It's amazing how relaxing even a 30 minute CW activation can be. It recharges the battery for sure.

#POTA #AmateurRadio

The last 2 weekends in one map. The bands have been horrible lately, and this is all I got. Mostly all on 20 meters, a few on 40 meters. It was tough but fun.

#hamRadio #amateurRadio #POTA #20m #40m #SSB #solarMess

I have a "QSO in a kilogram" system to be able to carry enough ham equipment with me to operate at practically any time without having to plan. To do this, I have a miniature throw weight for launching a wire antenna into a tree. It is a 2 oz tungsten fishing "flipping weight".

I painted it yellow with enamel. I ran UHMWPE braided fishing line through it, and tied it around some TPU filament that I heated and formed into a plug. Then I tied a figure-8 knot with a loop near the weight. To operate, I tie the other end of the fishing line to my antenna, put a bight through the loop, and throw it into a tree with a "granny shot" or "basket throw" for height.

My idea was that if it gets stuck in the tree, just pulling hard enough on the fishing line will pull the TPU plug out, and then hopefully the weight also falls down because there is nothing in the way, and with it painted yellow I can find it.

Yesterday I tested this when it got stuck, and it worked perfectly. I just had to untie the line from the antenna wire, run it back through the weight from the tip until the TPU plug was back inside the weight, and it kept working fine.

However, if this thing ever falls 30 or 40 feet on my head, I'm going to be one sad puppy. I've thought about trying to 3d-print a TPU "sock" to stretch around it. It might be the difference between pain and actual damage. 🤔

#HamRadio #POTA

I put up my antenna wire today one more time for #POTA. My tuner has a power problem, so this time I had to work without it. Measuring my inverted vee with my analyzer I found out it was completely out of tune. Took some time to fix that but it was worth it. 29 QSO on #17m and #20m with Timor Leste as an #ATNO.
Thanks hunters!

#hamradio #amateurradio

About me on E7 #POTA site where you can see other E7POTA activities of our team. https://e7pota.ba/ado-e70na/

#Hamradio #AmateurRadio #Bosnia

#POTA activation of DE-0475 during the #FunkTag #AmateurRadio fair in Kassel, Germany. We had set up a portable station in the park outside the hall for demo purposes and fun. We started hunting parks with multiple ops but things escalated quickly when we decided to call CQ POTA ourselves.

3+ Ops, a noisy 40 meter band, general chatter and laughter around us made it quite challenging sometimes to finish a QSO. If we messed up a park to park or logged a wrong call - sorry about that. 😁

I just saw in a video from Salty Walt (K4OGO) a new EFHW Design from #DXEngineering. They call it the TWIG and it reminds me somehow a bit to my 221-UnUn 😂 but what do I know... What do you thing? #hamradio #pota

https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-twig-efhw

https://github.com/DG1JAN/221-UnUn

It's a great day for propagation on 10m from NC to Chile. I'm helping KR4KZA try for his first hopefully successful POTA activation. So far one AZ station and three Chilean stations. And just now Colombia too! Pretty cool for a new ham using his limited HF privileges while studying for general. 😎

#hamradio #pota