Lately I have been buried with work and have not had time to get out to a park to activate.
This isn’t a problem though as there is still plenty to do with ham radio anyway. Primarily, POTA of course. I love to hunt almost as much as I love to activate. This means I can sit in the comfort of my shack and still work POTA contacts! What a time to be alive! Normally, I use my TenTec Omni 7 and occasionally I will add my 500 watt amplifier if the bands are kinda poor. This allows me to get through when I normally could not with just 100 watts. It also allows for the thrill of the hunt. When your a hunter, you are moving around a lot. You are looking for stations that are most of the time down in the noise. This makes it really challenging as you have to figure out who you are listening to. Sometimes, it is not who is on the spot page… You just have to figure it out. You also have to figure out how they work hunters so you can position yourself in the best possible place to be worked. This means you get to listen a lot more than transmit and for some people this is a deal breaker. It is not for me. I don’t know why, but it is almost therapeutic to sit and listen to an activator working through his or her pileup. It is mesmerizing to me for some reason.
Here is the setup I am using currently. A TenTec Omni 7 with one of my handmade WK4DS CW Paddles attached. I love chasing CW POTA myself. The comfort of the shack isn’t a bad thing. Not all POTA has to be in a rainy pavilion in some far flung state park. You are allowed to also have the opportunity to work POTA from this side too. Just power up your base rig at home and have some fun is all you need to do.
Now there are some things that I do differently when I am at home. I only paper log at home. This is two fold. First it eliminated the need to have a computer running in the shack while I operate. This is the source of some of my RF noise in my shack and I know it. If I want to work some weak station then the first thing I do is power down the computer and turn off the monitors. Secondly, I still like to write down my QSO as I go, this gives me the ability to read over the conversation and remember things I might want to bring up on the next turn. I know this is more about rag-chewing, but it affords me that memory feature of the QSO. So I still write my QSOs for now. I no longer log to just log the contacts, but simply for the ease of reference. It does also give me the ability to confirm a QSO from my shack should I get a card for one.
Now, sometimes when I am POTA hunting I scan the bands that I can worl easily and look for activators on the spot page like you see above. This allows me to quickly scan and find any operators that I can hear good enough to possibly work. Contingent on getting through the pileup that is…haha. I can only use my amplifier on 20m through 10 meters at this time and I dont think 12 meters is good there. This is because the antenna is only resonant on those bands good enough to not need a tuner. I don’t have a tuner wired in with the amp so when I use it, I can only couple directly to the antenna. If I want to be able to use the amp,, I have to stick to bands that are close to resonant.
Learning how to use FT8 in the shack enabled me to effectively deploy it in the field.
Another thing you can do is experiment with new modes. This is where I learned how to operate FT8 on the sBitx V3 before I took it to the field for an activation. I have a Astron RS-35M bench power supply that has a pair of Power-poles on the front for powering various things you might bring into the shack. I use them to power radios here before I take them to the field so I can make sure they work. Second to that, it also allows me to learn how to use them before stepping out of the house and not having the owners manual in hand… That has happened… haha.
When I bought my LNR MTR3B V4 second handed, I tested it in the shack only to find it went deaf after about 30 minutes of air time. It was like you simply turned off the receiver. I sent it back to LNR and I am pretty sure they send me a new radio. All that aside, I would have possibly gotten out to a park only to find the radio is dead… That is really frustrating to say the least. (LNR is a great outfit, they took care of me and I was not the original owner of the radio, I was even willing to pay for the repair and they were having none of it, highly recommend them if you are looking for a tiny radio with a lot of features…alot of features… Anyway, this is also the place to setup you antennas and to play with your new power pack. You know what? You can also hunt POTA stations with this test setup! Kill two birds with one CW key! A lot of people that I know will never setup their antenna at home to see how to use it, to solve problems with the setup when you have access to tools… You get the idea. This is a really good opportunity to use the antenna to see how well it works for you. Who knows, you might hate using verticals and you dont want to learn that at a park…
All that and you also get to use your nicest keys since those usually never venture outside your shack…
So the next time you think you can only go out and that is all, just remember that there is another side to POTA and you can play that one too.
I hope this has motivated you to get out and play with your radio gear a little.
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David - WK4Ds
73