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!

One Oh Oh; Twice Over

My 100th successful POTA activation:

I've had a busy summer activating nearby parks. As the number of activations were growing, I was looking forward to my 100th successful activation.  (I have had one failure to date). I have always wanted to do something special for the 100th one. After looking at parks nearby me and some of the stats, I settled on K-1513: Mike Levine Lakelands Trail State Park. This is not a park in the traditional sense. It is basically an equestrian and biking trail that winds its way for a little over 30 miles along an old railroad track. It has a mix of paved and unpaved portions and traverses several counties. I chose this park because:

• I have never activated it
• It seems to have had fewer activations
• It was conveniently located and fit my plans for the rest of the day

I had a few vacation days to burn before the end of the year. Today's weather was going to be tolerable. As much as I would have liked to ride my motorcycle for the activation, my plans to combine with other errands meant that I had to use my automobile. 

My goal for the 100th was to activate a new (to me) park and get at least 100 QSOs. I have never cracked a 100 QSO activation yet.

I chose the trailhead parking at Hamburg township. There were off and on sprinkles on the way to the park, but when I reached there, it was just cloudy.  I carefully backed up my SUV and positioned in such a way that I can perform the activation on the back of the SUV with the hatch opened. By now my experience slinging the arborist line meant I had the random-wire antenna up and functional in a few minutes.

Hatchback activation

There was a minor problem. The lamp on the hatch stayed on and did not have a cut off switch [NOTE: This is an older vehicle that uses incandescent bulbs and not LEDs] . This was going to drain my batteries! So I had to unscrew the housing and pull the harness off the lamp to conserve the vehicle battery. 

I got started at around 1600 UTC.  I realized that the bands were in good shape. I worked 17m, 20m, 30m, 40m on CW and 20m and 40m on SSB. Once I reached the 100 mark, I was hoping for a lull in hunters; but they kept on coming until I had about 132 QSOs in three and a half hours. I realized during the QSOs that this was a needed park for quite a few hunters who were thankful. I ended up getting my first POTA SSB DX from Italy; not bad for 7W indicated by my radio. I also had one other CW DX from France for the day. The band was getting progressively better, but the temperatures were falling and I had errands to run. So I took the first lull in hunters to QRT and head on with the other tasks for the day; but not before reconnecting and installing the lamp on the hatch!

Shameless brag:

Screenshot showing 100 activations

Screenshot showing 132 QSOs for activation

I had great fun today and was glad to have accomplished the goals. I look forward to my 100th unique park in the future, but I am not sure if it will surpass the excitement of today. Hope to catch you on the air soon

73

The ugly duckling

 The Elecraft KX-3 is the radio that I use for POTA activations. I got my radio with the KX-PD3 paddle. While the KX-PD3 is well built and works like a charm, it seems to require periodic maintenance. Every other outing, I find I need to clean the contacts out or the paddles keep missing dits or dahs. So I found myself using the compact morse paddle such as this one https://www.amazon.com/Mini-Key-Automatic-Morse-Stainless/dp/B09KC3JYC8

While the compact morse paddle is great, it adds to setup and tear down time as I have to remove it from the box and hook it up to the radio and reverse it when I QRT. The convenience of the paddle attached to the radio such as the KX-PD3 cannot be beat. While looking around in the web, I ran into a post by fellow ham mentioning the QRPBuilder kit for a single lever paddle for the KX2/KX3: https://qrpbuilder.com/kx_single_lever

Now this intrigued me. It was cheap and I do not have to worry about putting it through the rough paces in the field. Granted, that this is not an iambic two lever paddle [ they sell a kit for that one if you need it ], but I rarely use the iambic feature and was not a concern to me.  The kit comes with all that is needed to build it. The instructions for building it are downloadable from their website. They rate the build at medium high difficulty.

I am not an experienced kit builder and in fact this is the first kit that I have built. Bear in mind, I have done some tinkering with soldering iron though, such as the occasional ESP32 project builds and replacement of busted USB ports etc. This build was a little challenging. I took it very slow and built it over 3 days. I went through their assembly instructions several times. The instructions are clearly written and easy to follow. The challenge is to keep everything aligned through the process as there are no detents or jigs to help with the alignment. Another factor contributing to the challenge is the fact that the structural rigidity of the kit depends on soldering.  I used a small dollop of gorilla glue between the plastics to tack them  give more strength to the final assembly. The wait for the 24 hour cure time accounts for the 3 day build time. After soldering the 2x2 connector in the first step, I verified that the connections are solid using a multimeter. The patience did pay off in the end as the paddle worked the first time I plugged it in. The 2x2 connector and the mounting screw holes are perfectly aligned and plug in smoothly even when compared to the KX-PD3

The QRPBuilder paddle for KX-3

So there it is, the assembled paddle attached to the radio. Not a great looking piece, but boy does it work! After a few tweaks, I got the paddle travel to work to my liking. If you get a KEY ERR message when radio starts up, do not despair; verify that the contact screw is not making constant contact as you power the radio on.

So off I went POTA activation and got two parks with this paddle today.  I was a little worried that the stiff paddle piece would cause the radio to move while in operation, but so far it has not been the case. This is my first paddle that does not either use springs or magnets for return. I found the operation very fluid. It takes a little getting used to as I did make a few errors, but overall, I rate this kit build a 5 out of 5.

Besides the cost, an advantage I see over the KX-PD3 is that the paddle is quite a bit away from the surface with the radio legs extended. This translates to the ability to operate the radio on slightly uneven surfaces. The KX-PD3 skims so close to the surface that the paddles experience interference even on moderately uneven surfaces such as picnic tables. 

In summary, I had quite a bit of fun building this kit. I may pick up the iambic paddle version of this kit and build it just for kicks!

Missed it by ..... that much!

POTA folks have been busy adding new parks and a couple of them showed up near me. Unfortunately, I still work and could not get there ASAP to get the coveted first activation of the park. Today, on my day off I noticed that K-10077 Charlotte State Game Land had a few activations, but none on CW. Furthermore, the weather was going to be excellent. I had also received the new battery for my motorcycle and had just had it installed. [See my previous post on how it left me stranded on my previous activation after the battery died!] So all things are pointing to an activation begging to be made

I set off here around 9 AM and the ride was expected to take about 90 minutes. It was a day with off and on clouds, but the temperatures were in the mid 60s [15-17 deg C]. The ride was fantastic! The entire journey was on the interstate; but, the road passes through undeveloped areas with a lot of vegetation. The leaves were ablaze with fall colors. This is just a little past the peak color here owing to some wet weather we had recently, but it was great nevertheless.

The ride went off without a hitch and I arrived at the tiny alcove cleared for parking in the game area. As expected, there were areas of slush due to the recent rain. I had to carefully negotiate the bike around and get it situated at an appropriate place: I used a piece of wood that I carry and placed it under the kickstand to prevent the motorcycle from sinking. Since the skies were still cloudy and we could have precipitation any time, I decided to activate with the radio set up in the top-box. I would be quickly able to close it to wait out any passing showers.

First CW activation of K-10077

The propagation was okay. I worked 40m, 30m and 20m and had decent contacts on all the bands! I was happy to have put this park on the map for CW operators. 

I had put in about 100 miles to get here and was going to milk it for all its worth. After Charlotte State Game Land, I headed over to Lake Interstate Game Land K-6715 and Windsor Township State Game Land K-10087 - another newish park that was added recently. By this time the risk of showers were diminished and I decided to relax a little on the activation instead of a stand-up activation by the motorcycle. Both these lands were by a little lake and provided a good view when activating. 

K-6715 Lake Interstate Game Land

K-10087 Windsor Township State Game Land

Today is the first time I had three game lands in a stretch! Usually I try to work one of them and then try to head to a State Park which have much better amenities. A major problem I noticed with today's sites were that they were right next to busy highways and made hearing the CW on the built-in speaker of the KX-3 difficult.  I was tired by the end of this sequence of activation. Despite this I was beaming all the way home... Great views and successful activation can melt your fatigue away

Is my motorcycle trying to tell me something?

 The leaves are changing colors and the temperatures are trending lower. Yes! fall is definitely in the air. It is still in the low 40s (about 4-5 deg C). I desired to squeeze a few more POTA activations on my motorcycle. 

This morning, I decided to ride to K-1518 for a quick activation. It was gloomy 46F, tolerable for me. As I set out to ride, the skies cleared up; unfortunately this caused the temperatures to drop to 41F. I reached the park with cold hands despite my heavy riding gloves. On arrival, I kept my riding gear on and they provided considerable warmth. I had to take my gloves off to get the radio set up, which caused my hands to go very cold.  As I was putting out CQs the winds picked up and my hands were starting to freeze. I was barely able to work the paddles. I quickly managed 26 contacts in about 30 minutes. Although the contacts were coming in on a good clip, I could take it no more and decided to call it quits!

It is funny how the same 40 degree weather now feels cold, but feels like heaven during spring!

On the way back after the POTA activation, I decided to pick up some washers for a leaky faucet at the home improvement store. I head back out of the store and crank my motorcycle, I hear the dreaded clicking! My battery had run down! Fortunately I had the tools to remove the plastics surrounding the battery compartment and put in a call to the roadside assistance. They come back with a 2 hour wait -- this right in the middle of a Metro area on a Saturday morning to a business location! Fortunately, I had a fellow shopper who had a jump cable and with his help I was able to get the motorcycle started. Is my bike telling me it's time to wrap up motorcycle POTA activations for the year?

I have ordered a new battery and should be on my motorcycle later this week!

Meetup at POTA

 Fellow Ham IRL. Dual Activation

Jim, W8STX runs a morning round table on weekdays on 145.150 repeater; I am a frequent participant. Recently he has taken up POTA and uses his ICOM 705 with the Xiegu XPA-125B Amp. In our round table yesterday, he mentioned he was going to activate K-1487 Belle Isle State Park. This park is a stone's throw away from downtown Detroit where I work. The plan was to work him simplex on 2m, but I forgot my HT at home. So when he texted me and let me know that he was there; I headed out there during lunch break.

It is really nice to meet someone who you've known only by voice. When I arrived there he was almost done with 11 contacts. He paused his activation and we chatted for a while. I had also carried my rig along and we examined each others' setup. I did not want a trip to a park go to waste. He graciously offered me to use his mic and rig and perform a 2 operator activation. However, I suggested that I can do a CW operation on my rig and he graciously threw the antenna over to my rig and let me go at it. This saved me a bunch of time trying to my wire antenna up the tree. His antenna was a Chameleon MPAS Lite. My KX-3 had no issues tuning and found a 1:1 match on 20m. I proceeded to put out CQs and quickly had a bunch of responses. I had 11 contacts in 13 minutes including one in NV.  In between, we traded tricks and tips. It was fun watching a fellow ham work POTA. At the end, I wrapped up quickly and headed back to work while Jim stayed on to work a few more contacts. We since notice that there were four activations of the park that day!

In all this was a nice day made even nicer by the gracious gesture of a fellow ham!

Rover Warthog

The Rover Warthog award is a POTA award for activating 5 parks in a day. In Michigan, there are quite a few parks within miles of each other. When I head out for a weekend day activation, I usually try to line up about three of them that are closely clustered for an activation. This multi-park a day activation is intended to save substantial mileage and fuel cost - despite being on my motorcycles. Usually, by the third park I am bushed and start making errors in CW copy and my hand does not cooperate well sending the code out.

But today, I was determined to conquer the Rover Warthog Award! The weather forecast was going to be unusually good for this time of the year. I chose five parks near my QTH and the mapped distance showed about a 75 mile loop to hit all the parks. The parks chosen were K-1495, K-3323, K-3324, K-3315 and K-1518 in the order. I chose these parks not only because they were close. I have activated them before and hoped that my familiarity with them would reduce the time to hunt for places and get set up. I also did not want to use 2-fers etc to make my 5 activations. I estimated about 90 mins per park with about 30 minutes of commute between them.  Since I would be riding the act of suiting up, getting the earplugs and the helmets quickly eat up minutes.  I needed the extra time to set up and tear down as well; I was going to be using my wire antennas up the tree. So that makes about 10 hours in total! I needed to get an early start. 

 I skipped my morning jog/walk to conserve energy and headed out promptly at around 8 AM (1200UTC). It was a cool 60F/15C. The ride to Dodge #4 State Park K-1495 was pleasant. I found a spot with a suitable tree and bench within a few steps of the parking spot.  Since it was cool this time, I decided not to take off my jacket or my riding pants. I had the antenna up the tree within minutes. Since 40m is good for the early part of the day, I stuck to it. Looking at the log, the first contact was at 1247 UTC. By about 1303 UTC, I had 14 contacts. The going was good, I had the activation bagged within 20 minutes. The tear-down was uneventful and after ensuring all gear was packed, I headed over to the next activation.

Pontiac Lake Recreation Area K-3323 is about 20 minutes away. The traffic was very light early Sunday Morning and pretty soon I was in the park. This park always presents problems as I have not located a picnic area with trees and tables. The previous time I was here, I had to use my tarp on the meadow. This time, I chose to use the picnic shelter as I did not see any reservations for the day. It was very close to the parking lot. The muscle memory kicked in and pretty soon I had the antenna up the tree. I got about 17 QSOs in just under 30 minutes. The minor issue with this park is it is just across from a rather busy airport. The weekend morning had quite a few takes off right over my head drowning out any contacts. I had to ask for a few repetitions to get the call signs correct. Two down. Time for a little sip of water and on to the next park. 

Google Maps told me that it was about a 20 minute ride to Proud Lake Rec Area K-3324. The ride was fun as it took me through some rural 2 lane roads. I chose to use the Huron Shelter area in the park. It is reached by about a quarter mile of dirt road. The parking lot was empty and I had the entire area to choose. I chose my usual spot under a tree that allows for an antenna up about 30 feet. This particular spot has been tricky for me as it takes a few tries to get the rope over the branch. I usually end up with mild elbow injury from repeated tries to get the throw bag over the branch! By this time, 40m pretty much seems to have dried up. So after trying for about 6 minutes I hopped on to 20m. After bagging 13 QSOs in 18 minutes, time to head on to park number four...

On to Island Lake State Recreation Area K-3315. Google Maps routed me through some dirt backroads that eventually put me on the freeway to the park. I was getting a little tired and had to exercise caution in getting my road bike over the dirt roads. The bike kept weaving on the gravelly surface, but fortunately there was no traffic and that allowed me to take it nice and easy and reach the park safely. I chose my spot overlooking the beach. It was fun to watch people having their fun -- kids playing, a mom teaching her kid to use the stand-up surfboard. The lazy rhythm of the kayakers with their colorful kayaks enhanced the visual appeal of the lake.  The setup was quick as usual. 40m was still dead and the bands were starting to dry up. I hopped between 30m and 20m and got 18 QSOs in about 40 minutes. The slower pace of the contacts also gave me enough time to eat my home cooked pasta for lunch.  Park number four...done! I was still feeling good and the next park is my favorite that I have activated many times. The end was in sight.

After a quick 20 minute ride through suburban roads, I arrived at Maybury State Park K-1518. My usual spot was empty and I even got nods of recognition from other joggers and walkers who by now seem to accept me as part of the scenery. I rarely get any more questions or looks of suspicion at this location. Just as I was getting started, a father with a young son sauntered over to me and asked me if I can reach Bad Axe (about 120 miles to my north). I told him possibly if the conditions were right. He told me his father was a ham and we exchanged callsigns. I did not think much of it and proceeded with the activation. I continued to pursue my strategy of using a mix of 20m and 30m. Just for the heck of it I called CQ on 17M and got SM2SUM from Sweden, who has worked me a couple of times before. I got my requisite contacts and was about to wrap up. I was making mistakes in copying CW and my hands were not working the paddle right. As I was about to put my QRTs, the grandfather of the young kid earlier contacted me. We had a 599 contact on 30m across 120mi. I exchanged quick pleasantries and wrapped up the successful Rover Warthog attempt.

I had estimated about 8-10 hours, but I was done in about six and a half hours. The extra padding allowed for bad conditions. This also ensures that I was not rushing between parks and make mistakes when riding under pressure of time. I was glad that the bands were cooperative and I was still reasonably fresh at the end.

Now to the important question: Will I do it again? Possibly not. I do not relish the task of constantly having to set up and tear down the radio and antennas. This in addition to gearing up and taking the gear off at every stop. The chance that I forget or leave something behind is also greatly increased.

I like the more leisurely pace and possibly will stick to the 3 park a day routine for the foreseeable future.