Press "Enter" to skip to content

UPARC Members Visit Crooked River State Park in Georgia

By Tom Schaefer NY4I on March 25, 2024

Jeff NE4C operating with Ryan AF4O from Crooked River State Park [Photo by NY4I]
Icom IC-7300 and Elecraft KPA500/KAT500 Combo [Photo by AF4O]
Tom NY4I working CW contacts [Photo by AF4O]
Wire antennas in the trees [Photo by AF4O]
Over the weekend of March 20th – March 23rd, 2024, Ryan AF4O, Jeff NE4C and Tom NY4I traveled to Crooked River State Park in Georgia for a RISK Tournament (yes, RISK the board game). The tournament is in the park in rented cottages. Besides the tournament, there is plenty of time for other activities so Ryan brought his Icom 7300 and the Elecraft amplifier along with wire antennas to activate the park for POTA with 500 watts of power. Jeff NE4C and Tom NY4I were also able to operate the station setup in the kitchen table of a cabin. The pile-ups were really big as the power and park attracted lots of stations wanting to work the park. All three operators ran SSB and Tom even managed to get in 11 CW contacts completely hand-sent (as in the computer did not send the CW). Ryan also made a bunch of contacts from his truck from within the park.

Also fun was that some of the tournament players came into the cabin to watch the radio operation and were really excited about what they just saw. Pile-ups are exciting! Maybe we will get a few new hams out of it to boot.

Contacts made included 54 SSB by Ryan AF4O, 135 by Jeff NE4C and 32 by Tom NY4I.

Check out our YouTube channel for a video of Jeff and Ryan operating. https://youtu.be/Jk5j31bx1ps

 

Published in POTA

Tom Schaefer NY4I
Tom Schaefer NY4I

Hello. I have been licensed since 1980. I am a founding member UPARC as well as a past-president and past club secretary. I am a Life Member of the ARRL as well as a member of the ARRL Maxim Society. Additionally, I am a life member of AMSAT, current president of the St. Petersburg Amateur Radio Club a member of the Clearwater Amateur Radio Club and a past-president and member of the Utah Amateur Radio Club. I hold 9 band DXCC covering 160 meters through 10 meters. I am also a member of the ARRL's A-1 Operator's Club. I mostly chase DX, POTA parks and dabble in contests both at home and with SPARC. I also work on the development of several amateur radio software projects including TR4W among other open source projects. I am a dyed in the wool Elecraft fan utilizing my K4D and KPA1500 for HF but also have more Icom radios than any one person should own. I also have a growing Begali key addiction that seems to keep growing.I also have a nice collection of older radios, Mac computers and HF 1500 watt amplifiers. Professionally, I own a software consulting company and have been involved in software development and IT continuous for the past 39 years.

More from POTAMore posts in POTA »

Upper Pinellas Amateur Radio Club

Mission News Theme by Compete Themes.