Amateur radio adventures with Jeff K3JRZ. Videos of my Parks On The Air (POTA) activations are to document my contacts with other amateur radio stations, a.k.a. "proof of contact." My videos of my POTA activations are irrefutable evidence of where I was and who I made contact with. Gear reviews, amateur radio operational info, pro tips and more!
Had a guy a few weeks ago tell me the frequency I was on , 14.335, has a net here at 1500 hrs local, EDT, and they don’t like people on “their” frequency at any time !!! It’s 0900 hrs local, like jeeze, let me think !! My response was too easy. I basically told him to go scratch. And he says the net master will probably be on later when I text him . Like LOL, I went back to my business. Idiots I kept my blood pressure intact . And he was silent when I asked him to identify his station. Again LOL
I've had that happen to me several times doing CW where someone just starts calling CQ right on top of me, no QRL? to make sure the frequency is clear. Just last week during an activation, I'd gotten through at least 10 on CW and swapped to SSB. I had a callsign from Canada respond. I gave them a signal report and crickets. They proceeded to just ramble in some French on the frequency I'd been on for 15-20 minutes. I moved, made a few more contacts and went QRT.
Yup. When working at 5W SSB I’d have it happen once in a while. Only thing to do is move as they other stations never hear me. Thanks for watching & 73!
Yes, there are people out there just calling CQ on whatever band they might be on. Some DX stations, some US stations trying to make DX contacts. They just hang out and call CQ. I did that before I got into POTA. Thanks for watching & 73!
We need more AG7QH's in radio. I had a similar experience a couple days ago while doing a POTA activation. I had been operating for 10-15 minutes when I was notified by a Hunter of a NET just starting a few khz up. I thanked him and said I'd move frequencies. Before I could make the move, one of the NET overlords dropped down to my frequency to tell me how "annoying" I was and his disdain for anything POTA. Thanks for the video. 73
Hey Paul. There are alpha hotels out there. If they only knew that if they asked nicely & politely they'd get more respect from hams. But if they want to act like complete arses, then they deserve what they dish out. Thanks for watching & 73!
Yup. If I heard the net AND they asked nicely (even if they didn’t I’d still move to get away from those alpha hotels), I would have gladly moved, but when has a net or someone from a net ever been nice to me??? Never. Got it all on past videos too. Thanks for watching & 73!
I grew up in that area! In college and ROTC I remembered enjoying my little 11 meter Radio Shack setup and “shooting skip”, that was back in the 90s. So in 2008-2010 I spent $$ I was throwing down man, 2,000 watt carrier! Never got into ham, I only messed around for 2-3 yrs and sold it all. Talked all over the place it was amazing. I’m considering getting the whole Flex Radio setup. Going out to the park looks like fun too man, those Project 599 Man-Pack radios caught my eye.
The area around 10m is always fun! The Flex Radios are very nice, but pricy for me. Getting out & doing POTA is definitely a blast! Thanks for watching & 73!
I was out that day in 10M with KC3YXP, worked a few , got some Californian and some DX stations, and then a “pipe” opened up to Texas and we got our 10
Nobody owns a frequency. It is one thing if a station makes contact and asks you to move because they have a net in a few minutes. The nets that just transmit on top of you because "they have been here on this frequency at this time for 40 years" are the problem. It is impossible to keep track of all the nets and when they happen. Some guys have a hard enough time keeping track of the nets they do participate in. Most nets have a frequency +/- QRM so they have some wiggle room. The only net I am aware of that is firm on their frequency is the Maritime Mobile Net. I don't agree with them holding a frequency for 10 hours, especially since the Intercon Net uses the frequency for 5 hours prior to the MMN. Fortunately there is plenty of room on 20 meters, especially if someone holds an Amateur Extra class license since that frequency is tied up for 15 hours a day by two nets. The other problem nets are the ones that use a frequency within the 2 KHz space around your frequency and start transmitting on top of you without first asking you to move.
That is 100% correct. I do know of some nets on HF that always specifically state +/- a few kHz. They understand. All of the “long time nets & this is OUR frequency” nets need to get a wake up call. Thanks for watching & 73!
@@K3JRZOnTheAir one of these days I might sit down and monitor 14.300 MHz just to see how active those nets actually are. Right now I am on that frequency and I am hearing something way down in my noise floor. I might have to pull up a webSDR to see if there actually is activity there during there during the Maritime Mobile Net.
Thank You. I had basically figured most this out of on my own but was missing a couple pieces. You can easily copy a file with FileZilla to a hamvoip install but FileZilla wouldn’t let me do it with an ASL3 install. It will only allow a drag and drop into the root directory. I didn’t know I could do that to the root, thanks for mentioning how you did in your video. I’m guess it’s some sort of a permission issue trying to drop files into anything other than root.
You’re welcome! I forget why you can’t SFTP directly into the ASL3 stuff. When I tried at first I didn’t know what was going on, but I wanted to get rid of that default background image so bad that I figured out that I could just use some Linux commands and boom. Thanks for watching & 73!
At least the PA state park (Tyler SP) near me has put up signs prohibiting publicly heard speakers and music. I have not seen these signs at other PA parks. Admittingly the area they've done so gets quite the party atmosphere on evenings and weekends as it is suburban Philly. However, you can rock out to as much Def Leopard as you want on ear buds.
I stopped by and activated that park for the first time a few days ago - it was a weekday morning, so basically had to place to myself for my CW activation.
Yup. Most people work during the week so parks and POTA entities are a activators delight. Few people. Hopefully peace & quiet, unless someone rolls up in their DONK car, blasting their bass-heavy music… Yerp! Thanks for watching & 73!
So, on the one hand, I kinda get why people don't love your title. On the other hand, completely aside from whether it would affect my POTA experience, I agree with you that loud music at parks is kinda rude. I get that they rented that pavilion to have a party, but, the entire county does not need to hear that party, right? I'm almost positive it's possible for them to enjoy their party with several fewer decibels out of the speaker.
If it was a larger park, yeah, I could have gone to another area, but that is not the case for US-11809. The facilities in this tiny “park” are really in disrepair. The local neighborhood doesn’t help out either. Thanks for watching & 73!
@@K3JRZOnTheAir Yeah, looking at the place, I'm genuinely surprised it's a POTA park. It **looks** like a city park (at least, from what I can see in the video). Most of the parks I've been to are definitely larger than that.
@@unclemikeyplays Most of the “state fishing lakes” in Delaware were operated by the counties. The state took over managing them, which made them state entities, making them OK to be added to the POTA database. Most have only a small parking area & boat ramp. One I’ve been to has nothing. Park on the side of the road… This one is a little bit bigger than most, but still it’s not like a larger state park. 73!
@@K3JRZOnTheAir Ah! That makes sense, then! I also know that every state's going to have different ideas of what kind of parks it sets up, but it still makes more sense if these weren't originally state entities.
He was saying “DX. DX. DX. DX.”. That type of rude behavior doesn’t sit well with me. I wouldn’t do something like that and I hope everyone else wouldn’t do that to someone either. Thanks for watching & 73!
@@K3JRZOnTheAir there are a couple of jerks on 7.200 I think it is that so much worse than that all the time, I don't know how they have been getting away with it for the last couple months. They get drunk or something and go on 40m and have a CB party
Headphones DO NOT work great in high crime areas, where this “park” is located. They block out the world. You can be a victim, but I refuse to be. Well, I guess you never knew anyone mugged in NYC, or hand someone come up behind them with a knife to their throat, or being stabbed in the chest just because the color of their skin while leaving a movie theater… I have. I keep my head on a swivel because I keep myself well protected. Loads of videos are clickbait, it’s just how bent out of shape you are over it.
@@aa3konthego It's a possibility, but due to my existing hearing damage, each ear hears different things/frequencies. So I prefer to keep them both uncovered.
You weren't kicked out. Parks are for everyone to enjoy. Most likely they reserved a spot. Also headphones are great, maybe you were disturbing others with your radio. I always wear headphones due to hearing loss especially at busy parks. Most people don't enjoy beautifully sent cw as much as me. If you feel like a victim with headphone maybe that's a personal problem. I have never felt unsafe using headphones.
Headphones DO NOT work great in a high crime areas, where this “park” is located. They block out the world. You can be a victim, but I refuse to be. Well, I guess you never knew anyone mugged in NYC, or hand someone come up behind them with a knife to their throat, or being stabbed in the chest just because the color of their skin… I have. I keep my head on a swivel because I keep myself well protected. Loads of videos are clickbait, it’s just how bent out of shape you’re are over it.
Enjoy the videos & hope to catch ya hunting sometime on 10M. Been getting better & better going into fall. Ever do any 6M activations? Let the haters hate,. Comment warriors are amusing.
Haters will hate. I must be a masterful baiter. LOL. I haven’t done 6m for a while, but I did try earlier in the year and didn’t have much success. I did enjoy 6m at my QTH before the RFI decided to move in next door. HA! Hopefully we can catch up on the air sometime! Thank you for watching & 73!
The thing that annoys me the most is that there is a playground on the other side of the access road for the lot i use to set u in. It's a medium size lot which offers parking for that and several trails. On weekends the playground is reserved for groups, no problem with that, but they think the entire parking lot is also reserved for them to park in and they've asked me to leave. I told them " not without a police officer telling me to do so". They left all angrily. LOL. They only had about 5 cars in their group to kick, and I was on the far side of the lot from them. LOL
Hey Jim! Lums Pond SP has large parties and events sometimes. The parties usually take up a nice cellular rich area. I will hit another section of the park and see what happens. Changes things up a bit! 73!
I thought about it, since the parks here are very close to each other, but despite being a little zany at the end of it all (the dancing outtake at the very end of the video) I was a bit ticked off. I shrugged it off and went home to get some therapy snuggles from my dogs. Thanks for watching & 73!
well you didnt get kicked out. there was just another party going on the had a band and made things difficult to operate, I get it, but you did not get kicked out you left on your own
Yeah that happened to me at Us-1611 all the time on weekends so I had to find another spot especially on the summer weekends. El sucko and annoying. 73 Jim K2WPA
Yeah it can be. The first time I tried to activate the “park” there was a food truck there for a HUGE party with a very electrically noisy generator (drove by it and saw it). It happens. Some parks are big enough to move to a different area and some are not. This one is on the small side. Thanks for watching Jim & 73!
Buy some Headphones and you will hear weak signals better.. And not worry with other folks enjoying the park. PS Tuning off Commenting on FB posts is Weak
@@ronwv4p605 Been doing that for a long time. Don’t like it, don’t care. Again, in a high crime area headphones are great thing to use to become a victim. Shut out the world around you and not even know that someone is sneaking up behind you… Way coool!!!
Headphones are good for shutting out the world, especially in a high crime area. Be a victim of you want. I won’t be. In more ways than one. Wink wink nudge nudge…
