Except for Field Day, I’ve been mostly off the air for the past few weeks. To remedy that, I took advantage of a rare day with outstanding weather for a quick, early-morning activation at Valley Forge National Historical Park (US-0761, KFF-0761).
Since I have to be careful with sun exposure these days, I drove straight to an area I knew would have shade all morning. My original plan was to experiment with a wire antenna with my Elecraft KH1, but for reasons I won’t bore you with, that didn’t happen. Instead, I used a whip antenna on my truck and ran coax over to my camp chair and table. My handy-dandy propagation app showed unsettled geomagnetic conditions, so I went with my longer 17-foot whip and homebrew loading coil.
My operating position
Despite the poor band conditions predicted for 40M, there was no shortage of early risers hunting parks. Although there was a lot of static from impending storms, it only took five or six minutes to make my first ten contacts. After logging 20 contacts on 40M, I changed bands. I made a half-dozen contacts each on 30M and 20M.
My CWMouse paddles on my clipboard
I finished up with 32 contacts after an hour and 10 minutes on the air. Eight of those were park-to-park, including one with my friend Ken N3CU, and one on each of the three bands with Tom KG1A in Florida.
My antenna, as viewed from my shady location
I packed up and headed home to cut my grass before the rain moves in tomorrow. Except for a minute or two of sheer panic when I temporarily misplaced the keys to my truck, it was a good morning and fun to get back out in a park.
It’s hard to believe another Field Day has come and gone already. This year’s outing was a wet one, but the lousy weather didn’t dampen the spirits of the Boschveldt QRP Club members. We had another great weekend of catching up with old friends and reminiscing about past Field Days. There was some radio involved, too.
Once again, a gracious friend allowed us to set up camp on his property. It’s a beautiful field with great elevation. It easily accommodated the three stations we set up this year. Our participants this year were: WB3GCK, NK1N, K3YTR, and K2AFO. We operated 3A here in eastern Pennsylvania, using our club callsign, W3BQC.
When I arrived midday on Friday, Glen NK1N was already on site and setting up a shelter for our food station. I gave him a hand with that and set about putting up my tent.
My living and operating quarters for the weekend. The vertical portion of my 53-ft inverted L is behind the tent to the left.
Since we were expecting rain all day Saturday, I set up my antenna and radio, too. As in previous years, I used my KX3 and a 53-foot inverted L antenna fed with a 9:1 unun. I also used my little Evolve netbook for logging, rig control, and CW keying. This was the third Field Day for this cheap little laptop, and it handled the workload with no issues.
My Field Day station
NK1N camped out in his jeep and operated from a shelter attached to his jeep. Glen was running a KX2 to an 85-foot inverted L. He fed the antenna through a 4:1 unun with four radials. This antenna always works great for him.
NK1N’s station
When Ed K3YTR arrived, Glen and I helped put his G5RV Jr. up in the trees. Ed brought a couple of radios and planned to operate SSB this year. Unfortunately, a variety of equipment issues interfered with that plan. After everything was set up, we headed out to a local restaurant for dinner.
Sadly, the weatherman’s forecast for Saturday was dead-on. As predicted, it started raining and continued on and off for the rest of the day. Although it was mostly light showers, it was just enough rain to be annoying.
Glen set up a Wi-Fi hotspot in the food shelter so we could network our logging computers. We gave that a test, and I helped K3YTR get his computer configured for the network. To make sure my station was ready to go, I worked a couple of POTA activators.
Our kitchen area with our “bathroom” in the background
Andrew K2AFO arrived to spend the day with us. With some time to kill before Field Day kicked off, a few of us headed out for lunch.
Once Field Day started, I ran CW on 40M, while Glen ran CW on 20M and 80M after dark. Andrew brought his Xiegu G90 and used Glen’s antenna to run SSB for the first few hours. Sadly, K3YTR could never get his station up and running. Glen and I both had a few contacts on 15M and 10M.
Andrew K2AFO operating phone with NK1N observing
Early on, the band conditions weren’t great, with a lot of fading on the bands. The good thing about Field Day, however, there is always a station out there somewhere that will hear you. Thankfully, conditions improved later in the day.
Glen had good success on 20M and then a great run on 80M late in the evening. He also copied the ARRL Field Day bulletin and fired off our Section Manager message using Winlink on HF.
Glen NK1N operating
Given the rainy weather, we weren’t able to have a campfire this year. One of our Field Day traditions is roasting marshmallow PEEPS® over the fire. I like to call them crème brûlée on a stick. That’ll have to wait until next year, I guess.
Glen was up early and had a good run on 80M. After coffee and donuts, we got back on the air for a few more hours.
Since Glen had a two-hour drive back to New Jersey, we started tearing down around 0900 (local). Although it had stopped raining, my tent was still wet. I just rolled it up and stashed it in the back of the truck to deal with back home.
Unfortunately, K3YTR’s issues weren’t over yet. His car wouldn’t start, so I had to give him a jump-start. After that, we all headed out and arrived at our homes safely.
Giving K3YTR a successful jump-start
We ended up with 223 QSOs this year, with the vast majority of those on CW. It was far from our best showing. Given the highly informal nature of our Field Day operations, it wasn’t too bad by our standards.
It’s unclear if we’ll be able to use this site again next year, so we might have to find another location. Wherever we end up, I hope the weather is better than this year.
I’m in the process of getting my gear together for Field Day this coming weekend. Good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be spending the weekend camping with the Boschveldt QRP Club.
We’ll be running QRP (of course) on battery power here in Eastern Pennsylvania (EPA), using our club callsign, W3BQC. I’ll be one of the CW operators.
The weather forecast doesn’t look too promising, but we always have a good time.
Feeling overdue for a little QRP-portable activity, I made an early morning run up to Evansburg State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351). As I was gathering up my stuff, I saw my old YouKits HB-1B sitting on the shelf looking forlorn. It had been quite a while since I last used it, so I grabbed it and threw it in the truck with the rest of my gear.
It was a cloudy morning, and I felt a couple of raindrops when I arrived. So, I installed my base-loaded 12-foot whip on the back of the truck and set up the HB-1B and Elecraft T1 tuner in the cab.
My old YouKits HB-1B rig
The HB-1B has one CW message memory, but it’s a fixed format. You can add your callsign, but you can’t edit the format of the CQ message. Normally, I bring an external keyer to automate my CQ sending, but I forgot to pack one as I ran out the door. So, I would have to send my CQs manually.
Fortunately, it only took about two CQs on 40M before the hunters started calling. The calls rolled in steadily for the first 15 minutes, before the activity started thinning out.
I jumped up to 20M, but about 15 or 20 minutes of CQing only produced two contacts. I dropped down to 30M, where I picked up one more before calling it quits. After an hour, the HB-1B netted 18 contacts, six of which were park-to-park.
I have had the little HB-1B for about 13 years or so, and it’s still hanging in there. For the first three or four years, it was my primary portable rig. The sidetone has some annoying clicks, so it isn’t always the most pleasant rig to use. Still, I’ve had a lot of fun with it over the years.
I need to rotate through my older rigs more often to make sure they get their fair share of time in the field.
Yeah, I know. That title sounds bad. What I’m talking about is finally making one thousand contacts at French Creek State Park (US-1351, KFF-1351). I’ve activated this park a bunch of times over the years, but I have yet to get that POTA Kilo Award. I was bound and determined to wrap it up this morning.
I started off this morning 36 contacts shy of the one thousand mark. Since we’re gearing up for a bit of a heatwave here in southeastern Pennsylvania, I headed out early to beat the heat. I was hoping for good band conditions and lots of early-rising hunters.
Hopewell Lake in French Creek State Park
My setup today was my usual Penntek TR-35 (5W, CW) and my 12-foot base-loaded whip. I normally use my Elecraft T1 tuner to touch up the SWR on the lower bands. This morning, though, the T1 refused to find a match. It took me a few seconds to realize that I forgot to set the tap on the coil. So the antenna had a bit more inductance than it needed. Doh! Once I corrected that faux pas, all was right with the world.
Given the early hour, I started out on 40M. It didn’t take long for the hunters to show up. After 12 minutes, I had my first 10 contacts logged. Although not at a breakneck pace, I had a steady stream of callers. When I hit 20 contacts, I was feeling like I had a shot at getting the 36 I needed.
The activity eventually dried up on 40M, so I moved up to 30M. After an hour on the air, I had 33 contacts logged. And then it slowed way down. After an hour and 15 minutes, I finally had the 36 contacts I was looking for. Thanks to W8AJF in Ohio for being number one thousand from this park.
My long-overdue Kilo Award at French Creek State Park
I made a couple more on 30M before dropping back down to 40M for a few minutes before shutting down. After 90 minutes on the air, I had 43 contacts—seven more than I needed. The temperature was warming up, so I packed up and headed off to run a few errands.
I don’t normally get too wound up about POTA or WWFF awards, but I do love a challenge now and then. Thanks to all the hunters who came out to play this morning.
I tend to avoid activating my local parks on weekends. In this area, parks can get pretty busy in the summer, especially when the weather is nice. Being an old, retired guy, I have the luxury of doing my portable operations during the week. Sometimes, though, when the opportunity presents itself on a weekend, you just have to go for it.
I was overdue for a visit to Norristown Farm Park (US-4363, KFF-4363). Being a Saturday with reasonably nice weather, I expected the park to attract a fair number of visitors. To avoid the crowds, I headed out early.
When I rolled into the parking lot at 0800 (local), it was about half full and filling up quickly. It looked like some sort of organized event was forming up. I only planned to operate for an hour hoping to finish up before their event got started.
I set up my usual 12-foot loaded whip and TR-35 and got started on 40M. Electrical noise can sometimes be an issue at this location, and that was the case today. Fortunately, the bands were in reasonable shape, so I could copy all but the weakest stations. (My apologies to anyone I missed.)
WB3GCK at Norristown Farm State Park
Noise notwithstanding, I made my first 10 contacts with no problems. When things slowed down on 40M, I switched to 20M. Up on 20M it was wall-to-wall with contesters, so I stuck to the less-crowded WARC bands. The 30M band was fairly productive, but I only had three contacts on 17M. One of those contacts, however, was with IK4HLO in Italy. After just under an hour on the air, I had 29 contacts in the log with three (known) park-to-park contacts and the one DX QSO.
Apparently, the organized event was a walk/run event benefiting a charity. As I was taking down my antenna, a group of participants left the parking lot and took off down the multi-use trail. Driving out of the park, I noticed that the other parking areas were nearly full. So, my early start turned out to be an excellent strategy.
The weather has really put a damper on this holiday weekend. Today was no exception. Nevertheless, I had a successful early-morning activation at French Creek State Park (US-1355, KFF-1355).
I got off to an early start and headed up to the Hopewell Lake boat launch area in the park. The picnic area was devoid of picnickers, as one would expect early in the morning with periods of drizzle. So, I hunkered down in the truck with my usual Penntek TR-35 (5W, CW) and 12-foot loaded whip setup.
My location overlooking an empty picnic area
I also brought along a new 20Ah LiFePO4 battery I just bought. That battery was serious overkill for the little TR-35. It probably could have powered that rig for a week, but I wanted to give it a little test. I plan to use it for Field Day next month.
The gray box on the floor houses my 20Ah LiFePO4 battery. My activation barely put a dent in its capacity.
The hunters were also up early and raring to go. I had a steady stream of calls on 40M for about 40 minutes. When things slowed down, I spent the rest of my time on 20M. The 20M band did pretty well for that early hour. I didn’t work any DX today, but once again W6LEN made it into my log from California. Jess has great ears!
Hopewell Lake on a dreary morning
After about an hour and 20 minutes, the rain picked up a bit, so I started packing up. I ended up with 52 contacts, including a handful of park-to-park contacts. This was a vast improvement over my last visit to French Creek.
On this Memorial Day, please take a little time to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
We’re in the middle of our first heatwave of the year here in southeastern Pennsylvania. This isn’t my favorite kind of weather, but I wanted to get in a POTA/WWFF activation today. To avoid the forecasted heat, I made an early-morning trip to Valley Forge National Historical Park (US-0761, KFF-0761), hoping for some early-rising hunters.
When I got to the park, I headed to a picnic area where I knew there would be several hours of shade. I parked my truck in the shade and set up a chair and table nearby under some large trees.
My shady operating spot
I took a quick look at the band conditions before I left the house. The geomagnetic field was active, and the band conditions were predicted to be “fair” at best. I figured the higher bands would be tough today, so I planned to focus on 40M, 30M, and 20M. So, antenna-wise, I went with a 17-foot whip and my homebrew loading coil on the back of my truck. I ran some coax over to my table, where I had set up my Penntek TR-35 (5 watts, CW).
My truck-mounted 17-foot whip
I started out on 40M around 0800 local time. As soon as I turned on the rig, I heard some ear-shattering signals. That was certainly a good sign. There were plenty of early morning hunters out there, so it only took about 6 minutes to make my first 10 contacts. The hunters kept me busy on 40M for about 40 minutes until the activity slowed down.
I spent the rest of my time on 30M and 20M. The activity there, although not as brisk as on 40M, produced a fair number of contacts. After about an hour and 40 minutes, I had 53 contacts in my log.
One of my contacts was with a fellow Straight Key Century Club (SKCC) member. Fortunately, I had a straight key hooked up and ready to go to complete the standard SKCC exchange.
Some highlights:
Working Jess W6LEN out in California on both 30M and 20M
A park-to-park contact with Jim N4JAW, aka Ham on a Bike
Working on-the-air friends I hadn’t heard in a while: AB4PP, W1PID, and KK4Z
As I was operating, two park vehicles came by and parked a couple of spaces away from my truck. At first, I thought it was a National Park SWAT team coming to check on my suspicious activity. Instead, two rangers and a maintence worker donned backpacks and headed down one of the trails. Apparently, there are more important things in the park than some old ham radio operator.
Despite the hot weather and mediocre propagation forecasts, today’s activation was a lot of fun. Except for a few pesky ants, my shady spot under the trees was magnificent.
Yesterday was the perfect day to be out operating in a park, so I headed over to Valley Forge National Historical Park (US-0761, KFF-0761). I wanted to keep things simple, so I used my Elecraft KH1 and its whip antenna. While this setup has worked surprisingly well for me in the past, yesterday was not one of those times.
When I arrived at the park, I headed to a picnic table in the shade of some large trees. (Given my history with skin cancer, the sun is not my friend these days.) This was a spot I have used before with the KH1, so I was hoping for similar success.
Operating from Valley Forge National Historical Park (US-0761, KFF-0761)
I started out on 40M, using the AXE1 extender coil and a 33-foot counterpoise wire. I also used a Tufteln right-angle adapter with the whip. After quickly logging two contacts, things slowed way down. I spent 20 minutes of fruitless CQing, wondering if I should move on to another setup. Instead of bailing on my KH1 setup, I stubbornly pressed on.
Elecraft KH1 and Ashi Paddles
Well, after 30 minutes more of trying various bands on the KH1, I had a paltry four QSOs in the log. It felt like I was beating my head against a wall, so I packed up the KH1 and headed back to my truck. I used my 12-foot base-loaded whip and TR-35 from the truck. I allotted myself 45 more minutes. If I couldn’t reach 10 contacts by then, I would just slink home wallowing in disappointment.
Fortunately, my trusty TR-35 and 12-foot whip saved the day. After 30 minutes, I logged another nine contacts on 40M and 20M. It was getting close to lunchtime and my short attention span was kicking in, so I packed up and headed home.
Yesterday just wasn’t a good day for a 45-inch antenna. Looking back, I should have switched setups sooner and saved myself some frustration. In the words of Don Schlitz, the famous songwriter who passed away recently: “You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em.”
This was supposed to be a post about how I made a bazillion POTA/WWFF contacts in an hour. Yeah, well, that didn’t happen. However, I had some interesting visitors stop during my (attempted) activation.
I made a trip over to French Creek State Park (US-1355, KFF-1355) for a short activation and a little antenna experimentation. To make sure I wouldn’t be in anyone’s way, I set up at a picnic table well away from the parking lot.
My KH1 and CWMouse paddles
My antenna today was a vertical wire just under 18 feet fed through a homebrew 9:1 unun with a counterpoise wire just under 9 feet. I ran 20 feet of RG-316 coax over to my Elecraft KH1 on the picnic table. I had used this antenna configuration with my Penntek TR-35 and T1 ATU a few times in the past. While it worked well with that rig, I wanted to see how it would work with the KH1’s ATU.
My antenna with Hopewell Lake in the background.
My first visitors showed up just as I was getting started. It was about six Canada geese who wandered over about 20 feet from my antenna. One of them had a bad attitude and hissed at me when I went over to check the antenna. I calmly told him to buzz off; I was here first. They wisely moved on, de-escalating the situation. I’m pleased to report that no humans or geese were harmed during this brief but intense standoff.
Radio-wise, I wasn’t having much luck. QSOs were few and far between. On paper, the band conditions didn’t look too bad, so I’m not sure what my issue was.
My third contact was an ear-shattering call from my friend N3CU. Ken was also in the park somewhere, so that accounted for his loud signal. I told him where I was, and he came over to visit. I last ran into Ken in French Creek back in January, so it was great catching up with him. Eventually, Ken headed off to continue his activation.
Ken N3CU (left) and me at French Creek State Park (Selfie courtesy of N3CU)
After I got back on the air, I heard a noise in the woods behind me. It was a hiker coming off a trail. He was curious about my antenna, so I gave him my Amateur Radio and Parks on the Air “elevator speech.” After a brief chat, he headed off toward the lake.
After I had six 20M contacts in my log, I moved down to 30M. Just then, another fellow came up to see what I was doing. I was wearing my Navy ball cap, so that prompted five or ten minutes’ worth of “sea stories.”
While we were swapping tall tales, I had the KH1 calling CQ with one of my earbuds in my ear. I heard N3CU calling, so I told my visitor I needed to answer a call. He wished me good luck and headed off towards the parking lot. I needed to get back home, so I shut down and packed up after finishing up with Ken.
So, after an hour and a half, I only had seven contacts in my log. This was my first busted activation in quite some time, but I don’t consider it a failure. I was out in a beautiful park with excellent weather, and I got to catch up with a friend and chat with some other random visitors.
I’m sure I’ll have better luck on the radio next time.
WB3GCK QRP Amateur Radio 