the tree.  As a QRP operator I have been run out of the frequency many a time by inconsiderate operators and contesters some of whom are old timers from the halcyon age you allude to. So let's not tar and feather the whole crop of newer operators as there are examples of bad operators of varying tenure and skills. I've learnt to grow a thicker skin than having to dwell on that too much. 

Wishing you the best in the future. 

Ram

KE8UEX

73

Note: Not posting the RBN image was attached to the email that indicated the frequency and dates I was operating on.

I was hoping this clarification should be sufficient. However, I get the response below indicating that operating 500Hz above on CW is considered stomping on the frequency 500Hz below.  The request now seems to be that I should stay 1KHz from his station? He also acknowledged he heard my QRL and walks back his early accusation of me not doing so. Instead of saying sorry he goes on to patronize me for putting out the QRL.

Hello Ram,

I can understand your response, however, the confusion lies in that I was the one on xx.044 holding QSO's for the special event, not you, In looking at my notes I did hear you start out with QRL, which I replied to let you know I was operating 500Hz below you then you started calling CQ pushing me off a frequency because of other stations not zero beat, which got to the point I had to QSY off. I think the issue may lay in if you were using a CW filter? If you were and most CW filters are usually set around 2-300Hz, which means your filters tight response you would not have heard me because I was out of your window. All I am suggesting, in the future maybe open up your filter a bit when putting out a QRL. I commend you for doing that. As crowded as the bands are today because we now have to share our coveted bands with Chicken banders (CB'ers). I guess, really no harm done since I did a lot of QSO's volunteering for the week long special event station and was only kicked off the frequency once. Hahaha! I appreciate your reply.

Hmm... the bands must have been especially favorable for me as a 10W station to push out a QRO special event station 500Hz away! Needless to say, this reply irked me further as the as he still insists I was in the wrong. Other than the suggestion about widening the filter the patronizing/dismissive attitude added to the irritation. The concluding statement dripping with sarcasm made me determine a more direct approach was needed to get the point through. I sent the following reply. Note it is split into two emails because the send button was hit accidentally during composition

xxx,

You said: the confusion lies in that I was the one on x.044...

There is no confusion here.  I clearly understood your original missive. I am responding to your unjust accusations you raised in your original email.

You said: I am a bit disappointed you started operating on the frequency I was using this evening. 

This is clearly not borne out by the evidence I have presented. Operating 500Hz above you on CW is in no way operating on your frequency. This is at the highest end of ARRL recommendations for separation of 150-500Hz separation between stations. This should accommodate even the most egregious non zero-beaters.

You said: Worst of all, you never first check to see if the frequency was clear (QRL?). 

I see that you recanted this in the subsequent email. I understand apologizing is hard, but I appreciate you conceding that this was also an unfounded accusation not based on facts.

You said:  ... it becomes paramount to be more courteous than ever... I will bow to you and stop operating the Special event station so you can operate your more important POTA

Courtesy should extend beyond the air. While I understand the irritation of operating in crowded bands, I respectfully push back on the tone in your original email. I'm sure if you were sitting across from me you would not have used that tone. I'm not sure where the condescension for POTA operations come from given that you're an active POTA hunter as well. I also believe operating special event station does not confer any special privileges on the amateur bands. 

You said in the later email:  All I am suggesting, in the future maybe open up your filter a bit when putting out a QRL
A good suggestion that I may consider especially when expecting a lot of vintage gears on the air. I still do believe expecting a 1MHz separation for CW operations seems a little bit excessive.

You said: we now have to share our coveted bands with Chicken banders (CB'ers)

You said:  really no harm done since I did a lot of QSO's volunteering for the week long special event 

I am glad that you had a successful event. I did have a great outing at the park that day as well. I still wonder if QSYing was such a non event, what prompted the vitriolic email in the first place. 

===== THE SECOND EMAIL TO COMPLETE THE ONE ABOVE

xxx,

Sorry the previous reply was unfinished. Few corrections and the completion of the email follows: 

I said: . I still do believe expecting a 1MHz separation for CW operations seems a little bit excessive

It should read 1KHz

You said: we now have to share our coveted bands with Chicken banders (CB'ers)

I try to stay away from in-group and out-group thinking. We amateur radio operators work with what we have been granted

Hope you have fun on the air

73

Ram

KE8UEX

To which I got the classiest of replies from a courteous old-timer. 

It's clear we think differently, and no sense wasting anymore of my time with you. 

--73--

This goes on to prove age and wisdom does not equate to class. If this operator believes he is trying to educate other hams, taking a softer tone initially would probably fall on more receptive ears. For whatever it is worth, this operator has impressive credentials in the QRZ page which I respect. His supercilious attitude and sense of entitlement... I do not. 

I responded with the following. What would you have done?

XXX.

Sorry you feel that way. Wish you the very best

Ram

73

KE8UEX

Humble Pi(e) day!

 Saturday, March 14 2026 [3/14]. For some math enthusiasts who subscribe to the US centric view of writing dates, it is Pi day. For some ham radio enthusiasts like me it was strange day with weird propagation.

I started of the day to get my early morning CW fix. Nothing like beginning the day with a good ragchew QSO. On weekends, I usually lurk on the 80m bands very early in the morning and then switch on to 40m as the propagation there gets better.  But today, the bands were flat and I did not hear any of the regulars on the band. This early harbinger should have informed me to be the tough band conditions that day.

But the information did not percolate in. Instead, I spent some time solving the New York Times Crossword and their other puzzles. A little while later, my wife wanted me to run some errands. Unwilling to let this chance go by, I decided to go in for a POTA activation. However, I was not prepared for how rough the bands were. It usually takes me about 20-30 minutes to rustle up 10 contacts. What should have been a quick 30 minute detour into the park turned into a 90 minute nailbiter. I hopped all over the bands. Very few CQs were answered. I knew that if I waited for someone to contact me after hearing my CQ it was going to take much longer to get my 10 contacts. I decided to answer the CQs of other POTA activators. I usually do not do that as I am at topped out at 10W on my POTA setup. I cannot compete with the KW stations in a pileup. But today, it was different. It was a mix of desperation and desire to help out other activators facing rough conditions. Most hunters decidedly stayed away due to rough band conditions; there was no pileup. It was miraculous that some of the POTA stations heard me. I eventually ended up with 11 contacts with about 7 of them being park-to-park QSOs initiated from my end.

I reflected on the day and wondered why I even decided for an activation that day. Then I realized this was perhaps due to the strange propagation I experienced earlier in the day. I was looking at my RBN reports of my CQs on 40m in the morning. I noticed that while most of the usual stations in the 300-600 mile range did not hear me, I was heard loud and clear in ZL. Perhaps I was hoping for a first ZL contact from the park. Perhaps one day that dream would come true!

Alinco strikes again

Saturday, June 7, 2025! And not just an ordinary Saturday. It was the day for the annual Michigan POTA meetup.  This year the meet up was at Fort Custer Recreation Area (US-3310). I visited the last year's meet up and this year's weather forecast was much better. Although I did not have the time for an overnight camp trip unlike last year, I decided to go in for a day trip. The 250 mile round trip in great weather and the chance to meet up some POTA folks was too good to pass.

I saddled up at about 9:30 am and flat topped it to the park around 11am. In my saddle case was my usual KX-3 POTA set up. However, since the bands have not been that great I decided to go with a little more oomph with my trusty old DX-70. 

When I arrived, the meetup was at full swing. The meeting was well attended and saw people from various parts of the state. After some meet and greet and catching up with acquaintances from the past year I decided to get an activation in. There were some chuckles when I set up the Alinco.  This rig is not in the greatest shape, but I have always been partial to it. It was a rats mess of cables and wires when I had completed hooking up the CW keyer and the antenna tuner. 

I was warned! The bands were bad. I roamed the 40m, 30m and 20m band. Only 40m seemed to have some life in it. Despite running my Alinco at 50W there were very few takers. I was using the JPC-12 vertical. KB6NU who is out of Ann Arbor suggested that I try his doublet antenna instead. He was kind enough to lug it from his car and set it up for me. While the doublet brought in a few more contacts nothing would overcome the pitiable band conditions that day.

Activation at the POTA meetup. Photo Courtesy: MI POTA Meetup

     

But time was on my side. I had an automatic MX-2 type keyer hooked up to the Alinco; so the tedium if putting out repeated CQs was not there. I was mildly mocked for having taken my full size Begali single lever paddle that was hooked to the keyer. Nevertheless, I kept the CQs going through the excellent lunch spread put out by the organizers. Eventually after about 90 minutes, I was proud when the tenth contact rolled in. I was also proud that I did not have to rely on the help of the attendees to make my quota. 

As I was packing my gear in, the raffle tickets organized by the meet up folks were announced. I ended up winning a POTA bumper sticker. This stroke of luck emboldened me to stop by US-1518 on the way back. Yes indeed! My luck held and I was able to get a successful activation there as well.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the MI POTA meetup organizers for putting on a great event. Your enthusiasm is infectious and is greatly appreciated

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.

Ragchew and Activations

 I am conflicted; being both a POTA activator and rag-chewer. I am mostly a CW operator and I love both the long and sometimes pointless rag-chews and also the excitement of working pileups during POTA. Unfortunately, pileups are rare for me; but nevertheless enjoy park activations. However, even on the days where the hunters are slim, I rarely engage in rag-chews during activation. Allow me to explain...

In addition to being an activator, I hunt POTA stations as well. I do not prefer busting through pileups and will look for easy pickings. Occasionally I will run through an activator involved in a long running exchange with a hunter. I will usually wait for about 2 minutes before moving on. The activator certainly has the prerogative on how to run their activation and this is not a complaint about their practice. But based on how I react, I have decided it is a trite impolite to keep hunters waiting.  I have also encountered hunters who basically come with their call once. If I ask for a repeat, they're already gone. Therefore, even if I encounter familiar hunters and known rag-chewers during an activation, I keep my exchange short; usually a sentence of two of banalities...

Are you a POTA hunter? If so, how long will you wait to get your callsign in?

Barring such narrow activities such as POTA activations and contests, I'm always open to a nice conversation. So if you hear me calling CQ, please do stop by and let's chat

Maybury XMAS

 This year is on a roll. Unusually warm temperatures continue! So when the sun peeked out today on Christmas day, I decided to do a quick POTA activation of K-1518 [ Maybury State Park]. I go into my garage and load up the radio and antenna on to my motorcycle. After gearing up and trying to roll the motorcycle out of the garage, notice it is very sluggish and hard to do. Sure enough, the front tire had deflated. I checked the tire for any obvious punctures or foreign objects and do not find any. So, I pull my compressor out and start it to get the tire reinflated. I notice that the compressor never kicks out. Eventually I find that there is a big gash on the high pressure hose causing the tank never to fill up. Determined to make it to the park, I finally pull out the emergency inflator in my car and get the tire inflated. 

After a quick ride through crisp, cold afternoon, I arrived at the park and found it to be pretty active. A lot of people had the idea to enjoy the outdoors on this warm day. I manage to find a secluded spot and set up for activation. Since this was going to be a quick one, I decided to set it up on the motorcycle itself.

Motorcycle XMAS activation of K-1518

The bands seemed to be good. But after trying about 10 minutes of calling CQ on 40m, I am getting no response. POTA also indicates no other activators on 40m. So I made the decision to go to better fishing grounds on 20m. As usual, 20m did not disappoint and I had a successful activation within 15 minutes. I then lingered on a little while more to grab a few contacts on 30m. I was surprised that there were quite a few activators and hunters active on X-mas day!

Solstice Sinisterness

It is not uncommon when activating POTA to get response from calls that are adjacent or a few letters apart. These are usually multi-op stations with spouses or siblings that got their tickets together and hence very closely spaced call signs.

Today (winter solstice of 2023) I was activating Belle Isle Park K-1487 in Michigan and encountered the following calls in sequence. I first worked W8CAR out of OH. 

As soon as I was done with the call, I got a call from W8CA.

Initially I thought the caller was trying to correct me. However, when I went back to the second call, both reported different QTH states. This was confirmed by lookin up QRZ after I came back home from the activation. What are the chances? Have you run into situations like these?

Maybe I should go and buy the lottery!

JPC-12 Redux

 Yesterday, I wrote about using the JPC-12 antenna for the first time. I had indicated that I had used the antenna on 40m and 30m. I did not bother to tune the coil for the absolute minimum, but instead relied on the KX-3 tuner to touch it up to achieve minimal SWR. It did work very well.

Today, I wanted to try and use this antenna without the internal tuner. I set up the antenna with the coil in the center, between the fixed length elements and the telescopic whip.  So I went off to K-1495 for another activation. I forgot to take the nano-VNA with me. So I had to rely on the KX-3 SWR meter to establish tuning. The tuning was performed at 0.5W. The JPC-12 comes with two marks on the coil one each for 20m and 40m. They are good starting points and I was able to get about 1.3:1 match on both these bands within a few clicks of these marks. With the coil slider somewhere in the middle, got a similar match for 30m band as well. This was the first time I had used this antenna on 20m and got contacts with decent reports from both the coasts. 

Finally, for 17m I had to remove one of the fixed length sections and got a very good match. I was able to work an European station to boot at about 5W. 

To be fair, it was a rainy day and I decided to stick the antenna in a copse of conifers to prevent the antenna from getting wet. Despite, this the antenna performed exceedingly well.

So is this THE POTA antenna? I am increasingly convinced that if it is not THE antenna, it is exceedingly close to being one. 

Update 04 DEC 2023: I took the antenna out again today for activation of K-1522. I used the loading coil and tuned to 20m. The KX-3 read an SWR of about 1.5. Running 5W QRP had a successful activation with decent reports from responding stations. One of these days, I want to do an A/B test of my usual wire antennas against this one. The more I use it the more I like the JPC-12. 

JPC-12 set for 20m

Sidenote: Yes, the parking lot for K-1522 may look a little drab, but this is a park just a few blocks away from downtown Detroit. The GM headquarters is visible toward the left of the image in the background. However, the park it is situated on the beautiful Detroit Riverwalk, voted to be among the top 10 riverwalks in the country. The walk along the river offers views of Windsor, ON, Canada.

If you turn around and look the other way the city and the drabness magically disappear and lush nature beckons along the path!

Park Marker on the Detroit River Walk

 I love activating from this park and Belle Isle State Park, which is about a mile from this location; during peak seasons, it is fun to watch people enjoying themselves here...

Update: 2024/01/10 - I experienced the first failure of the antenna component. The extensible whip fell apart. It is to be noted that I have been using the whip for about 30 activations. I also left the whip stored in my car with temperatures well below freezing.  I have also been extending the whip in icy and windy conditions with temperatures in the 20F range (-7 C). I am not sure if that is a contributory factor. I have a replacement whip on order from a Chinese website. I still believe that this is a great antenna; it may not be built for extreme conditions but with proper care, it should last a long time. 

JPC-12 First spin

This is my first year of POTA, I started early spring and settled on using a random wire antenna for my activations. This served me well for all these months. But, with winter approaching, the Michigan parks are moving all the picnic tables into storage. With snowfalls imminent, all I may have access to is the parking lots. This makes finding a convenient tree and getting the wire up on it a little cumbersome. I used to have a Eurocom vertical, but setting it up involved cinching multiple hose clamps. Further, it is also much heavier and the sections did not reliably stay up. Getting the antenna into the same configuration multiple times was also proving to be difficult. After a quick survey, I found that many activators were using the JPC-12 vertical successfully. It had the right form factor and weight, which meant, I could use this antenna on the trails during summer and during my motorcycle based activations. 

I got the antenna a few weeks ago, but work meant, I could not get out to a park to test it out. I did testing with nano VNA and found the approximate detents for various frequencies. I did not require the lowest match. I wanted to get it pretty close and let the KX-3 antenna tuner touch it up. I finally got to take it out for a spin today. However, I can confirm you can get close to 1:1 to 1:1.2 match on at least the 40m, 30m, and 20m bands. 

The antenna comes with four fixed length sections that screw together, a telescopic whip, a tuning coil , SO-239 connector section, some radials (long ribbon data cables that can be split if needed) and a ground spike. All the screw connectors are M-10 which makes other mounting options possible. I went with the standard configuration of having the coil in the middle between the fixed length elements and the telescoping whip. I was concerned that it might take a little longer to set up and tear down compared to the wire up the tree, but I think with a little practice, I can easily put this antenna up in about the same time. 

JPC-12 in a functional carry bag.

JPC-12 debut at K-1518

So how does it perform? Exceedingly well. I worked 40m and 30m this morning and found the reception exceedingly good. The noise was pretty low. I made about 45 contacts running about 5W; the contacts gave me decent signal reports . I was surprised with the number of close contacts I worked; I was expecting a low take-off angle might prevent that. I could not try other bands as they did not seem to be open in the early morning hours when I was activating. 

The advantages

• Quality construction
• Light weight
• Quick setup
• Resonant on 40m, 30m, and 20m without a configuration change (except for tuning coil adjustment)
• Power handling up to 100W
• Can be used as a mast in a pinch.

The disadvantages: 

• Bands other than above will need removal of elements or adjusting whip height
• No guying solution provided; may not need one unless extremely windy.

This antenna gets this POTA activator seal of approval!

Update: 2024/01/10 - I experienced the first failure of the antenna component. The extensible whip fell apart. It is to be noted that I have been using the whip for about 30 activations. I also left the whip stored in my car with temperatures well below freezing.  I have also been extending the whip in icy and windy conditions with temperatures in the 20F range (-7 C). I am not sure if that is a contributory factor. I have a replacement whip on order from a Chinese website. I still believe that this is a great antenna; it may not be built for extreme conditions but with proper care, it should last a long time. 

Lemons and Lemonade

WFH RTO POTA

It is true! Like many of the recent hams -- new or returning back -- I will cite the recent COVID-19 pandemic as an important factor for my return. Upon my return last year, I started my foray into HF and then on to POTA. I started learning CW and now am sufficiently proficient to inflict pain and suffering on other CW ops; HI HI

Fortunately, the brunt of the pandemic is in our rear-view mirrors and life returns to normal. For me that means that the RTO [return to office] mandates are kicking in. We are now asked to come back to work; despite having proven over the last few years that we can do our work remotely and still be productive. 

Even when I was WFH [working from home], my POTA activations were always reserved for the weekends or late summer evenings when the sun was up late. One would hope RTO would crimp my POTA schedule. But fear not! It seems to have the opposite effect.

Milliken State Park K-1522 is barely a stone's throw away from my office in downtown Detroit. Today was especially nice. A 60 degree day in mid-November? What's a POTA activator to do but to go POTA activating. So come lunch time, I headed out the the park, a quick 2 min drive with my lunch box and POTA gear. 

I worked at a furtive pace! Got the antenna set up and the CQs going within 7 minutes of getting on-site. A near record for me! I had very little time. The parking situation at our work garage is not ideal and I risk losing my spot in the garage if I stay out too late. So I did not dally and went out to the trusty 20m band that almost never seems to fail.

POTA and a Lunch at K-1522

I got 14 contacts in about 22 minutes. I also managed to eat my lunch in between. Thanks to the memory keying putting out CQs when I grabbed a bite! A quick wrap up and check to ensure I am leaving nothing behind...I was back at work within 40 minutes. The stars seemed aligned today; the traffic, the weather, the band conditions. Hopefully I will be able to repeat it a few more times over this winter! Hope to catch you during lunch sometime!