My first POTA activation at “Pressey Wildlife Management Area” (central Nebraska) is in the books. I used my self-made 17′ whips into a dipole holder. I know conditions were good today, but the antenna seemed to work very well. I ran 20 watts from the G90. Pressey is my closest park which is 18 miles from home. I made 40 contacts in an hour, using CW on 20m. Some parts went very well, some parts not so much. Pressey park had only been activated 5 times before today, so there was plenty of hunters wanting it.
The first issue I had was the Bencher paddles. I have them set very light and tight at home and have not had any issues. I actually like how light and quiet they are. Once I started today, they started sticking on both dits and dahs. I was sitting out in the sun. I suppose the sun expanded the parts enough to make them start making extra contact? I didn’t want to take time to adjust them on the fly so I grabbed an extra AliExpress paddle I had with me and used them. Using a key I wasn’t really used to, meant for extra mistakes.
I had to ask for a lot of repeats… I’m not an amazing CW op in the first place, so the pileups, less than perfect fists, and being significantly off my frequency was not helping mediocre skills. The stress gradually got better as I was able to get more relaxed and in “the flow” of the exchanges. I feel better about next time now than I did in the beginning. I see why people say it’s addicting, I’m already wanting to go again.
I’m kicking myself. I video recorded the whole thing, but messed up the audio. I ran a line into a Tascam portable recorder to get clean radio audio. I haven’t used the recorder in a while and forgot that I have to push record twice. The first time just goes into monitor mode so you can pre set levels, then the second press actually starts recording… I didn’t make that second press. I was using headphones so there was no audio for the camera or mic to pick up. It was pretty windy/noisy anyway. That mistake is not a big deal. The worst thing was when entering the logs into POTA, I had a couple questions with calls that didn’t match the states. I wished I could go back and listen to the recording again to make sure, but I can’t do that with no audio recorded. Apologies for anyone that might not have gotten credit. Live, learn, and do it better next time!
It was pretty cool to work three of the YouTuber’s I’ve been following!
1 k0yo Mike Holladay UT
2 aa5hh Mike Burke TX
3 wb2mqq Ron Cranberry Lake NY
4 wx1j Scott Traverse City MI
5 nz7q Paul Rio Rancho NM
6 ki7qcf Forrest Splanish Fork UT
7 kb4dzn Richard London KY
8 wb3ddj Michael Elkland PA
9 k9is Steven White Lake WI
10 k8lsb Marc West Hartford CT
11 k2jvb David Great Neck NY
12 ne4tn Walt Mt. Carmel TN
13 wd8rif Eric Athens OH
14 wi2w Steve North Haledon NJ
15 kd2omv Pete Waterton NY
16 kn4fvr Luke Hendersonville TN
17 wx0x Shane Cabot AR
18 nz7q Paul Rio Rancho NM
19 kb5jo Russel Magnolia TX
20 kc9il Warren Buffalo Grove IL
21 AI5P Richard Hot Splrings AR
22 kc5f Steve East Flat Rock NC
23 wn3t Rick Centreville VA
24 wb9dar Jeff Morton Grove IL
25 na6jd Vlad Lake Stevens WA
26 w3stn Stan IL
27 n4xat Robert Vincetown NJ
28 n8zv Robert Amherst OH
29 wy1u Tim Wallingford CT
30 ad4cj Tim Franklin TN
31 k5ohy Tim Midland TX
32 ke8cug Robert Marquette MI
33 n4fff Mike Madison AL
34 wm2v Jerry Marana AZ
35 n4bky Becky Madison AL
36 w1edx Paul Wallingford CT
37 ko4tqf Tyler Hickory NC
38 w9afb Scott Salem WI
39 k3slh Steve Quakertown PA
40 no2c Lou Islip Terrace NY
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