AE5X: 2026 TAT ride with QRP

Departure Date: 1st week of June

Departure Location: Chatsworth GA

The Plan:

2026 marks my 50th year of being a motorcyclist, having received my license when I was 15. Yeah, I'm an old fart.

To celebrate, I'll begin my solo ride of the Trans-America Trail in Chatsworth GA and ride as far west on the trail as I feel, taking time to enjoy photography and ham radio, activating various parks on CW and meeting other riders along the way.

Although I'm taking camping gear, I'll mainly be "cheap moteling" it east of the Rockies. The camping gear allows me the option of not needing to be in the next town by sunset. The exception to that: I probably will be camping in Colorado and Utah in order to be where I want at sunset/sunrise for photographic purposes.

I may linger for a few days in certain places (like Silverton CO and Moab UT). Time is not of the essence...

I will be operating exclusively on CW but not exclusively POTA; I'm always up for a CW ragchew on 10-20 meters.

The radio-antenna combo is a proven package. Many POTA/WWFF activations and a lot of DX worked have convinced me that this is the way to go. It's a bonus that set-up and take-down time of the whole assembly is 5 minutes.

Updates will be made a few times a week to the blog's main page and (hopefully) my YouTube channel.