Home at Last to POTA / SOTA Paradise
Not everyone has a two-fer trail formed by the state highway at the end of their driveway. Moreover, there’s another POTA site a five-eighths-of-a-mile behind my house along a gravel road (which I’ve yet to activate) plus the Ouachita National Forest (US-4424) which I can see from my front porch. Mt. Magazine (W5A-MA-001 / US-1104) is visible from work, a twenty five minute drive which passes by or through no less than three POTA entities (US-7306, US-7445, US-4424) along a highway which is, you guessed it, a POTA entity (US-8322).
Plus, the plethora of Corps of Engineers and Wildlife Management Areas within a thirty minute drive is astounding. If I really sat down, dug into park boundary layers on ArcGIS maps, then counted, I might have thirty or more POTA and SOTA entities within an hour drive. It’s true; I’m spoiled for choice. Having lived so far away from home for so long, I’m doing my best to enjoy what I have.
I’d rather not make contacts from the right-of-way of a state highway though, so I make the arduous half-mile trek to Geneva Park in my village of Subiaco, Arkansas. Even better, it’s a half-mile from work and a quarter-mile from my parents’ house. From where my picnic table of choice sits to the two-fer highway trail, I bet it’s right at 100 feet. Truly, it’s a Goldilocks spot.
Practice makes Perfect
It truly does. So many things about this outing were flawless. I’ve got my setup dialed in so well. From arriving at the picnic table to being on the air took me a leisurely fifteen minutes.
I credit this ease with the antenna I’ve been using. My feed point is homebrewed. It’s BNC on one end, then a mix 43, 10-turn bifilar choke balun, shortly followed by two inline Wago connectors. My 20-30-40m linked dipole clips on to the Wagos. In truth, I built a feed point upon which I could mess around with different resonant lengths and qualities of wire without every antenna experiment turning into a soldering project.
The wires themselves are nothing special either, just 22 AWG wire. The dipole links are made from inline Wagos as well, with the link break formed by a 6 inch length of thin nylon rope.
The throw line setup is almost perfect as well. It’s comprised of a length of Samson Lash-It on an Atwood mini winder coupled with a heavy 4oz lead fishing weight. I know that this is far from ideal as it is a potentially injuring projectile. It was a quick hardware store fix as I misplaced my 8 oz throw bag over the winter and haven’t replaced it. I need to.
Slow is Smooth; Smooth is Fast
Over the last few months of activating, I’ve increased my speed to 20 WPM. I didn’t set out to do this; it just happened. I wish I could credit this to being on the air more, but my air time simply isn’t frequent enough for that to be the reason. However, listening to Morse Code Ninja files at 30 to 35 WPM while driving and taking in K4SWL videos while doing dishes has done the trick.
More and more often, I have been able to copy call signs the first time, today especially. Maybe this is due to the lack of stress (or better management thereof), or maybe it’s due to the increased listening practice. Perhaps both. Everything clicked today. The bands were in great shape. I had an established rhythm: sending, listening, writing, responding. No real effort was involved. I didn’t even notice what was happening until I switched bands, looking down to see that I had made my activation within ten minutes of first contact.
By forty five minutes into the activation, my copying was no longer smooth. I began to lose focus. The speed and ease I enjoyed at the beginning were fleeting. I forced concentration to make a few more contacts, but I had lost my snap. The / ? / came back into play once more, and that’s okay. It’s all part of the game. By then, I had made my additional eleven contacts during the next day UTC. After all, I had completed an activation on 30m alone, not something I believe I’ve ever done before. Plus, I worked Paco, EA1DD in Poio, Galicia, Spain! I’ve only reached Europe a handful of times and I’m glad to have made contact with him. Espero que no sea la última.
It’s been a minute or two since I’ve posted but thought that the time was right. For a few years, I had limited time to get on the air and even less to write posts. While I’m still quite busy, there’s more free time available and I’m able to devote more time to the hobby. It has been good for me to get out and about. Honestly, after the respite that radio provides, I end up accomplishing more the next few days, refreshed and energized by an activation and time spent out of doors.
