Category Archives: FT8

First Parks On The Air (POTA) Activation

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So this past week we camped at Jacques Cartier State park along the St. Lawrence River in New York State. I had recently been invigorated to get back on HF and knowing about the program I saw this as an opportunity to play radio while enjoying camping with the family. So I packed up some radio gear and decided to do an activation.

Our campsite was right along the St. Lawrence river with a nice view clear across the river. After getting setup (we camp in a travel trailer so setup is not too hard) and spending some time with the family, I get my station up and running. My station consisted of the following:

  • FT-450D transceiver
  • 12V power supply
  • Signalink USB
  • S9 31′ vertical antenna
  • LDG 9:1 UnUn
  • 25′ wire for a radial
  • 25′ RG-8x
The only photo I have of the setup. Next time I will have to take more.

For the first day I only operated FT8 and I was able get 11 contacts in the books with about 30 minutes of operating. I ran with 25-watts on 20m during this time.

Map of from qsomap.com of contacts made on Day 1.

Day two was pretty similar to day one. I worked two separate times first working SSB at 100w for about 30 minutes again, then a few hours later back to FT8 @ 25w. SSB I netted 14 total with 5 on 15m and 9 on 20m. On FT8 netted 9 contacts with 7 on 20m and 2 on 10m in about 20 minutes of operating.

Map from qsomap.com showing contacts on day 2. Red are SSB and Blue are FT8.

Overall a fun experience and will likely do this more often. Maybe it will finally get me to master morse code so I can operate CW.