N2OEF

Stumbling my way into the wrong park! US-0733

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:48:39 +0000

I came home from a bit of a longer run of work trips last week.

My beautiful wife and I had planned on getting out and doing an activation. Truthfully, I don’t know why she enjoys tagging along for these activations but she does, and it’s awesome!

Prepping the gear

I decided I wanted to give the TenTec R4020 a go at an activation. I normally operate the TX500 but I’ve really been wanting to put the R4020 on the air at a park.

Configuring WRC with N1MM

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 10:54:36 +0000

This is a quick “how-to” mostly to remind myself how this all works.

This is a working document for a few friends that do some contesting with me…. subject to changes.

What is Web Radio Control?

Web Radio Control is a software applicable from WebRadioControl.tech that installs on a raspberry pi and allows remote control of your radio over the internet without multiple computers running.

I’ll have to cover some details about the software in the future and a few concerns.

RFI Woes...

Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:13:13 +0000

I’ve got to be honest, this isn’t something I’ve ever really dealt with. I usually take pride in keeping my station well grounded and antennas properly tuned.

While preparing for field day, I was testing a few antenna configuration at the QTH. This year I’ll be operating 3D from my QTH. My original plan was to install 4 dipoles for the low bands 2 each for 40 meters and 80 meters. I reasoned that my location on the east coast would make 40 and 80 meter contacts fairly easy up and down the coast.

Georgia POTA - US-2177 | Fort Yargo State Park

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 09:33:23 +0000

Fort Yargo State Park

This is really nice park. A few dollar entry fee (I think it was $10) but the park is fairly large featuring a camp ground, boat ramps, and multiple places to setup and operate.

I found an area near one of the large picnic shelters with some smaller tables. Not wanting to intrude, I used the smaller tables even though they were out in the sun.

Field Day 2026 - Prep

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 20:55:29 +0000

Contesting

I absolutely love contesting! I’ve always loved the thrill of pile ups and just working through the pile up. Reality is, it’s not always like that. In fact, a large portion of the ham population may have never experienced that. POTA aside, I’m still itching to get into some contest.

My real goal has always been CW contesting…

This is something I watched for many years growing up around my ham radio clubs. Operators that were true masters of the art of CW. It’s always been a fascination and I’d spent much time watching these operators sit and work station after station at 30 word per minutes, like they were just talking…. oh and they were talking to other people sitting around them. It was like it was completely nature.

Desert POTA Activation - US-12111 - Tortugas Mountain NM

Thu, 18 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

New Mexico is a different place. Having grown up on the east coast all of my life, I find it fascinating and different being out west.

This activation I tried something a bit different and probably to my detriment. Being a frequent traveler, I am flying quite a bit, and I’ve been trying to reduce as much as I can in terms of bulk to carry.

Unfortunately there are work things I just can’t get away from carrying, so ham radio, or tech in particular, has been the target of this crusade.

My first CW POTA activations! US-7649, US-10659

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

For years I’ve been fascinated by CW or morse code. For years, it’s also been a struggle for me. I was originally licensed at age 14. Back then, the general class required a 5 WPM code exam. I took that as literal and practiced at 5 WPM to pass the test.

After passing the 5 word per minute code test, I spent some time listening to code on the air, but it sounded like a foreign language. What I didn’t realize was that a character at 5 WPM sounds much different than a character at 25 word per minute. This was my challenge.

Skipping 2025... I'm back in 2026 now?

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Well, I guess we’ll just skip right over 2025 and jump right into 2026. I’ve been away from the blog here for a while. Truthfully, I don’t think anyone reads this, but it’s an exercise in frustration on my part. This happens to be the only website I haven’t migrated yet, so at least I get maintenance experience.

In any case, 1-10-2025 was my last post and here we are in 2026. So here is what I’ve been up to!

Icom IC-705 Review

Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve done quite a bit of portable operating in my lifetime. Most of it terribly unsuccessful in my teen years, although this was mostly due to terrible band conditions back then. Today the bands are on fire! I’ve talked to someone in Ohio from a beach in Guam running 50 Watts into a portable antenna, on sideband. If that’s not impressive, I really don’t know what is.

2024 Ham Radio - Year In Review

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Welcome to 2025! It’s been a longggg year. A lot has really happened and if I’m being honest, I’m actually looking forward to what 2025 will bring.

Upgrades around the shack

There isn’t too much to write home about the shack. I did manage a few upgrades, installations. The shack has been a painfully slow progress project for years now. I haven’t really covered the shack much on this site, I should start to include it here maybe.

POTA Activation - US-5636 - White Nursery State Forest, MO

Tue, 10 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Another activation is in the logs. This was a rather rainy experience but worked out just as well. Below are some of the highlights of the area.

Area overview

The drive in was quite nice. Winding and hilly with sharp curves at times, it was quite a nice drive in. On entry to the park, there are a few places to park right near the road. There wasn’t much else to see at this park. It was quite small of a park and as you can imagine from the name, there are a few fields for tree growing.

The activation that almost didn't happen. POTA at US-2808 Oklahoma

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This was a bit of a rough one. I landed in Missouri today and since our goal is to activate as many states as we possibly can, we decided to head over to Oklahoma to activate a park and get another state in the log.

The drive was pretty relaxed but it was a fair bit away and took us slightly out of the way on our way to our hotel for this work trip but it was well worth the drive.

OR | Detroit Lake State Recreation Area | US-9143

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Well, another activation is in books.

This was an amazing trip. The weather was a near perfect 45 to 50 degress (okay, maybe that’s perfect for me), the area was quiet, and the views.

This trip I took a bit of a detor from my usual setup. Ordinarily, I’d be operating with my Icom 705 and EFHW, however, I’m actually on a longer trip that includes an island destination (I swear, I’ll finish that article eventually). ** Okay, future me here. I never got around to that article but the after article is coming… soon.

Parks On The Air Logging | LOTW

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve recently noticed an uptick in emails from concerning former contacts that are interested in Worked All States. Most of these emails are asking me to confirm a contact we’ve had so they can achieve WAS or whatever award they’re targeting.

I’m not one to disagree with chasing awards. I do it quite a bit myself but I thought it important to explain my operations here and why you might not see my state as confirmed in LOTW.

Missuri Parks

Fri, 08 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Another trip and another two park activations attempted

Equipment updates

I decided to pull the plug on the Xiegu g90. The 857D is a great radio and served me well when doing RV POTA type activations but with my primary mode of travel being airlines these days. I thought the investment into the g90 would be a great options.

Truthfully, I really wanted to pickup a KX2, but with supply limitations there, I figured I’d just grab the g90 and wait and see how it all flushes out. So far I’m fairly happy with this setup.

New POTA Initiative

Thu, 07 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I won’t say that I’ve been “out” of radio, I’ve just been distracted recently.

Being busy is life and it happens but recently I’ve had a few thoughts of getting back at it again. My rig has sat for quite a while collecting dust, and I’m down to 1 antenna at the QTH, the two others being down for some bothersome issues I still need to investigate.

Truthfully, the shack is kind of a mess. The “shack” is really a converted garage and while it’s half insulated, it’s still subjected to the outside temperature quite a bit.

FCC issues Public Notice DA 18-980

Sun, 07 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000

I told you it wasn’t wise to talk about politics, obviously that didn’t last long.

The FCC has released a Public Notice DA 18-980.

The short version of this notice is that VHF/UHF radios can not be imported, sold, advertised, or operated in the US without first being authorized by the FCC. Meaning, unless the FCC has not approved these radios, they must not be sold in the US.
The primary target of this notice seems to be the popular Baofeng radios and other cheaper similar radios from China. If you’re not aware. These radios are an cost effective option for many ham radio
operators. Most handheld VHF/UHF radios are still very expensive. Most are over the $100 mark and some can be over $300 or $400!

QSL Information

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for the contact! While the world has largly shifted to digital QSLing, I still enjoy a good, old fashioned, paper card sometimes. If you’ve got an interesting card, or just want a physical card, I’m happy to return the favor.

In any other case, all my contacts are uploaded to LOTW!

Please note that I do travel for work so I’m regularly out of town, but I’ll return your card as soon as I can.

Station & Equipment

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve split this page up into a few sections. I’ve been slowly transitioning my ‘station’ into “kits”. I got the idea from Thomas - K4SWL. He has been a great influence on my portable/POTA operations and was a huge driver in me finally learning CW (after 15 years as a General!).

I’d originally created “kits” but each radio had it’s own antenna and that just got to be a mess.

Now things are more modular