Dennis,

I’m glad you were able to pull that rare and extremely weak one out of the pile. Hi!  

Rick always manages to find me calling CQ VOTA and work me. Ubiquitous may be an understatement. TU for the points Rick. 

I’ve noticed the VOTA CW pile ups aren’t as bad as they were during the Centennial although the EU and NE pile I had going Wednesday morning on 10 CW was close-  and it did howl at me.  W5SJ will appreciate that. 

Back on point, it’s great that you are working with new ops on CW Dennis. It’s good to slow down and work the new guy on CW. We all started there - some of us as Novices at 5wpm. Get them comfortable and get them smooth. When they get smooth they’ll get fast. I have noticed more new calls in the CW Ops CWT events and that bodes well. I slow down and work them. CW Ops also does a the SST - Slow Speed ‘Test. Get in there and work ‘em! 

For those who don’t, get on CW and give it a try! VOTA ends 00:00Z Jan 1 and Straight Key Night begins- another opportunity for CW. 

BTW, I worked WB5JJJ and N5QS last night on 80m FT-8. I also nabbed WB5BHS earlier in the week. 

73 

David A. Norris, K5UZ
Director, Delta Division

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 28, 2023, at 6:31 PM, Dennis Schaefer <[email protected]> wrote:


Well….that’s not in one year, just the grand total since I started a couple of years ago.   POTA also has some secret weapons to up the count.  A lot of trails count for POTA, and also things like Wildlife Management Areas and National Forests.  Sometimes you can be in more than one at a time.   For example, today I was in Lake Dardanelle State Park, Dardanelle WMA, and an official Trail of Tears National Historic site - all sitting in one place.  I had 97 at the beginning of the day and now I have 100.

Based on these multiple counters, I’ve probably actually been out about 50 times.  
That probably averages out to twice a month for the last couple of years.  Just enough for fun, but not a big commitment!

73,
Dennis

On Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 5:40 PM Bill Priakos <[email protected]> wrote:

Great notes, Dennis.  I have activated about 10 POTA but I am not a formal member…need to find out more.  BUT….YOU….WOW!  100 in a year.  Congratulations!

 

73, Bill

 

Bill Priakos – W5SJ

10 Free Ferry Heights

Fort Smith, AR 72903

479.461.8368

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From: [email protected] <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Dennis Schaefer
Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2023 3:06 PM
To: ADXA <[email protected]>
Subject: [ADXA] 100th POTA activation, with help from K5UR

 

 

I have two main ham radio interests - DX’ing and portable operation.   I’ve done a lot of portable stuff in ARES/RACES, etc, and wouldn’t miss Field Day.   POTA (Parks on the Air) is perfect for me when I want to get out of the chair but still do some radio.   I talk about and promote POTA a lot and set up a POTA booth at our hamfest in 2023.  People think I’m really active, but my stats are dismal.  I decided I would try to get up to 100 total park activations by the end of 2023.   This is still very modest, because some people have thousands.   

 

I finished my 100th activation today at Lake Dardanelle State Park.  Almost all of my activations are 100% CW.   It can be slow, because there are many POTA operators who are learning CW.  It’s the same at Field Day - lots of people who don’t really do CW but aspire to be proficient.   It’s hard to work more than one every minute - I worked 35 in about 25 minutes today.  The main thing I keep telling myself is that it is wonderful that all those people are actually doing it!  They take a deep breath and plunge right in.  It does not matter if they are proficient yet.  If we encourage them, they have a chance.

 

Of course, many of the POTA callers are very proficient.  Today, I heard a weak signal and finally pulled our K5UR!   I was running 40 watts to a Hustler mobile antenna on the banks of Lake Dardanelle, but we completed the 20M CW contact.  Thanks, Rick!

 

This just proves what we have known - nothing gets by Rick.  He’s always listening.

 

I think POTA is good for ham radio in many ways, so I’ll continue to do it.  I am glad to get to a nice round number of activations, though.  Now, bring on the next round of DXpeditions.   The goal for the DeSoto Challenge has been updated - 1500 by the end of 2024.

 

73,

Dennis/RZ

 

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