Promote the Hobby

My Local Club, Granite State Amateur Radio Association, was invited to a STEM High School Event in our local community. We set up a small display with full HF Gear and a Step-IR Vertical. It was an excellent experience for everyone attending, and it made me want to encourage everyone who is part of a club to get out and promote the Amateur Radio hobby.

Here is a quick excerpt from the article.

he GSARA table included an operating Icom IC-7300 HF station in a “go box” with an outdoor CrankIR portable vertical antenna and various hand-held VHF radios. Numerous hand-outs were provided by ARRL (Steve Goodgame, K5ATA, Education and Learning Manager), including Why Should You Give Amateur Radio a Try? and What Amateur Radio Can Do for Your School and Students. Students, parents, and teachers learned about our hobby and how it can initiate a passion for exciting, well-paying technical careers. GSARA provided other material.

Go check it out, and if you are involved in your local club, consider getting out in the community and promoting the hobby!

My POTA Kit

So I’ve been doing POTA for over two years now with over 5000 contacts and over 156 parks activated under my belt. I have been able to work out my “go bag,” so I can easily setup in under 5 minutes - including the antenna.

So now that I have this blog to chronicle my radio adventures, I decided I might be able to share some of my experience and get you out and activate a park.

Now let me frame this topic a bit…

The goal of my setup is to get an activation setup within 5 minutes or less. I drive a lot for work, so the opportunity to activate a park between client visits sometimes is live a RADAR for me.

A setup that quickly maintains the line of efficiency makes things very easy to get up and running.

This is the difference between a successful activation and a failed attempt, as the airwaves can be challenging no matter how good your setup is.

I am fortunate to get the opportunity to activate new parks. This, for me, requires some quick scoping out and locating a spot.

My Setup

So with my setup, I have the non-negotiables.

Black mesh zipper bags - This stores all cables, flexible ties, connectors, antennas, interfacing coax, and radios. These are the ones ladies use for makeup items. You can find them on Amazon.

Radio Bag- I have an Oakley Mail Currier bag - which is no longer made) that houses my radio, logging tablet, battery, power cords, and watt meter. The fold-over zipper case has additional zippered storage where my zipper pouches are all organized. I also have a Rig Expert Stick 230 and Powerwerks in-line watt meter to round out the bag.

I carry a pen and yellow stick-its, a 2-way mike splitter - for dual activations, a Digi Rig, and charging cables for the smartphone.

Everything in the bag is power poles and provides easy use when I need to cable power together.

The Logging Computer - I have two devices. I use an iPad with a Bluetooth keyboard for regular logging - an on/off switch is a must! If you can afford it, I would get the iPad with cell, as it makes it easy to do callsign lookups and synch the log.

I am in the process of building a computer for digital modes. But for this post, I saved that for another post as a video would help explain the process.

I use HAMRS for logging and Dropbox to sync my logs. My process is simple: setting up the log file in HAMRs and exporting the ADI file to Dropbox. When I get home, I open up the log file with ADIF Master, confirm all fields, park, and other items are in check, and then upload the file to the POTA.APP website for processing. Then, to give proper credit to the hunters, I created a profile on Ham Radio Deluxe for the park, ensuring the Grid Square is correct for the location profile of the park and imported the log file. HRD then does the heavy lifting for QRZ and LOTW.

Antennas

I can go into greater detail on these antennas - and will at a later date, but I’ll list them here to explain my kit. I do have many so let me explain

Spring/Summer/Fall Activations -

I use a combination of two antennas. My first go-to antenna is the Wolf River Coil TIA 1000, with the center-loaded section. I use the 24” base and have the dual collar option.

I use a combination of two antennas. My first go-to antenna is the Wolf River Coil TIA 1000, with the center-loaded section. I use the 24” base and have the dual collar option.

I also have a Buddiepole Pro, and this antenna doesn’t get a lot of use as sometimes the counterpoise can be finicky and need more attention to get set up. I do have to give this antenna more field time in the spring.

Winter/Cold Activations -

I do most, if not 90%, of my activations in the winter from my truck. I purchased in the spring of 2022 a Yaesu ATAS 120a and mounted this to my back rack.

I run a few wire antennas, with the Chameleon EFLFS 80-10 Lightweight Sloper being the one I use mostly. I plan to do some additional reviews on these at a later date. But I have used this once at a POTA Meetup with success and on several Field Day events.

Batteries

I haven’t tried the gamut of batteries out on the market, but my stable includes a 15-ah and 20-ah Bioenno battery. Both of these are charged using the Bioenno charging plugs, and I have never run out of power. I have a solar charge controller from Buddipole (Powermini 2) and a 60-watt panel. Still, I haven’t taken the time to assemble this kit with a 60-watt solar panel, but it will be forthcoming.

I know I can go further into the rabbit hole, but this is an excellent place to ask… What do you want to know about my setup?

I plan on posting more videos on YouTube and social media, and you can always come back to my site for the latest updates.

My question to my visitors is, what you’d like to know more about? My antennas? Setup? The tech? Let me know in the comments.

Now that your gone…

I was reading an article posted by OH8STN Titled “It’s Finally Dead.” It’s a well-written topic about how Yaesu’s 817/818 will be discontinued in 2023.

But I wasn’t in my mind debating whether the 818 was a lousy radio. Instead, it got me thinking about Yaesu’s plans for replacement.

Will we finally see a radio from Yaesu that will dethrone the “Icom 705?”

If we thought about it, would we expect it to have dx10 internals - great DSP, Filtering, and hybrid receiver but in a small form factor?

Or more along the lines of a smaller 710-ESS? With only an SDR, color display, and outstanding audio?

I hope they build it with today’s features - USB, wireless, 4.0, and Bluetooth that can run 100 watts like the 891, all in a small form factor.

Yaesu has a great receiver - 3rd on the Sherwood list, so even if they combined that tech into the form factor of the Icom 705 - and if it were a few more inches deeper, then take my money!

But all Amateur Radio electronics manufacturers are on five-year development cycles. Making the idea of an 891 replacement more on the horizon for the future.

Another driver that can push this idea closer is portable and packable transceivers are becoming more in demand as the push for more outdoor activity becomes important.

So what do you think? Will it be the 891 for another five years before we see a new portable replacement from Yaesu?

Please let me know what you think.

Ham Radio when All else fails…

Chronicle wrote an excellent article and video on how a local ham in the New Hampshire area was rescued from a few other Ham Operators.

It just shows that this hobby has some top-shelf people who care about others to save lives.

WMUR Chronicle - Ham Radio Saves Lives

My Top 5 Ham Apps for iOS

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT PART 2 HERE FOR ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

I was planning a short talk for my local club on some of my favorite Ham Apps I use on IOS.

I also wanted to share them with my “Ham-ily,” knowing it might help spark a conversation.

If you have a favorite I didn’t touch on, feel free to share it.

Here are my top 5 Ham Apps I use.

HamAlert -This is the portable version of the spotting dx cluster. If you ever want to be notified of callsigns that you need to complete a WAS or DXCC, then this is an app you want to have.

SolarHam - we all want to know the solar/band conditions well; this site is packed with detailed maps and up-to-the-hour stats on rf conditions.

EzyQTH - if you do pota or are always outside playing the radio, you’ll love this app. Many of my logging apps aren’t GPS or grid square aware but fear not; this app will take your GPS coordinates and tell you your Lat/Lon, grid square, and maidenhead without input.

Pota. App - this isn’t so much a universal app but is one you want to make part of your smartphone. I refer to it daily, whether hunting or activating, as it’s a great site to stay abreast of the latest activations.

Radar Scope - this isn’t so much a ham app, but it has been helpful for me to keep tabs on weather conditions and lightning. I hope to automate this someday, but until then, I need to disconnect my antennas when lightning is on the horizon manually.

Those are my five favorites. What ones do you use to take up coveted screen space? Let me know in the comments.

I've also updated my YouTube playlist for those interested in other apps I recommend.