Medicine Bow National Forest – POTA

We made this area our work week area. It is nice and secluded away from pretty much everything. We only had one vehicle drive by the whole week we were there. While Gayla was doing her video presentation I setup HF radio outside and activated the POTA park US-4403. I had 154 total unique contacts. It was a beautiful day to be outside in Wyoming. I used the 44 foot line wire to the 9:1 Read More …

Activation of Starvation Lake – Duchesne, Utah

I was ready to be done driving for the day so we went to Juniper Point Campground at Fred Hayes at Starvation Lake State Park. I cooked up some steak and boiled some eggs for some deviled eggs later this weekend. This place is also a POTA park (US-3092 – Fred Hayes at Starvation State Park) for amateur radio. I activated it with 33 unique contacts and 35 contacts total on FT8. I was the Read More …

POTA K-10387

W0EGT and I (N0RVS) embarked on an exciting adventure, taking our ham radio show on the road to the Joe Creighton Access Area (K-10387). We persevered to find the perfect spot to set up our small HF station and make some incredible contacts. POTA (parks on the air) is a fantastic way to enjoy nature while engaging in our favorite hobby of ham radio! W0EGT exceeded expectations by making over a dozen contacts using only Read More …

Brush Creek Conservation Area (K-8278)

Did a little (POTA) Parks On The Air activation yesterday afternoon on the way back from Caplinger Mills. Had Clifford with us so why not get his first activation out of the way with many more in the future to come. Stopped at Brush Creek Conservation Area (K-8278) just west of Humansville, MO. This is a 160 acre with hunting and wildlife all around. There is one Small Parking lot on the northwest corner of Read More …

Arapaho National Forest Activation (K-4400)

I woke up about 5:27 am to about 35°F outside with a slight windchill of 32°F at 9428 feet in elevation. Slept great. Wool blankets are toasty. Made coffee and tea and a banana for breakfast. Earl set and made a few voice contacts on the 20m band. I set up a 76-foot-long speaker wire in a tree & tuned it up and started making FT8 digital contacts around 9:15 local time. Australia was hearing Read More …

Camping near Bear Lake

We found some free camping just outside of Bear Lake in Northern Utah. There were some ATV’s and Side by Sides driving through the forest roads. That did not stop us from enjoying our time here. If you are in the area, do yourself a favor and explore this area. September is a beautiful time to visit!

Pilot Hill Road, Wyoming

Found a spot just East of Laramie, Wyoming to set up camp for the night. I also got to play Ham Radio and made contact with my friends back in Missouri on 80m. I just threw about 62 feet of wire in the tree and connected it to my Texas Bug Catcher and and tuned it up on frequency with my Nano VNA. Turned on my ICOM 706 and started making contacts!

Portable in Colorado

Thanksgiving portable in the backyard of the daughters house in Aurora, Colorado. I had the ICOM IC-706 with the MFJ 904H manual tuner with a wire going to the gutters. I had never tried loading up gutters before, so I figured why not. Using my MFJ antenna analyzer I tuned them up on 40m and made a few contacts. Then I loaded the gutters up on 20m and checked in to the Maritime Mobile Net. Read More …

HF in Colorado

We camped a few days around Granite, Colorado. During our stay there we explored the Stone Cabin that was near by. Furthermore the Arkansas River was within walking distance. I did some HF radio and made a few contacts including one to my brother W0EGT back in Missouri on 40m. I used my ICOM 706 and my MFJ 17 foot vertical attached to my homebrew induction coil. Our campsite the 2nd night. Beautiful area!!!

Texas BugCatcher Antenna

You don’t see a Texas BugCatcher antenna too often anymore. I acquired this antenna through a musician friend of mine who’s father had become a silent key. I had this antenna sitting around just waiting to be used. Furthermore, I still do a lot of mobile HF and enjoy it immensely when traveling to Colorado and back. Most Texas BugCatcher antennas were available from GLA Systems as a coil only. In addition, the customer either Read More …