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Tuesday, February 14, 2023

A fantastic day for a 10m POTA activation

With 10 meters being hotter than a $3 pistol the past few days I decided it was time to do a quick 50-QSO activation on that band.

An "errand" put me a stone's throw away from K/KFF-3615 Dade Battlefield State Park (Florida).

FT-891, whip on the car and a partially charged battery. Palm paddles, memory keyer. 48 contacts on CW and two (both with Poland) on phone.

Those 50 contacts consisted of 16 DXCC entities, with the best DX being 4L6QL in Georgia - as in Tbilisi, not Atlanta (do Tibilisians eat fried catfish, collard greens and grits?)...

I've decided to keep a cheap pair of headphones stashed in the POTA-mobile. Some knuckle-dragger thought it would be fun to bang on a metal dumpster a few hundred feet away. I like to think he was doing it from the inside for causing unnecessary QRM to past POTA ops.

It was great to experience so much DX on 10 meters. Strong signals, no QSB and good, fast CW ops from Across the Salty Pond made for a fun outting.

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2 comments:

  1. ON5ZOFebruary 14, 2023 at 1:56 PM

    In our series 'how to make this about me?'...

    I'm gathering parts for my 1st POTA so hold on to your breath (but don't hold your butt).
    LiFePo4 batt? Check! 20Ah with charger and solar panel IF built in.
    FT-710 unboxed ten minutes ago, so radio? Check!
    I have a bunch of antenna options but I'm probably thinking too much and doing too little. I need to get rid of my DX-Contest-Aerial-Buff-hat for this I guess.

    Needed: time and 'window of opportunity' (WX and no contest weekend).
    And a way to keep my laptop powered up in the car. No idea since adapters put out 20V DC it seems.

    Anyway your enthousiasm is getting to me. Keep it up John. P2P? Drinks on me! 73

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    1. John AE5XFebruary 14, 2023 at 2:27 PM

      Hey, congrats on the new radio, Franki...and a comment from you on a POTA topic with a major DX contest this weekend - are you feeling okay?! Is the K3 well?

      ON4ON, ON7DQ and ON3EA went into my log today - shoulda been one more from that region and I look forward to a P2P with you. Can we make it a Stella Artois? They are easily obtainable here (ask me how I know)...

      BTW, I log on my phone using HAMRS - it creates an adif file with all the required fields filled in, no laptop needed.

      Good luck this weekend - I won't be working the contest but I'll call you if I hear you and give you that rare FL mult!

      73,
      John

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