Category: cw
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Outdoor Radio For The New Year
The new year means time off work and the opportunity to overindulge in amateur radio activities. With no antenna installed presently at my home QTH, all of my operating must be done in the field. For January 1st, 2024 I was able to complete two POTA activations at local parks.…
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Año Nuevo SP POTA
One of our family’s annual traditions is to venture down U.S. Highway 101 to a Christmas tree farm called Rancho Siempre Verde (RSV). The several years of dry conditions put a strain on Christmas tree production at RSV, so our annual visits have become an more opportunity for picnicking, wreath…
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Two State Beach POTAs
California’s coast features many dozens of POTA references that are easily accessed right off U.S. Highway 1. The centerpiece of today’s POTA plan was activation of Pigeon Point Lighthouse State Historic Park, additionally there are several nearby State Beaches that could make for a nice coastal rove. Driving southbound and…
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Fort Baker On The Air
Fort Baker is a former U.S. Army post situated at the north of side of the Golden Gate, opposite Fort Point and adjacent the town of Sausalito, California. The post is now part of the sprawling Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) which is also known as K-0647 for POTA.…
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Morning By The Bay
Earlier this past summer I did an East Bayshore POTA rove in which the plan was to pick up Emeryville Crescent State Marine Reserve K-3429 as the final park before heading back across the Bay Bridge to home. However, due to time constraints I was unable to attempt Emeryville Crescent.…
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Midday Portable CW Ops
With the autumn days getting shorter and shorter the amount of time available for an “after work” Parks On The Air activation is shrinking, at least if daylight operations are desired. Adapting to this seasonal change, I’ve started doing more midday operating from K-7889. It’s nice to break up the…
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SYP Autumn 2023
The weekend of October 21-22, is the autumn Support Your Parks Weekend for Parks On The Air (POTA) and I fully intended to participate. The plan was to go up on Mt. Tamalpais (K-1178) and activate from one of the picnic tables near the East peak parking lot. Early Saturday…
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Unfinished Business
Back in July of 2022 I got skunked attempting a POTA activation of the Point Reyes National Seashore netting only four QSOs from the Bear Valley picnic area. Like MacArthur, I vowed to return and finish the job of completing an activation from this national park. The plan for today…
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Watch Your Tone
In this modern era of radio technology, where even analog radio is largely digital, we amateurs are accustomed to perfect signal quality all the time. Nevermind the perfunctory 599s that are handed out during contests, for activities like Parks On The Air and Summits On The Air I believe most…
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Fox Den Activation
The rig of choice for this evening’s POTA activation attempt was the trusty Yaesu FT-818, powered from a external 6ah lithium ion battery pack. Originally, my plan was to try picking up some QSOs on the higher bands from 17 meters to 10 meters and the Yaesu is the only…
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