It had been a while since my last portable outing, so I was itching to get out today. The weather forecast, however, was calling for periods of heavy rain and gusting wind. Fortunately, I had a plan in mind to deal with the weather.
I made a quick trip up to nearby Evansburg State Park (K-1351, KFF-1351). It was rainy on the drive there, but tapered off by the time I reached the park. According to the weather radar app on my phone, another round of nasty weather was likely.
In order to use my usual truck-mounted antennas, I have to open up the tonneau cover. I had some things back there that I needed to keep dry, so I opted to set up under a large picnic pavilion. It’s no surprise that it was unoccupied. Who wants to hold a picnic on a rainy day in October, anyway?
My operating position under a pavilion at Evansburg State Park (K-1351, KFF-1351)
I pressed my Alexloop into service today, so I could keep my whole station under cover. Since my TR-35 doesn’t have an SWR indicator, I used a homebrew resistive SWR bridge. The resistive bridge is a little too sensitive on 40M and 30M, so I have to reduce the TR-35’s output power in order to see the null on the LED indicator.
My rig at Evansburg State Park (K-1351, KFF-1351). My homebrew resistive SWR bridge is the silver box to the right.
I started out on 20M, and things got off to a quick start. I logged seven contacts in the first few minutes. After that, it dried up. I picked up two more on 30M, but I was wondering if I was going to make it to 10 contacts before the next band of storms moved in.
I dropped down to 40M, and the activity picked up again. Even though it’s the least efficient band for the Alexloop, I always have good luck there. It was my most productive band today.
The rain wasn’t the big problem today; it was the wind gusts. I had to stop twice to pick up things that blew off the table. So, after just under an hour, I called it quits. I finished up with 21 contacts in the log. I had one park-to-park contact today (that I know of).
Despite the inclement weather, it wasn’t a bad day.
My daughter and her family went on a road trip to Michigan for my grandson’s hockey tournament. They needed someone to stay with their dog, Cooper, who is recovering from recent leg surgery. I volunteered to stay at their house near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, while they were gone and spend some one-on-one time with my “grand-dog.” Of course, I took some radio gear along with me.
Cooper is recovering nicely from his surgery, but he still needs to restrict his activity. He’s OK on his own for a few hours, so I planned to squeeze in a couple of short radio-related outings while out there.
Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area (K/KFF-4356)
After feeding and walking the grand-dog on Thursday morning, I headed out for a quick POTA activation. The Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area—now that’s a mouthful—is only about 25 minutes away, so I could get an activation in without leaving the dog alone for too long.
The parking area, on a hill, was vacant when I pulled in. I passed a huge high tension tower near the park entrance, but, fortunately, the power lines didn’t run anywhere near the parking lot. I set up the TR-35 in the cab and mounted my trusty homebrew vertical on the back of the truck.
Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area entrance. You can see one leg of a huge high tension tower behind it. Fortunately, the powerlines didn’t run near the parking lot.
I started out on 40M, and the band was in excellent shape. Despite being sandwiched in between some mountains, my five-watt signal was getting out fine. I was getting some very strong spots on the Reverse Beacon Network. I logged my first ten contacts in less than 15 minutes.
My parking spot at the Boyd Big Tree Preserve Conservation Area. The woods were behind me, out of the shot.
After making 20 contacts on 40M, I moved up to 20M. There, I logged another 10 contacts, including SM0NSJ in Sweden. After about 50 minutes on the air, I started packing up to make my way back to the house.
The final tally was 30 contacts, with one park-to-park, and one DX QSO. Looking at the POTA website, it looks like this was the first CW activation at this park in more than two years.
I didn’t see much of the park, but what I saw looks beautiful. I will definitely need to go back there to do some hiking on the trails.
PA State Game Land 246 (K-8941)
My original plan for Friday morning was to take a bike ride on the Northwest Lancaster County River Trail and operate from somewhere along the trail. I’ve been wanting to ride this trail since I did some portable operating from the trailhead about 4 years ago. Unfortunately, as I was putting the bike on the rack for the trip out here, I found that the rear brake was locked up. I didn’t have time to deal with it; so, sadly, I left the bike at home. Another time, I guess.
With the bike out of the question, I instead drove a few miles down the road to PA State Game Land 246 for another POTA activation. There was only one other vehicle in the parking lot, and he left about 15 minutes later.
All alone in the parking lot for Pennsylvania State Game Lands 246 in Middletown, PA
Band conditions seemed in great shape; it didn’t take long to make my first ten contacts. One of my first contacts was with fellow QRPer, W1PID, in New Hampshire. I hadn’t worked Jim in a while, so it was good to hear him calling.
I had a few stations that worked me on multiple bands. W6OUL in California heard my five-watt signal on 30 and 20 meter bands. Those were my longest contacts of the day. Meanwhile, K9VIC in Illinois reached me on all three bands used today (40M, 30M, and 20M).
I was on the air for exactly one hour, ending up with 34 QSOs with one park-to-park contact. After that, I packed up for the short drive back to the house to hang out with the grand-dog.
Backyard Bust
On Saturday, I stayed around the house and planned to do some casual operating from the backyard. It’s been a couple of years since I last operated from here, and it has always been somewhat of a challenge. It’s in a low spot, and surrounded by houses, but I thought I’d give it a go today.
I started with my trusty 19-foot vertical on my homebrew ground mount. The receiver noise was horrendous. The Reverse Beacon Network (RBN) showed I was getting out with double-digit signal-to-noise readings. I just couldn’t hear anything. I figured the vertical was just the wrong choice for this environment.
Next, I went with the Alexloop, figuring that it would be better in this noisy environment. Like the vertical, I was getting decent SNR readings on RBN, but it was receiving only slightly better. Not great, but a little better.
Although I got skunked, I got some practice using the Alexloop with the TR-35. I used a resistive SWR bridge between the TR-35 and the loop, and I figured out the output power settings that work best on each band to get the bridge’s LED to extinguish at resonance. I also got to test a little battery pack I put together with three 18650 Li-ion cells.
So, this little mis-adventure wraps up my operations from here in south-central Pennsylvania, and I’m heading back home tomorrow (Sunday). At least I got in a couple of fun POTA activations while I was here.
This weekend was a Parks on the Air (POTA) Support Your Parks weekend. There are four seasonal events with the chance for activators and hunters to earn plaques. Even though I stand little to no chance of getting a plaque, I figured this would be a good weekend to activate a couple of parks.
Marsh Creek State Park (K-1380)
On Saturday, I headed over to the western boat launch area in Marsh Creek State Park. I’ve operated from this spot twice in the past year, and it’s not usually busy. Not today, though. The parking lots were jam-packed, with a steady stream of boaters coming in. I drove around to the other side of the lake to check out the picnic area.
When I arrived mid-morning, the picnic area parking lot was fairly empty. I figured the place would get pretty busy towards lunchtime, so I found a shady parking spot and operated from the truck. I used my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts) and my usual 19-foot vertical.
I forgot to take pictures of Marsh Creek State Park (K-1380), but I did take this picture in the cab of my truck.
My first contact was with my friend and fellow ARES-RACES member, N3FLL. Frank said he was doing some POTA hunting today, so I was happy to give him a park.
After I had logged 26 CW contacts (with three park-to-park QSOs), the inside of the truck was getting pretty warm. Plus the great smells from all the surrounding barbeques reminded me it was lunchtime. By the time I left, the park was getting crowded with folks taking advantage of the summer weather, so my timing was perfect.
Valley Forge National Historical Park (K-0761)
I wanted to get a bike ride in, so Sunday morning I rode from the Pawlings Road trailhead into Valley Forge Park. It was a little over two miles to the Betzwood Picnic Area. I operated from this location once before six years ago. The elevation isn’t very good, but I gave it a shot, anyway.
I found a picnic table in a shady spot back along some trees. I had a hill right behind me, but the shade was more important today. On this trip, my rig was the TR-35 and my Alexloop.
The Schuylkill River Trail entering Valley Forge National Historical Park from the west.
One of my favorite stretches along the Schuylkill River Trail. This section is in Valley Forge National Historical Park.
Once again, I neglected to take pictures of my setup, but here’s a picture I took while packing up to head back.
Even if you don’t qualify for a plaque, activitors and hunters participating in the Support Your Parks event get a certificate.
Hunters also received certificates for working parks during the Support Your Parks Weekend. My park-to-park contacts earned me this one.
My first contact was with W3DET on 30M. This was my first QSO with Dave in a while, so it was good to hear him again. I made four more contacts before giving 20M a try. I picked up one contact on 20M, so I moved down to 40M, which is the least efficient band for the Alexloop. However, the 40M band produced four park-to-park contacts.
Since it was so hot and humid, I packed up after making the required ten contacts and headed back to the trailhead. There was nothing extraordinary today, radio-wise, but I had an enjoyable bike ride.
When I got home and logged into the POTA website, I found I had received a certificate for activating during the Support Your Parks weekend. There sure were a ton of stations on the air this weekend, so I hope all the activators and hunters had fun.
I’m still not able to drive yet, so my (far) better half offered to take me out for another POTA activation. Things got off to a slow start, so much so that I was tempted to throw in the towel. I hung in there, and eventually my patience paid off.
Like last week, I kept my gear simple and used my KX3 (5 watts) and AlexLoop. After calling CQ for a while on 40M, I finally logged a contact. Moving between 20M and 30M, I made three more contacts. Despite some decent spots on RBN, I was stuck with four contacts for what seemed like an eternity.
WB3GCK at Ridley Creek State Park (PA) (K-1414, KFF-1414)
After bouncing around the bands for a while, I ended up back on 20M. I was going to spend a few more minutes calling CQ before packing it in and accepting defeat.
The propagation must have improved, because a pile-up appeared out of nowhere. Over the next few minutes, I made seven more contacts. That was enough to qualify the activation plus one for good measure. Those contacts included 3 park-to-park contacts.
As I was packing up I saw something I hadn’t encountered in almost 30 years of portable operation. A little pot-bellied pig stopped by to say hello. His owner was trying to take him hiking on a nearby trail, but the little guy seemed to prefer socializing with the other people in the park. Eventually he responded to his owner’s call and went off trotting down the trail.
Boss the pig stopped by to say hello. Apparently, I wasn’t the only “ham” in the park today.
It wasn’t a great day for radio, but at least I made enough for a valid POTA activation. Radio notwithstanding, the weather was excellent, and I got to meet Boss the pig.
It’s been more than a month since my last QRP portable outing. I’m still recovering from my knee surgery, and my doctor hasn’t cleared me to drive yet. My (far) better half must have recognized that I was going through portable radio withdrawal, because, out of the blue, she offered to drive me somewhere to get my portable radio fix.
Naturally, I took her up on her offer. For my XYL’s sake, I wanted to keep it short, so I opted to do a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation at nearby Evansburg State Park. To keep things simple, I grabbed my KX3, a battery, and my Alexloop.
We ended up in a small picnic area. It’s still a little early for picnics, so we had the area to ourselves. While I set up the radio equipment, my XYL occupied herself with a book.
WB3GCK at Evansburg State Park (K-1351/KFF-1351)
It has been quite a while since I’ve used the Alexloop, so I was rusty at getting it tuned up. I was having some trouble finding a peak in the receiver noise. I concluded this location was just too quiet (RF-wise). Turning on the preamp during tune-up, I had no trouble finding the noise peaks. My five-watt signal seemed to get out fine with the loop.
I operated for about an hour, logging 16 contacts, including one park-to-park contact in Florida. There weren’t any exotic QSOs today, but I had a nice two-way QRP contact with N1MX near Boston. Mike was running two watts and sounded great. I also had a QSO with fellow Boschveldt QRP Club member, NK1N, over in New Jersey. It’s always a pleasure to work Glen.
After sitting for an hour, my knee was getting stiff. So, we packed up our stuff and loaded up the car. We took advantage of the great weather and went for a walk before heading home.
Many thanks to my incredible XYL for this brief field trip today. It sure felt great to be operating outdoors again.
Things are still busy around here, so I haven’t had much time for ham radio lately. I did, however, manage to squeeze in a short outing this afternoon.
I planned to head out to my daughter’s property and play around with an antenna I built a few months ago. As I was loading my equipment into my truck, I discovered my antenna had gone missing. After a brief but frantic search, I gave up. In the interest of time, I ended up taking my Alexloop antenna instead. (Note to self: The shack is seriously overdue for some straightening up.)
My set up with my Alexloop
I set up at my usual spot atop a hill and tuned up the loop on 40M. I heard KC5F doing a POTA activation in South Carolina and quickly logged a contact with him. Further down the band, I heard Stan WB2LQF in New York and gave him a call. I’ve worked Stan a few times before; like me, he is a former Navy Radioman.
While I was chatting with Stan, the wind started gusting and almost blew the Alexloop over. I finished the QSO with one hand on the key and the other hanging on to the tripod. I took a few minutes to rig up a tent stake and a bungee cord to keep the antenna steady.
I had to rig up a tent stake and bungee cord to keep my antenna from blowing over.
I moved up to 30M and called CQ near the SKCC watering hole. I immediately received an ear-splitting call from K1NIE in Ohio. Dick was using an attic dipole and was booming into Pennsylvania. I chatted with Dick for a while before changing bands.
The 20M band was full of contesters, so I gave 17M a try instead. It only took a couple of CQs to get an answer from WBØAUQ in Arkansas. By the time I finished with Bob, my fingers were starting to get stiff from the cold, and it was time to pack up.
It was great to get out, even just for an hour or so. Now, I need to find that missing antenna.
I mounted my Alexloop to a picnic table and fired up my trusty KX3. Things got off to a slow start but I eventually connected with fellow SKCCer, K9FW, on 30M. Al always puts out a great signal from Indiana. The 40M band was tied up with Ohio QSO Party stations. I worked a few of them before loading up the bike to continue my ride.
There was nothing earth-shattering, radio-wise, but it was a beautiful day to be out cruising on my bike. I’ll take those mid-70s temperatures any day.
I haven’t had much time for radio the past couple of weeks and I needed a QRP-portable fix. I decided to explore a new (to me) local park this afternoon.
The road I travel to get to my daughter’s house parallels the Schuylkill River. There’s a park on the opposite side of the river that I always see. Today, I decided to head over there to check it out.
The park I had seen from across the river is Ganshahawny Park, a small municipal park in Douglass Township, Pennsylvania. Ganshahawny is a Lenape word for “tumbling waters,” the native American name for the river that the European settlers called the “Schuylkill.”
Ganshahawny Park’s unique sign.
When I arrived, I was the only one in the park. I set up my KX3 and AlexLoop at a picnic table about 15 feet away from the river bank. There was a major highway about 100 yards away on one side and a well-traveled road just across the river. Despite all that activity, the park was extremely “RF quiet.”
My operating location along the Schuylkill River.
Tuning around on 40M, I heard a strong station ending a QSO and gave a call. Howard K4LXY/3 was operating from nearby French Creek State Park.
Next, I moved up to 20M and found WV0H in Colorado. Myron was also operating QRP-portable from a park. He was using one of his famous portable doublet antennas and had a pretty nice signal into Pennsylvania.
WB3GCK scouring the bands for a contact.
On 30M, I faintly heard Joe N2CX who was doing a POTA activation in Pennsylvania somewhere. I gave him a call but I’m not sure if I made it into his log or not. There was a strong station from the Netherlands calling CQ that covered him up.
I wrapped up on 40M with a nice two-way QRP chat with Jay KB3ERI in central Pennsylvania. I had a few more things to take care of at home, so I packed up and took a few pictures before heading out.
It was a nice afternoon to be out doing some casual operating and I found a great place for future portable operations.
Today was the first chance I’ve had during this long, holiday weekend to go out play radio. I’m a regular supporter of the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, so I like to take advantage of rail trails when I can. Today, I loaded up my bike and headed down to the Chester Valley Trail. The Chester Valley Trail cuts across Chester County and connects to a large, growing network of trails in the greater Philadelphia area.
I decided to take my AlexLoop along today. I’ve never really tried carrying the AlexLoop on my bike before. While it fits comfortably in my backpack, I don’t really like to ride with a backpack on. I’ve always found that uncomfortable, especially on hot and humid days.
My bike loaded up and ready for travel. The AlexLoop structural components are in the green bag. The coax radiator is in one of the pannier bags.
Today, I arranged the three support pieces of the loop side-by-side. I used the velcro straps on the back of the tuning box to help hold the three sections together. Then I placed the sections in an over-sized nylon stuff sack. Taking care not to bend the antenna’s feed loop, I strapped the loop components and my tripod on the rear rack of my bike. I put the coax part of the loop in one of my panniers, along with my LiFePO4 battery. I put my KX3 in the other pannier bag. This turned out to be a workable solution.
This is how I arranged the AlexLoop components prior to putting them in a protective stuff sack. The velcro straps attached to the tuning box are used to help hold the pieces together.
After loading up the bike, I rode about 2.75 miles to the Exton County Park. I found a picnic table in a remote section of the park and set up the AlexLoop and KX3. I was out in an open area, so the wind was strong at times. I used a bungee cord to secure the tripod to the seat of the picnic table.
Due to some gusting winds, I used a bungee cord to secure the tripod to the bench.
I started off calling CQ on 20 meters and quickly received a call from N5GW. Gene was on vacation in Tennessee and was putting a great signal into southeastern Pennsylvania. After chatting for a bit, I signed with Gene and moved down to 30 meters. There were no takers there, so I gave 40 meters a try. N1KK gave me a call. Ken was operating QRP-portable from his summer home in Narragansett, Rhode Island. By the time Ken and I finished our QSO, the lack of shade was starting to get to me, so I packed up the bike and got back on the trail.
My setup at Exton County Park.
I rode another mile or so further before turning around and heading back to the trailhead. I really enjoyed this trail and I’ll definitely be doing this ride again in the near future.
I was happy with the AlexLoop arrangement on the bike but I’m sure there’s room for improvement.
I’d like to wish all of my friends here in the U.S. a happy and safe Fourth of July holiday.
I made the trip to the Washington Crossing area to activation the Delaware National Scenic River (WR03). It’s a beautiful area but this wasn’t my best activation.
I had a couple of potential operating locations I wanted to check out. I first headed up to the Thompson-Neely section of the Washington Crossing State Park in Pennsylvania. There was a high bluff overlooking the river that was intriguing but didn’t seem close enough to the river. (In hindsight, I might have been over-thinking the 25-foot requirement.)
I next headed across the very narrow bridge to the New Jersey side. Intrepid NPOTA activator, N2CX told me about this section of New Jersey’s Washington Crossing State Park. I passed on the picnic area (one of a couple of bad decisions I made) and continued to explore the park. I was thinking about heading back to the Pennsylvania side but I wanted to get on the air.
Washington’s Crossing, looking from the New Jersey side. The bridge is barely wide enough for two-way traffic.
I set up in a lightly-used section of the park in a wooded area on the banks of the river. I could have tossed a wire up in a tree but I took the easy way out and went with my Alexloop. Since the Alexloop isn’t exactly a barn-burner on 40 meters, I cranked up the power on my KX3 to 10 watts (gasp!).
Operating on the banks of the Delaware River. I was sitting on a thick, foam pad; otherwise, I wouldn’t have lasted too long!
I started out on 40 meters and quickly received a call from Emily KB3VVE. Emily is an active NPOTA activator and chaser and is widely-known in NPOTA circles for her cookies.
For the next 20 minutes or so, I was pretty busy until things started slowing down. I checked 20 meters but it was wall-to-wall with contesters. So, I retreated to 30 meters. Thirty is usually a pretty good band for me but not today, for some reason. Checking the Band Conditions website, it looked like conditions had taken a bad turn. I went back to 40 meters and picked up one more contact.
This could be one of the reasons the QSOs dried up on me.
It was heavily overcast today with a steady breeze blowing down the river. After an hour or so I started to get cold and decided to pack it in for the day.
I ended the day with 13 contacts in the log — all on 40 meters. It wasn’t a great showing but I had more than enough to qualify the activation.
The heater in the truck felt pretty good on the drive home.
I made the trip to the Washington Crossing area to activation the 
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 