POTA Activation, K-1440 Big Foot Beach State Park
2021-10-15 My day started off at 7:30am at the dentist's office for a scheduled cleaning. Then a 2 burrito breakfast with coffee at McDonalds (to undo the cleaning). Since my dentist was Lake Geneva it was a short drive to K-1440 Big Foot Beach State Park to do a quick activation.
Set up my ic705 in the car and strung up my Km4ACK EFHW as a sloper instead of as an inverted vee, my usual way. The transformer hung from the driver's side rear view mirror by a short piece of 1/8" bungee. The far end was supported by my 20' carbon fiber pole resting in a tree, a trick I learned from a K8MRD video yesterday! It is so easy to simply lean the pole up in the branches of the tree. Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, Mike.
Tried calling activators on 40 meters but the pileups were too big. So switched to 20 meters and landed two CW and one SSB activators in just a few minutes. Then settled down on 14,267 and started calling CQ POTA. grabbed another 8 SSB. Good signal reports on all. 30 minutes total and had to quit. Thanks to all.
I worked from inside the car because it was in the 40's and sprinkling on and off. One thing I like about the 40 meter EFHW is how easy it is to change between 40 and 20 meters. Just change frequencies on the radio and go! With all my other antennas I have to change a tap or link on the antenna as well. You get do more exercise but it is more hassle!
Set up my ic705 in the car and strung up my Km4ACK EFHW as a sloper instead of as an inverted vee, my usual way. The transformer hung from the driver's side rear view mirror by a short piece of 1/8" bungee. The far end was supported by my 20' carbon fiber pole resting in a tree, a trick I learned from a K8MRD video yesterday! It is so easy to simply lean the pole up in the branches of the tree. Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, Mike.
Tried calling activators on 40 meters but the pileups were too big. So switched to 20 meters and landed two CW and one SSB activators in just a few minutes. Then settled down on 14,267 and started calling CQ POTA. grabbed another 8 SSB. Good signal reports on all. 30 minutes total and had to quit. Thanks to all.
I worked from inside the car because it was in the 40's and sprinkling on and off. One thing I like about the 40 meter EFHW is how easy it is to change between 40 and 20 meters. Just change frequencies on the radio and go! With all my other antennas I have to change a tap or link on the antenna as well. You get do more exercise but it is more hassle!
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2021-09-02 Today I went to K-1440 Big Foot Beach State Park near Lake Geneva, WI, about 15 miles from my house. After setting up I noticed a signal so strong that it "hissed CW" on nearly every band! Tuning around I discovered it was WD5GRW calling CQ POTA on 30 meters. He was pegging the S meter on my x5105, S9+60! Not surprisingly, when I responded to his call he came back with an equally strong report. My first time to contact another activator in the park I was currently activating!
After I finished my activation with 2 on 30m, 4 on 40m and 9 on 20 meters I looked around the parking lot and there sat a car with a tall pole on the hitch! So I went over and had a nice chat with Jim. He was running a Yaesu FT891 and a DIY vertical end fed about 33 ft long. He was in the midst of a multi-park rove including parks in Wisconsin, Minnesota south Dakota and Nebraska, as I recall on his way back to his home base in Texas. It was fun to meet a fellow activator and work him only 500 feet away without even knowing it! By the way that was our twelfth POTA contact, including this one our second P2P!
The setup was my xiegu x5105, 9 ft foldable vertical with my DIY tapped loading coil and a Burger King Whopper! Including Jim, I got 3 P2Ps. Total on-air time was one hour and 20 minutes. All contacts were CW.
The lesson learned? Eat more hamburgers! A little grease on your paddle makes things go more smoothly!
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2020-11-21 Back again today to K-1440! Was supposed to be cold but was actually about 40 and calm with sunshine. I wanted to use my DIY 29' end fed wire antenna this time. It is built around the QRPGuys 9:1 "random wire" transformer. Has a 29 foot piece of 26 gauge wire for the radiator and a 17 foot counterpoise made from 24 gauge speaker wire. Far end was supported with my 20 foot carbon fiber fishing pole. 25 feet of RG-174 connected it to my x5105 QRP transceiver.
To stand up the carbon fiber mast i modified my DIY drive-on stand by adding a cross piece so it would be free standing. Worked perfectly with my very light wire. Anything much heavier would need a rock on it to keep it stable. My plan was to use an antifreeze jug to tie off he driven end. But I forgot to take it with me. Had to set up in two places due to the foot traffic on this nice day. The first place I tied it to a metal "gate" that the park had put across the road indicating the camp sites were closed for the season. Worked great but I felt nervous about the people passing through near my wires. |
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After about an hour I relocated to a very isolated spot but couldn't find anything to substitute for my antifreeze jug, so I tied it off to the mirror on my car. Seemed to work well as I got quite a few contacts on 40 and 30 meters.
I worked 20, 30 and 40 meters CW with 30 meters being most productive today.
Now I'm really in a quandary. The last three activations, at this park I used three different antennas! 1) DIY 1/4 wave 20 meter vertical with loading coil for 40 and 30. 2) Wolf River Coil vertical with 213 whip and set up for 20, 30 and 40. 3) Now this 29' wire. All three worked very well with my 5 watt QRP rig! Guess I'll have to carry them all so I don't have to choose!
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2020-11-20 Back to K-1440, Big Foot Beach State Park, near Lake Geneva, WI today a little before lunch. Stopped on the way and got a Burger King hamburger then set up. This time I took my Wolf River Coils antenna with the mini coil, pre-tuned for 20, 30 and 40 meters with their 213" whip and my DIY counterpoise, four ten foot wires. Feedline was 25 feet of RG-174.
Rig was again my 5w QRP x5105. Started by hunting on 20 meters and got one right away. Then tuned to 14.032, posted a spot and started calling CQ. After about three or four calls I got three responses in succession, about a minute apart. Then it just dried up!
So relocated to 7.046 and called CQ. and got 14 calls in about 35 minutes. Then that dried up! So I relocated to 10.108 and called again. Got eight calls in 16 minutes and that dried up! So I shut down, went for a walk on a trail and headed home.
Fun day. Temps were in the 50's, hazy sun and light breeze. Got to get out and enjoy POTA activating before the snow flies, which is inevitable here in southeast Wisconsin! Once again, thanks so much for all those who gave me a call. I log on paper so don't recognize many of you as repeats but when I process the logs I see you. Thanks.
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2020-11-18 After lunch I headed down to K-1440 Big Foot Beach State Park to do an activation. Set up my QRPGuys 3-band Vertical alongside the car using my DIY drive-on support. Ran the 15 feet of RG-174 through the back door to my x5105 QRP rig.
Tuned around and got two P2P stations on 40 meters, one CW and one SSB. Than posted a spot on the POTA spotting pace and settled on 7.059. After calling CQ a couple times WT4U answered followed by a string of 11 others. Then it dried up.
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So I switched to 20 meters, reposted and called CQ. After a bit W6LEN, 1700 miles west responded. He was followed by four others. Most exciting was when NL7V, 2300 miles away in North Pole Alaska responded! One more call and things suddenly dried up again! Fun day. Overall things were a bit slower today than on Saturday. Once again I was impressed that QRP and that simple vertical antenna make a practical portable station. And of course I feel that way because the hunters responded. Thanks again!
Just a quick observation. I set the antenna support under under the right rear wheel putting it and the vertical antenna just a few feet from me. Most other times it was under the opposite side front wheel, perhaps ten feet away. Is that important? Not sure but as I was using the antenna on 40 meters I was puzzled why the SWR as reported by the radio seemed to jump around as I transmitted, particularly using SSB. Then I felt a "hot stinging" on my finger while sending CW. I was holding my DIY mini paddle down with my hand and brushed my finger across one of the screw heads that connects to the ground-side of the audio cable between the radio and paddle. When I switched to 20 meters all was well. Reflecting since, I'm thinking I had RF getting back into the rig via the coax or whatever. Something to investigate. It took 18Wh or 1.3Ah to recharge the x5105 after the hour on the air.
2020-11-05 Just got back from K-1440, Big Foot Beach State Park in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. Had 15 CW POTA contacts. Used my 5 watt Xiegu x5105 and QRPGuys 40-10 EFHW antenna setup as an inverted vee. Center support was my carbon fiber 20 ft fishing pole.
It was about 70 degrees and sunny. Way to nice to stay inside. After getting set up I spotted myself on the POTA website at 7.043. Just a few minutes later, on my second CQ got an answer and was steady for the next half hour. Total outing took about 2 hours including the 20 minute drive each way. The x5105 and EFHW antenna performed very well. I'm also once again impressed with the EFHW antenna. It is so simple to set up and does a really good job. I was also again reminded that QRP is a valid option! QRP also allows for a very small and uncomplicated gear package as the photos show. Thanks to all who contacted me
It was about 70 degrees and sunny. Way to nice to stay inside. After getting set up I spotted myself on the POTA website at 7.043. Just a few minutes later, on my second CQ got an answer and was steady for the next half hour. Total outing took about 2 hours including the 20 minute drive each way. The x5105 and EFHW antenna performed very well. I'm also once again impressed with the EFHW antenna. It is so simple to set up and does a really good job. I was also again reminded that QRP is a valid option! QRP also allows for a very small and uncomplicated gear package as the photos show. Thanks to all who contacted me
My QRP package as shown above based on the xiegu x5105 and EFHW antenna weighs five pounds. If I add my Bioenno 4.5Ah battery and cable the weight goes up to 6-1/4 lbs. That combined with the very small size of the package make it a good option over my xiegu G90 package which is about twice as much at about 13lbs. Both are great POTA rigs.
2020-09-29 Did a quick activation this morning at K-1440, Big Foot Beach State Park near Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Objective was to check out my "kit" for an upcoming hoped-for canoe trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness Area in northern Minnesota in 2 weeks. Setup was a g90, QRPGuys EFHW inverted vee.
Checked into MIDCARS on 7.258. Steve offered to spot me. Started calling on 7.243 and in about an hour had 15 in the log including one P2P! And almost all gave me 55+ reports. Think the kit works!
I shut down as the 45 degrees, clouds and wind off the lake were too much. Really fun. Thanks everyone. K0BXB (forgot to take pictures!)
Here are a couple photos of the backpack and gear I had with me for this activation. Contents: G90 & detached Control head, Two Miady 6Ah LIFEPO4 batteries, QRPGuys 40-10 EFHW and QRPGuys 3 Band Vertical antennas, CW Key and Mic, two 25ft and one 4ft lengths of RG-174 coax, two power cords, extra fuses and cables for key and headset, a 50ft length of small cord for tossing into a tree, two 15ft length of 1/8in bungee cord for supporting the antenna ends, a 20ft collapsible carbon fiber fishing pole mast with a spike for mounting it and four 4in orange cones to mark antenna ends. Pack weighs 13lbs. The spike is 1/2 of a fiberglass snow marking post. The pack is a Red Rock Outdoor Gear pack I found at a thrift store. Not shown is my paper log clipboard, pens and pencils in a gallon zip-lock bag in a sleeve on the back of the pack.
My POTA/portable kit is constantly changing but this worked well yesterday. Didn't use the second battery, headphones, key or vertical but it's good to have backups and options. Regarding the batteries, the radio does not consume much power and I've operated with just one battery for about a day of CW and SSB. This activation was entirely SSB. I did also have a DIY collar, guy lines and tent pegs in case the ground wouldn't accept my spike but I much prefer the spike.
2020-08-29 Yesterday about 10:00am I drove the 20 miles from our home to Big Foot Beach State Park, POTA K-1440, on the outskirts of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It's a beautiful park with a lot of camping opportunities and trails. Very wooded and well kept. I set up my G90 on a picnic table and my Wolf River Coils portable vertical antenna nearby, in a large mostly open area with some beautiful large trees. It was warm and breezy and in the shade, quite comfortable - except for a few mosquitoes and way too many biting flies!
Had 18 contacts on 20 CW. Seventeen of them gave me a 449 or better. One gave me 339. Logged a station from Germany and another from The Azores who found me on the WWFF facebook page. I bypassed the WRC coil and adjusted the whip to resonance. Used the three supplied 33' counterpoise wires. The coil was at the bottom. Good SWR. The rig was my Xiegu G90 at 20 watts. Very pleased with how everything performed. My CW was a bit corrupted now and then thanks to those darned biting flies! Thanks to all who called me and to W6LEN spotted me both on the POTA page as well as the KFF and WWFF facebook page's. My cell service wasn't good enough to self spot.
This activation went smoother than my first one two days ago at the Bong State Recreation Area as I was more relaxed. Had to end abruptly as it started to rain. Total on air time just an hour. Took another 10 minutes or so each to set up and break down. Too much fun! Now to get the log submitted! Oh, I'm already thinking about where my next attempt will be!