Peculiarities of motorcycle based activation of a Game Area

 I started POTA activations earlier this year and have been mostly activating State Parks or State Recreation Areas. My QTH (in Michigan) is blessed with several of them within an hour's commute. This is just in the south eastern part of the state. I have several others to explore outside of this region which should keep me engaged for some time to come :-)

During summer time, I ride my motorcycle to the park for POTA activations. Motorcycle activations provide a level of difficulty somewhere in between that of a car-based activation and a POTA/SOTA backpacking trip. I am not as constrained by weight or volume as the backpacking activators. All the gear must fit in the motorcycle and hopefully the weather cooperates.

I ride a touring motorcycle with ample capacity for my KX-3, my current preferred POTA rig. My antenna is a random-wire antenna made of speaker wire with an appropriate counterpoise. I use a 75ft paracord and a arborist throw bag to get the antennas up on trees. All of the radio gear fits in an Apache 2800 all weather case with the exception of the 20ft fiberglass mast that I bungee cord to my rear seat. I have never needed to use the fiberglass pole to date. In addition to the radio gear I carry a bag of lunch and a few water bottles (one with Gatorade) to keep me going for the few hours it may take for an activation. In one of my posts I will lay out the gear I take out during my motorcycle based activations in detail!

I initially preferred state parks because of their amenities. I know I can find a picnic table under the shade close to a parking area. I ride with full protective gear and do not envision hiking deep into the woods in my riding boots to get to an activation. 

I was soon running out of state parks near me and found it boring to go the same park again and again! I started looking into State Game Areas and Game Preserves. Now these are less fancy with their amenities. The state Game Areas are usually a wooded area accessible by dirt road with a small clearance on the side for hunters to park their vehicles. 

My first activation of a game area was Petersburg State Game Land (K-6755). I did this on my car on my way down to home on a road-trip. At that time my rig was an Alinco DX-70. It gave me a feel for what to expect in such areas.

Car based Activation of Petersen State Game Land

Today, I decided to make my first motorcycle based Game Area activation at Holly Wildlife State Recreation Area (K-6705). My plan was there to get there early when I am the freshest, complete my activation and then head on to the nearby park with better facilities. But as they say in Michigan, there are two seasons: Construction and Winter. I hit a construction snag (Google Maps did not warn me) and got stuck in a stop and go traffic for the final 6 miles into the park. This set me back by almost an hour and the sun was getting higher in the sky! The sun has two effects: one on propagation which dips around midday for the bands I work on and the other on the riding comfort.

After navigating the final mile of dirt road, I finally pull into the (so-called) parking lot. As mentioned earlier it is just a small clearing on the side of the road. After picking a careful spot to set my motorcycle on my side stand (lest it sink into the ground) while at the same time being away from a tree so that I can string up my random wire without sags; the activation began. First comes the taking off the helmet, the ear-plugs the riding gloves etc. and exchange them with the radio box in the top-case. But before that a swill of water to sate my thirst as I was already sweating from moving the motorcycle around by duck-walking it. After the gear was safely stashed, time to get on with the radio!

I unwrapped the paracord and attached it to the throw-bag. After selecting a suitable branch, I heaved the throw bag. Success! Hit my intended branch the first time. As the throw bag came down on the other side, it was a little into the bushes. I had to walk through the bushes to retrieve it so that I can pull my antenna tied to the other end of the rope. 

This foray into the bushes was a trigger for the bugs to know there is fresh food supply in their midst! As they began swarming me and demanding their share of my blood, I rush to my motorcycle and retrieve the bug spray and thwart their attempts.

Having temporarily halted the arthropod armada, I proceeded to hook my radio up to the power supply, antennas, CW keyer etc. There are no tables and I was not about to set the radio on the dirt floor. All of this was carefully arranged on the rear seat of my motorcycle

On Motorcycle Activation at Holly State Wildlife Area

I did not intend to linger long here as it was a little difficult to bend down and operate the keyer and write down the logs. Fortunately, I got the requisite number of contacts within the hour and and I then high-tailed it to Holly State Recreation Area. I was hoping to find a nice picnic table under a tree, but as luck would have it, there was a wedding party at a nearby shelter and all the picnic tables were occupied. Luckily, I also either carry a tarp or a picnic mat with me! So it is almost the same ritual again, except I do not have to position my motorcycle. All I had to do was to find a place for the mat where I could string up an antenna to a nearby tree!

No picnic table at Holly State Rec Area

By the time I got started, the prop had dipped. I thought I could use FT8 contacts, but I took a newer laptop and never updated the required USB drivers (Lesson learnt!). The data service at my location was spotty. So I was stuck with CW and it took me a while ( about 2 hours)  to get it done. Finally time to head home after two good activations. My first motorcycle based activation in a State Game Area is a success!

A lesson in site selection - The many forms of QRM

POTA activators and indeed all ham operators have to contend with QRM, some malicious and most benign. However, not all QRM is on the airwaves. Today, I activated Milliken State Harbor K-6823. Now, this is a POTA entity in the city of Detroit and on the riverfront. I have always observed the riverfront from near and afar and mostly enjoyed the huge Ore freighters traversing the Detroit River.  I picked what I thought was a quiet spot away from the picnic shelters with a view of the river. I settled in for an enjoyable POTA activation

Shady spot under the tree at Milliken State Harbor

Today, however, summer was in full swing. The park was crowded. Kids were squealing and generally having a good time! About 15 minutes into the activation, loud music emanated from a picnic area about 50 yards away drowning out my puny speaker on my KX-3. Time to pull the headphones out and keep the noise at bay! But that was not all. There were speedboats and jet-skis that started to ply on the river and raised such a racket that I could not hear anything even with the headphones. What started as an idyllic setting transformed completely within the space of minutes. I had to carefully time my CQs and ask for calls multiple times. I worked both CW and SSB that day and some of the hunters got a little testy while some of them dropped off when I asked for the calls multiple times! I hope hunters sometimes get to see the less than ideal conditions the activators may be under.

Well QRM also takes other forms. Curious people who want to know what you're doing is another source. I usually am very friendly and pause the activation to give them a quick overview. However, some of them want to linger around and strike an extended conversation, I have to politely inform them that I am in the midst of an activation and would be glad to talk to them at length at the end of the activation.

I have also have had kids who wanted to either untie or uproot my antenna anchors!  All of this in addition to the QRM on the air. 

Hang tight fellow activators!

Failure of the first motorcycle Activation and sweet revenge!

May 26, 2023

If you have been following my ramblings, my desire was to combine my passion for riding and amateur radio into an enjoyable activity. POTA activations are perfect as they give you the motivation to get out there!

After slowly establishing confidence activating a few parks with the four-wheeler, I now had a compact POTA activation package that fit in a shoe box (See my first blog post for more on this). With this confidence I set out to Dodge #4 state park today. I put the shoebox into my top case and off I went for the 25 min ride to the park. 

I arrived at the park a little after 2130 UTC  (1730 local) and by the time I found a suitable spot, put the antenna up and got set up for my transmissions, it was close to 2200 UTC. 

At this point in time I was still using my Alinco DX-70 with a straight key for my CW activations. I had no memory keyer. So all my CQ calls were keyed by me. After some initial CQ calls I got a few stations that were giving me decent reports, but the pace of responses were not normal. I had about 3 contacts in about half an hour. I tuned around the band and sure could hear quite a few activators getting good responses. Since I was running about 5W I thought I could persist and get the activation wrapped up before 0000 UTC.

Failed activation. Farewell to Alinco DX-70 although not its fault!

 How wrong I was! Over the remainder of the time I just managed 4 more contacts. I had come up short! Only 7 contacts that day. I was a little disappointed and as I was wrapping up, I noticed that the antenna wire near the balun had frayed! While it was sufficient for reception, it was not good for TX. Since I was low power, I did not see much SWR change. Lesson learned! Recheck antennas (and the gear) prior to each activation (even before you set out). Also carry a spare if possible!

With the cause identified, I returned home. I re-did the crimps and solders and was ready for the next day!

I had also just acquired my KX-3 that I was intending to use in POTA. I was waiting to get familiar with it, but I did not want to risk another failure. So I decided to take the KX-3 as well the next day. The fact that this rig had a built-in tuner that meant I can use the full power if needed was reassuring. If you recall, I used my Alinco at reduced power due to antenna mismatch and the lack of a compact tuner! In addition the KX-3 had a CW memory that is very handy for putting out repeated POTA CQs. 

May 27, 2023

The next day.... I went to the same park and made 67 contacts using the KX-3. The KX-3 was a big difference from the Alinco in its user friendly layout.  Just to make sure that the park learns its lesson, I went back the subsequent day as well and made about 30 contacts!

Dodge#4 State Park capitulates

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger....

My first POTA activation - And onto POTA with a shoebox!

 I finally decided to take the plunge into POTA activation! I am fortunate to have several POTA entities within a short driving distance and I picked the one closest to my QTH... Maybury State Park K-1518. In addition to being close, this is a park in an urban area with all amenities including power outlets in shelters if one needs it.

But before that....

I wanted to see what a POTA activation would entail and did not want many surprises. So I practiced operating my Alinco DX-70 which I was intending to use for POTA in my backyard. The antenna that I was planning to use at the time is an EuroCom Vertical. I opened the DX-70 and flipped the internal switch to restrict it to a max of 50W to keep my battery rundown low. Since I was planning on operating CW (the mic for Alinco was nearly inoperable then), I believed that this will extend my run time if needed. I noticed that I got about 2-4 hours with the rig at 5w (low power setting) with a few interspersed moments at 50W. The antenna was a good match for 20m and I could run at full power, but for 40m I was restricted to 5W. Although I had a manual antenna tuner, it was bulky and did not want to carry it along.

From my backyard operations, I knew all the things I needed including a flat-head screwdriver for the hose clamps that held the vertical antennas sections extended. I added a few scraps of paper and pencil for logging and packed everything into an old laptop bag and I was all set!

The Activation....

So, on the morning of March, 26 2023, I headed over to Maybury State Park. When I reached the park  it was a brisk 45-50F (7-9C). But at least it was sunny and not very windy.

The picnic tables were right next to the parking lot. So it was a simple matter of setting up the antenna (after checking for power lines). I had jerry rigged a cheap photo light stand as the tripod to hold the antenna by bungee cording them together. I did not use any radials.

Rudimentary first POTA activation at K-1518

My CW skills were not the greatest and took me a few tries to get the calls right as shown by the erasures in the entries below. After my first successful activation, I was ready for more.

My activation log for the first POTA. Thank you if you're on the list

As I activated additional parks, I found the vertical a little cumbersome to set up. I wanted to reduce the time to set up. I found that getting a wire up the tree was probably the fastest way to go if you have trees around. And Michigan parks have no shortage of trees and our rangers do not bother us much as long as we are careful in not destroying trees by getting wires on them. So, I traded my laptop/shoulder bag and the vertical antenna for a shoebox with all the gear to spring up a wire antenna. Since, I was planning on using the motorcycle for activations and wanted a compact package and this fitted the bill perfectly.

POTA Kit in a shoebox. Literally! Alinco DX-70 with 10-80 EFHW wire antenna

I am glad to say that after a good period of service, I accepted the retirement request from the shoebox and now use an Apache 2800 (from Harbor Freight in the US) hardcase instead. I have also since started using the KX-3.  Here's what the current package looks like

Harbor Freight Apache 2800 case holding the current POTA gear including the KX-3 and 10Ah LiFePO4. The bag contains the antenna, counterpoise, paracord, headphones, battery cables etc.