Tag Archives: HAM Radio

QRP, Mountains, and a “Sort Of” POTA Activation

21 Thursday May 2026

Posted by in Amateur Radio, Cycling, Life, Uncategorized

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This post probably won’t interest most of my readers, but for my fellow ham radio operators and radio nerds, I managed to do a POTA activation… sort of… last Sunday.

I managed to get 13 contacts at Park #US-4450 in the Talladega National Forest. I say “sort of” because the cell signal was so bad I couldn’t get online to spot myself, so I just hunted contacts on and off all day and hoped somebody would hear me calling.

For this activation, I used a Lab599 TX-500 portable HF transceiver running 10 watts on 50 MHz. Well… technically more like 7 watts by the time everything was said and done. QRP operation always makes things more challenging, but honestly, that’s part of the fun. Anybody can make contact with a high-powered base station. It takes a little patience, stubbornness, and luck to do it with low power from the side of a mountain.

My setup included one of the original POTA Reels antennas along with a POTA33H telescopic mast that extends to 33 feet. I mounted everything using a hitch-mounted flagpole holder that slides into the receiver hitch on my truck. In true ham radio fashion, I also improvised a little engineering by using the packaging from the POTA33H mast to wedge everything tighter inside the hitch mount. If it looks questionable but works, then it’s officially “field tested.”

The biggest challenge was the location itself. Rest Stop #2 was at the bottom of the hill with mountains surrounding us in every direction. Even with the antenna nearly 33 feet in the air, I still struggled getting my signal out. And having only around 7 watts coming from the radio certainly didn’t help matters.

Still, I managed 13 contacts, and honestly, I was happy with that considering the conditions.

This wasn’t my first activation, though. Last May, I activated from the USS Alabama during one of their Living History events. Over the course of two days, I made more than 200 contacts there. That remains my personal record and probably spoiled me a little when it comes to future activations.

There’s just something enjoyable about setting up a portable station in the middle of nowhere and seeing how far a little bit of wire and a few watts can travel. Some people golf. Some people fish. Some of us throw antennas into the air and get excited when somebody three states away says, “You’re five-nine in Alabama.”

And honestly, that’s probably enough to convince most normal people that we’re all a little crazy.

73’s

KJ4PZI

Across Oceans No Problem… But North Dakota Is Apparently Narnia

02 Monday Feb 2026

Posted by in Amateur Radio, Life, Retirement, Uncategorized

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After sharing the news about finally reaching the state of Hawaii, I decided to make a map showing all of my long-distance contacts thus far in 2026. I was pretty proud of it… right up until I realized I had to explain that it does not include my contacts inside the continental United States. If it did, the map would just look like I sneezed ink all over North America.

What really caught my attention, though, is something that makes absolutely no sense to me. I can sit down, turn on the radio, and talk to someone in Italy like they’re sitting across the street. No drama. No struggle. No begging the radio gods for mercy.

But North Dakota?
Alaska?
Hawaii (until recently)?

Apparently, those are protected by an invisible force field.

I’ve tried to come up with logical explanations for this, mostly so I don’t have to accept that radio waves are just messing with me personally.

First — The Antenna
My antenna slopes from East to West. That probably means something very scientific and important. I’m not an antenna expert, though. I’m more of a “put it up, see if it works, and if it doesn’t… stare at it like it betrayed me” kind of guy.

Second — Operator Population
Some states just don’t have as many HAM operators. That makes sense for Alaska and North Dakota. Hawaii is small, and I honestly don’t know how many operators there are. For all I know, there are a handful of guys rotating shifts between operating radios and living their best life on the beach. And honestly, if I lived there, I might not be inside talking on the radio either.

Third — Time Zones (The Real Culprit)
Most of my hunting happens in the morning. There’s about a four-hour difference between Hawaii and me, and about three hours between Alaska. So when I’m wrapping up radio time and moving on to things like work, errands, or pretending to be productive, they’re just waking up and figuring out where they left their coffee mug.

Meanwhile, when I’m making contacts in the East — Belgium, Italy, places like that — it’s the middle of the night over there. Apparently, those operators are either serious night owls, incredibly dedicated to the hobby, or avoiding sleep like it owes them money.

The longer I do this hobby, the more I realize HAM radio is this weird mix of science, timing, geography, luck, and occasionally sacrificing a little dignity while calling CQ for the tenth time in a row.

But that’s also what makes it fun.

Because at the end of the day, I can bounce a signal off the atmosphere, talk to someone on the other side of the planet…
…and still get ghosted by North Dakota.

And honestly, that feels personal.

I Found Hawaii Hiding in the Static

31 Saturday Jan 2026

Posted by in Amateur Radio, Retirement, Uncategorized

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I’m not the type of person who posts something just to make a post. If I share something, it’s usually because it’s something I think is worth sharing — something about me, something about my surroundings, or something that happened that was funny, interesting, or meaningful.

But something happened this afternoon that honestly felt a little bit amazing.

It’s also something I’ve been working toward for well over a year… which means at this point it’s moved from “hobby goal” to “mild obsession.”

Some of you may not know what I’m talking about, and that’s totally fine. I’ve mentioned before that I’m into HAM radio and POTA (Parks On The Air). Basically, operators set up in parks and make contact with other operators. There’s an award if you manage to work a park in all 50 states.

For the past year, I’ve gotten contacts in every state… except Hawaii, North Dakota, and Alaska.

Those three have basically been my radio version of Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and that one sock that disappears in the dryer.

There are apps you can download that alert you when one of your missing states is on the air. Sounds great in theory. In reality, it usually means you rush to the frequency just in time to hear what sounds like someone whispering through a pillow… during a hurricane… from 4,000 miles away.

This afternoon, I got a notification that a station from Hawaii was on the air.

I jumped to the frequency.

Nothing.

Just static. Beautiful, expensive, professionally tuned static.

I listened for a while, hoping something would magically appear. Nope. Just more static. So I moved on and tried other POTA stations. Strike out there, too.

So I figured, why not go back and check Hawaii one more time?

This time, I could barely hear him. Like… if I blinked too hard, I might lose him.

So I threw my call sign out there, fully expecting to be ignored, like when you wave at someone in public and realize they were waving at the person behind you.

And then…

He came back to me.

We exchanged information, completed the contact, and right about then, my brain went:

“Wait… did that just happen??”

After over a year of chasing that contact… I finally got Hawaii.

I’m pretty sure if anyone had been watching me at that moment, they would’ve seen a grown adult sitting in front of a radio grinning like he just won the lottery… or at least found that missing dryer sock.

That was a huge accomplishment for me.

Now it’s down to Alaska and North Dakota.

And if today taught me anything, it’s this: sometimes the signal is there… You just have to sit through a little more static, be a little more stubborn, and try one more time.

(Also, if you’re in Alaska or North Dakota and like talking to slightly overexcited radio guys… I’m your guy.)