Activations List

My Recent POTA Activity

Casa Grande Ruins National Monument (K-0911)

Park Details

State: Arizona (AZ)

Official Website: https://www.nps.gov/cagr/index.htm 

POTA Link: https://pota.app/#/park/K-0911 

Activation Details

Date of Activation: 12-31-2022

Band: 20 Meters

Total QSOs: 19

Comments

My second activation was a little slow.  I think a big part of it was my inexperience with portable operations.  Looking back at the activation, my antenna placement was less than ideal and I didn't give it enough time.  That said, I was still able to get plenty of QSOs to qualify for the activation and I got to spend some great time with my wife!  We discovered, together, that we can go to parks and while I activate, she'll paint.  In fact, check out her painting below from the park!

Detroit Lakes Wetland Management District (K-0358)

Park Details

State: Minnesota (MN)

Official Website: https://www.fws.gov/refuge/detroit-lakes-wetland-management-district  

POTA Link: https://pota.app/#/park/K-0358 

Activation Details

Date of Activation: 2-11-2023

Band: 20 Meters

Total QSOs: 117

Comments

I finally got around to making an activation in MN.  I don't know why I didn't activate this earlier as it's less than 2 miles from my house.  It's probably a combination of being so close and being winter before I had my portable kit ready.  (I always tell myself, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good," but it looks like I'm not so good at following that advice).  It was a balmy 26 degrees (so pretty nice by February standards) but I had to toss the radial lead to get the distance.   I also decided to try out my Chameleon 17' Whip on this escapade and was very satisfied with the results on 20 Meters!

I was there for about 90 minutes and had 117 QSOs, so it was a great activation!  My kids were with and they were even pretty patient with the process.  I did stay in my car for this activation (you can see it in the photos) but that was just while we were sitting.  There were some large snow piles so we had a little fun with that too before we left!  I did make one decision on this activation... it was time to order some Ham Sticks and a mag mount to make winter activations easier.

Douglas State Trail (K-9381)

Park Details

State: Minnesota (MN)

Official Website: https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_trails/douglas/index.html 

POTA Link: https://pota.app/#/park/K-9381 

Activation Details

Date of Activation: 5-18-2023

Band: 20 Meters

Total QSOs: 48

Comments

My wife and I were attending the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators (MACHE) conference in Rochester so I decided to bring my portable equipment with (why not, right?).  While she was attending a zoom meeting in the hotel, I made my way over to the nearby trailhead and set up for an activation.  It was a beautiful night for POTA with 48 QSOs in about an hour.  I even had one confirmed QSO from Spain!

Grand Canyon National Park (K-0030) [ATTEMPT]

Park Details

State: Arizona (AZ)

Official Website: https://www.nps.gov/grca/index.htm 

POTA Link: https://pota.app/#/park/K-0030 

Activation Details

Date of Activation: 10-9-2023

Band: 20 Meters

Total QSOs: 1

Comments

This time we were on a trip with our oldest daughter and visited the north side of the Grand Canyon.  It was amazing up there and I could't believe the views!  The trip and the visit was a great time and activating was secondary to our purpose of spending time with our daughter.  That said, I tried anyway!  This was my first time using my new Xeigu X6100 and I tried to activate this park on 5 Watts using my Wolf River Coil.  I got the antenna all tuned up, but conditions weren't great and I was having a hard time hearing others (let's not even talk about transmitting QRP).  But, I did manage to make one contact and rag-chew for about 15 minutes.  Unfortunately, it was getting dark and we still had an hour drive to get to our destination, so this one goes in the books as an attempt and a future retry!!

Boyce Thompson Arboretum State Park (K-1053)

Park Details

State: Arizona (AZ)

Official Website: https://btarboretum.org/ 

POTA Link: https://pota.app/#/park/K-1053 

Activation Details

Date of Activation: 12-29-2023

Band: 20 Meters

Total QSOs: 42

Comments

You know you've got a great wife when you can take her on a date to a state park and she let's you do a POTA activation!  Of course, it helps that this one was an Arboretum (she loves plants) and she can draw/paint while I'm activating.  First, if you get a chance, get out to this park, it's worth the entrance fee and really well done!  Second, propagation on 20 Meters was WIDE OPEN when I fired up the radio.  This time I used my FT-891 with my new "open and go" configuration along with my Wolf River Coil.  I also swapped out the radials for a "magic carpet" configuration using a faraday fabric as the ground plane.  I was impressed with the ease of setup (which my wife appreaciated since it took less time) and how well everything tuned up.  I only had about 25 minutes, so it had to be quick, but I covered the continent and had manage multiple pile-ups throughout the entire activation.  I was also able to finally connect on an activation with my father-in-law, W0GZL, in ND and my friend N0ZHD back in MN!

Zion National Part (K-1061) [ATTEMPT]

Park Details

State: Utah (UT)

Official Website:

POTA Link:

Activation Details

Date of Activation: 2-21-2024

Band: 20 Meters

Total QSOs: 3

Comments

We also visit this State Park on our AZ trip this Christmas.  We took the kids with today as this park seemed to have some good hiking trails.  We got up there in the morning (thankfully, because it got really busy by the time we left!) and decided to to a 2.4 mile hike along the side of the Superstition Mountains.  Well, it was a bit more of an elevation change than we expected and then we took the wrong trail back down and ended up with a 3.5 mile hike!  But, it was a ton of fun, the kids enjoyed it, and we got to spend some great time together as a family.  After the hike, we found a picnic bench and parked it there to activate, paint, draw, and play in the dirt.  20 Meters was open, but there was a contest.  I was just about to retune the Wolf River Coil to 40 meter when I found an open frequency and did my activation.  This one was short too, only about 25 minutes, but I still had plenty of traffic and contacts back home to MN and ND!

Which park is next?