While in Virginia I visited US-0566 the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge @usfws in Suffolk, Virginia on Saturday, March 30, 2024 for my first Parks On The Air @ParksOnTheAir (POTA) activation in this dismal swamp. With the new rules from the National Wildlife Refuges in Virginia and the POTA admins, I followed all of them. Knowing it was a big contest weekend (CW World Wide WPX SSB contest) and knowing that there was no cell service, I knew this activation could be a challenge. With my FX-4CR SDR transceiver I braved the amateur radio bands to get this POTA entity activated.
After activating and returning home from my trip, I discovered that this was also one of many locations for US-9935 Virginia Bird & Wildlife Trail that run throughout the state. What a surprise this was!
Thank you to the all of the hunters and fellow activators for the contacts!
New POTA-themed QSL cards are IN! QSL info can be found on my QRZ page.
ALL amateur radio operators world-wide need to know the DX CODE OF CONDUCT. It was meant for DX contacts, but it really applies to ALL aspects of amateur radio (DXing, contesting, POTA, SOTA, Field Day, special events, etc...). DON'T BE AN ALPHA HOTEL!
dx-code.com.
EQUIPMENT USED:
Radio: FX-4CR SDR HF Transceiver DIRECTLY FROM BG2FX - GET YOUR OWN AT www.bg2fx.com!
Mount: ULANZI MT-33 Flexible Mini Tripod @ulanzi
Antenna: MFJ 1617T 17M & 1620T 20M HF Sticks
Tuner: MAT-TUNER mAT-10 Automatic Tuner
N9SAB's 1:1 QRP Nano Dipole Balun/Choke for Common Mode Currents/Noise Reduction Gen II - bit.ly/3UEy9Zf
Case: Apache 2800 Weatherproof Protective Case (Medium)
Tri Mag Mount: MFJ 336S
Battery: Bioenno Power 12V, 4.5Ah LFP Battery
Tripod: UBeesize 64" Phone Tripod @ubeesize9784
External Microphone: DJI Mic Kit + DJI Lavalier @DJI
Camera: iPhone 15 Pro Max
Logging Device: iPad Pro (Spotting, information & logging)
Logging App: HAMRS - hamrs.app
Tumbler: RTIC 30 oz Insulated Tumbler @RTICOutdoors
Ham Stick Bag: Lixada 55 Inch Fishing Rod Bag
Large Tool Bag, iPad Pro sleeve and various pouches from Special Operations Equipment @SOEtacticalgear (SOE) - www.originalsoegear.com or www.soetacticalgear.com
3D PRINTED QR CODE PLAQUES - EMAIL Jess N4JAH via QRZ.com
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Parks On The Air: parksontheair.com
Parks On The Air Facebook group: / parksontheair
Parks On The Air Slack group: parksontheair.slack.com
Parks On The Air spotting/stats/awards/and more site: pota.app
LOCATION INFO:
Great Dismal Swamp NWR on U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service: www.fws.gov/refuge/great-dism...
Great Dismal Swamp NWR on Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources: dwr.virginia.gov/vbwt/sites/g...
Great Dismal Swamp NWR on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_D...
Virginia Bird & Wildlife Trail on Virginia Dept. of Wildlife Resources: dwr.virginia.gov/vbwt/
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MUSIC COPYRIGHT 1992 - 1997 BY GANGSTER PUMP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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CONTACT TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
01:28 - KB9KHT - P2P
02:30 - KC9DFK
03:49 - KG5BMX
04:20 - K0KLB
05:23 - KE8SUG
06:03 - W8DF - P2P
07:41 - AJ4GY - P2P
08:40 - KC9RHF - P2P
09:30 - N0FUK - P2P
10:22 - K1KL - P2P
11:18 - KD9OLB - P2P
13:31 - W9TPJ - P2P
13:50 - Recap/Outro
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I am not affiliated administratively with the Parks On The Air organization, but a happy participant in the POTA program.
Q: What is Parks On The Air?
A: Parks On The Air (or POTA) for international portable amateur radio (ham radio) operations that promote emergency awareness and communications from national/federal and state/provincial level parks.
There are activators and there are hunters. Activators go into POTA approved parks, set up their amateur radio equipment and call CQ (CQ is an invitation for any amateur radio operators listening on that frequency to respond and make contact). Hunters will contact the activators and upon a successful contact, the activator puts the hunter into their logs that will be uploaded to calling area representatives who will then upload those logs to the POTA system. Hunters do not need to upload any logs.
Q: What are the Parks On The Air rules?
A: The rules for Parks On The Air can be found at parksontheair.com/rules/ .
Q: What are the Parks On The Air frequencies?
A: Any frequency that an amateur radio operator has permission to legally use in their country based upon their level of license. Repeaters cannot be used. More info can be found at parksontheair.com/faq/ .
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25 июл 2024
