As I write this report, I’m on the highway with my household–we’ve been spending the week on the coast of North Carolina and at the moment are (at time of publishing) in Raleigh. I’ll preserve this discipline report brief and candy so I can publish it shortly and in addition slot in an activation earlier than file temps warmth up the area!
On the morning of July 4th, 2024, Jonathan (KM4CFT) and I organized to fulfill and activate on the Blue Ridge Parkway (US-3378).
Jonathan was on the town visiting household over the vacation weekend, and I had a short window of time that morning to hitch him. My schedule had been packed since Discipline Day, making this my first probability for a POTA activation for a few weeks.
We knew it might be an fascinating activation proper from the beginning: we each arrived on the People Artwork Heart on the identical time and had been greeted by a big black bear strolling down the highway in entrance of the doorway! A bear strolling away out of your POTA spot is all the time a very good factor.
After a fast catch-up, I grabbed my arborist throw line and deployed the 30/40 meter linked end-fed half-wave antenna I’d constructed utilizing the KM4CFT antenna equipment.
It will have been impolite to make use of one other antenna with KM4CFT standing proper there! (Word to N5FY: Sure, I do know I’ve been impolite to you on many earlier activations, haha!)
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Jonathan took to the air first. Since neither of us had introduced our activation, I opened POTA.app to identify him. Besides, I didn’t. In a second of confusion, I by chance noticed myself!
It turns on the market’s no simple approach to delete your personal spot when you’ve executed that. (If there’s, I’d like to know, although I hope to by no means make that mistake once more!)
What adopted was somewhat comical. Jonathan seen folks thought he was me, though he used his personal callsign in every alternate. I assume it’s simple to mishear a callsign while you assume you already understand it!
I saved recognizing myself “QRT,” however many sort operators saved re-spotting me. I even moved to 14,000 kHz (an out-of-band frequency I’d by no means use) and noticed myself QRT. Folks had been nonetheless re-spotting me on Jonathan’s frequency!
It was humorous, and the early morning hour on a vacation most likely contributed to the confusion.
After Jonathan logged his ten contacts, he handed the radio over to me. I swapped out paddles (his TP-III setup mounted to the FT-818 wasn’t comfy for me).
I began calling CQ POTA de K4SWL, noticed myself (appropriately this time!), and the actual activation started.
In the long run, I labored 25 stations in 26 minutes. Because of all of the hunters!
Then it was time to name QRT and proceed our day. It was nice seeing Jonathan and becoming in a bit POTA earlier than the day actually began!
Right here’s what this five-watt activation seemed like when plotted out on a QSO Map:
Right here’s my real-time, real-life video of all the activation. As with all of my movies, I don’t edit out any components of the on-air activation time. As well as, I’ve monetization turned off on YouTube, though that doesn’t cease them from inserting advertisements earlier than and after my movies.
Word that Patreon supporters can watch and even obtain this video 100% ad-free by Vimeo on my Patreon web page:
Click on right here to view on YouTube.
Thanks for becoming a member of me throughout this activation! (And thanks, Jonathan, for becoming a member of me!)
I hope you loved the sphere report and my activation video as a lot as I loved creating them!
After all, I’d additionally wish to ship a particular due to these of you who’ve been supporting the location and channel by Patreon, and the Espresso Fund. Whereas not a requirement, as my content material will all the time be free, I actually admire the assist.
As I discussed earlier than, the Patreon platform related to Vimeo makes it attainable for me to share movies that aren’t solely 100% ad-free but in addition downloadable for offline viewing. The Vimeo account additionally serves as a 3rd backup for my video information.
Thanks for spending a part of your day with me! Have a superb week forward and be sort to at least one one other on the market!
Cheers & 72,
Thomas (K4SWL)
