tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-50648536798922964342024-03-12T16:58:42.932-07:00W4STR High Country Expedition RadioPromoting South Carolina Hi Country QRP Expeditions to Mountain Tops, SOTA, NPOTA, POTA, CPOTA
Promoting QRP general radio Operations in the Great OutdoorsW4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-49272776187574132932016-04-03T14:14:00.001-07:002016-04-03T14:14:59.103-07:00KX3, QRP Got a KX3 and Alex Loop to work QRP Radio in the NPOTA activities this year. So far, I am learning how to use the new equipment. Ordering a shock chord antenna for Buddiepole system.
We activated Ninety Six National Park. Had no contacts. Bands were not cooperating.
Working on the next opportunity!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-6339972518785112312015-12-28T10:42:00.001-08:002015-12-28T10:42:34.859-08:00It is almost 2016 and have been neglectful of my posts. However, I look forward to more activity in 2016. We plan on taking on the National Parks on the air, some contests, qrp and some short SOTA expeditions.<br />
Hope everyone has a wonderful radio ops filled year!<br />
<br />W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-88289900251725352122014-08-28T08:38:00.002-07:002014-08-28T08:38:22.979-07:00Well, it has been awhile since my last post and a lot has taken place. I won the VHF/UHF contest last year for the state and the region. It was my first contest. I worked the 13 Colonies event this past fourth of July and got all 13 colonies plus the two bonus stations. Worked W1AW for South Carolina for a small period of time.<br />
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Purchased a new great rig, a Yaesu 1200. Works great!<br />
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Going to the Shelby Hamfest!<br />
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Hope to work more contest and learn how to make a little pistol sound like a big gun without the power.<br />
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Joined the Swamp Fox Contest Group!<br />
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More to follow later!<br />
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<br />W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-76431707585102597662012-03-31T11:20:00.000-07:002012-03-31T11:20:24.230-07:00South Cove Park DeploymentWell our South Cove Park, SC deployment went very well and all who participated seem to have a great time. Most had so much fun they are ready for another. However, Our field day is coming up and we want to get as many as possible participating. Once again this prepares us for an actual situation should one ever arise.<br />
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Bill and I will be contacting members to be participants in various parts of the deployment by making sure their part is executed. Please volunteer for what you are able.<br />
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Hopefully by the end of July we will have two more park deployments for member participation and maybe even a SOTA.<br />
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Happy Radio Waves till next time <br />
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RussW4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-2266184899757059882012-03-09T09:31:00.000-08:002012-03-09T09:31:22.365-08:00South Cove Park DeploymenWe are just a week away from our CPOTA South Cove Park simulated emergency deployment.<br />
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We will deploy at 9am and operate till around 4pm. Bring you radio gear, lunch and drinks and have fun, learn and make contacts. We go rain or shine.<br />
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You may come an go as you wish. Parking is free. No metal stakes in the ground. We will operate on portable power only. batteries and generators. No mobile operation.<br />
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I look forward for a chance to check out my equipment and operation and will take notes. I encourage all participants to do the same. This will give us a chance to be better prepared for the next deployment and field day.<br />
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See you there!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-28137364370147417412012-02-10T07:18:00.000-08:002012-02-10T07:18:58.500-08:00New Year, New Opportunities!Well here we are in a new year with new opportunities.<br />
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The first opportunity I have completed is participating in the club net from my iPad 2 on Echolink. I will be taking this to Florida so I can check in during the net.<br />
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I am also taking my 817 on the trip to Florida to try out new portable antenna in making some 20 and 40 meter contacts.<br />
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And I am looking forward to our March 17 deployment to South Cove County Park. Details coming at the next meeting.<br />
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I have been working on PSK31 set up and listening. Have tried to make a few contacts on low power. I persevere.<br />
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I hope every one else is having a great hobby year.<br />
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Happy Valentines Day to all!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-68448770161885101972011-12-08T08:45:00.001-08:002011-12-08T08:45:52.636-08:00TimeWell the good news is I have more time for radio ops. Great timefor learning new things. Plan to operate portable in a park or two while in FL over the Holidays.<br />
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Hope everyone has a safe and good holiday.W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-31590976402315527892011-11-09T04:53:00.000-08:002011-11-09T04:53:42.566-08:00POTA and CPOTAWell I have found 2 groups similar to SOTA that I believe the SOTA Team and the rest of the KTARC will want to participate in.<br />
POTA, Parks on the Air is similar to SOTA except that it is designed for National and State Parks. CPOTA is similar except it is for County and City Parks. There is a list of approved National and State Parks and I assume CPOTA is the same for City and County Parks.<br />
This is great because most all of these parks are accessible by everyone. <br />
I look forward to many POTA and CPOTA activations. It will be even more fun with more people and running QRP or any output wattage. There is no power restriction at this time other than legal power limits and what you are willing to lug around.<br />
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I will keep all updated as we move in this direction.<br />
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Had great fun working the Tugaloo bike ride this past weekend!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-51516272776494058392011-10-19T08:39:00.000-07:002011-10-19T08:39:27.432-07:00SOTA Team NewsWe are not going to the mountains this weekend. We have decided to be chasers. Sometime soon we will just have a mountain top exploration to determine what mountains we want to activate next.<br />
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Our Team has decided and invited the KTARC to participate in 1 day field days through out the year. We will pick some Saturdays throughout the year to conduct these operations. We will also pick parks that are accessible by all participants. It will be fun.<br />
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The guidelines for these 1 day field days are as follows:<br />
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<ul><li> Hours: 9:00 am to 3PM. You can come earlier or stay later or do both.</li>
<li>You must bring all your own equipment.</li>
<li>Operate QRP on battery power</li>
<li>Bring your own snacks and food</li>
<li>You can work all bands, all modes for which you are licensed</li>
<li>Make as many contacts as you are able</li>
<li>Learn from others about equipment, techniques, etc.</li>
<li>Learn how to be prepared for future emergency operations</li>
</ul><div>I look forward to these ops.</div><div><br />
</div><div>We will continue to pursue activating SC mountains as SOTA operations.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Keep your signal strong and clear!</div><div><br />
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</div>W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-50760633079623613322011-10-11T07:11:00.000-07:002011-10-11T07:11:56.906-07:00Sassafrass Mountain ActivationSaturday, October the 8th, was a beautiful day to activate Sassafrass Mountain. The weather was a perfect fall day. As I sat on the Summit Overlook with my FT 817 and Buddiepole rigged for 40 meters working 5 stations before the big guns working contests took over my frequency, I viewed the beautiful mountains, lakes and blue haze.<br />
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My friends, Gil KS4YX, Steve W4SLT, Steve WA5KSC, Sue KJ4DLP and Chase KJ4LXC all had a great time as we worked stations from around the world on 10 meters, 40 meters, 20 meters and 2 meters.<br />
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I can tell you for sure that an antenna analyzer makes life a lot easier when tuning up antennas!<br />
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I learned a lot about how to prepare and execute a SOTA operation and look forward to many more.W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-46909611471598314142011-10-06T10:16:00.000-07:002011-10-06T10:17:08.759-07:00We are OfficialThe Upcountry SOTA Expedition team is official and our Alert has been posted to the SOTA Alert site. All our frequencies etc. are posted. We will have a review posted of our experience once we have compelted the expedition. We hope to work may stations.W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-7866882748299572282011-10-03T07:22:00.000-07:002011-10-03T07:22:33.161-07:00Pre-Epedition MetingWe have had our final pre-epedition meeting and it seems we are green and go! The wx looks like it will be very nice. We have six members joining the expedition. We hope to not only activate Sassafrass Summit, but also get a lot of points working QRP. I hope that we make a ton of contacts. Most important of all we will have fun!<br />
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Talk to you from the summit!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-59557507473266887202011-09-28T04:42:00.000-07:002011-09-28T04:42:42.739-07:00Preparation, Preparation, PreparationToday, I will take my SOTA Gear bags apart and put back together. I will finish all the little details for a good expedition. Tomorrow, I will take my bag to our SOTA Expedition meeting to review with the team.<br />
After the meeting I will make the final adjustments for the expedition.<br />
This is going to be fun!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-22689929239387663292011-09-26T07:16:00.001-07:002011-09-26T07:16:47.917-07:00Next Sota Expediton meetingWe are having our next meeting this week and our 1st expedition a week from Saturday! This will tell us how prepared we really are at this time. A great learning opportunity for the team!W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-68010895824248423352011-09-23T05:53:00.000-07:002011-09-23T05:53:05.201-07:00LogisticsWell in true fashion, I will probably pack way more than is needed. I always do. So I plan to observe carefully and take note as to what is the best bare minimum set up. Toting gear a long way up a mountain may not be fun. So we want to learn light.<br />
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I am excited about learning new aspects of QRP radio.W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5064853679892296434.post-72360498929838654882011-09-22T04:53:00.000-07:002011-09-22T04:53:40.575-07:00Preparing for our first SotaWell the SOTA Cracker team has met and began an inventory each of us have to determine what we will be taking on our first expedition. I think the team is excited about our first attempt. I know I am. We will see how much we leave behind for our next expedition. This first expedition will be our shakedown trip and a great learning experience.W4STRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00636686820195951742noreply@blogger.com1