ACØPR, ham radio blog: QRP CW Parks on the Air at Gunlock State Park (K-3077), UT

For some reason I got the itch to check out POTA (Parks on the Air). I did one over a year ago (Snow Canyon State Park) just to see, and then starting looking into it in more detail this week. Since then they had added quite a few "parks" so there's a lot more to choose from. Most around here have not been activated before. Certainly not replacing SOTA, but these hot months I don't have the time or inclination to do tons of hiking.

I decided for Gunlock--it's one of the closer ones to home, and I've been there lots. One of the reasons I want to start doing these is that I want to use my Elecraft KX2 radio more--I don't use it for SOTA because it's an expensive radio and summits tend to be rough on equipment. I'm hoping parks won't be. However, I do NOT know this radio well at all. Yes, I could set up at home and try working things out. I prefer to do that in the field, lessons learned stick a bit more.

Instead of just dragging my SOTA pack to a park, I wanted to have a different setup. I plan on making an antenna specifically for the KX2 and doing POTA, but until then I have my regular linked dipole. I took a heavier battery, a 5ah SLAB. I figured I would be on longer than I normally am. The amount of gear was MUCH less, I mean, I'm in a park not in a wilderness area or miles from any other person. I used a day pack to keep it in.

At the park:

I arrived around 7:30am. The sun was just coming over the hills, it was cool and very few people around. I thought about where in this large park I would setup. I didn't want by the beach, there would be tons of people and I didn't want wires where there would be people. The benches/tables would be full of people soon too, and there weren't many. I decided to go high (must be summit influence), and picked a hill on the far side. This meant I would have to hike a little, but would be alone.

It's a cool-looking area. Very much desert with red rock and sand. It took about 15 mins. to get to the point I wanted to use as the shack. I used some rocks around to steady the mast and got the antenna in the air and the radio connected. It was a comfortable spot in the shade of a little tree. The boaters were out and of course some fishermen.

On the radio:

I got on and spotted myself and starting calling CQ. I thought I might have heard something, but certainly not well enough to make a contact. After calling CQ for 15 minutes with nothing (NEVER would happen with SOTA), I thought I'd better check everything again. I had been spotted by RBN (an online group of stations that "listen" for signals) which means my signal was getting out, but receiving I could tell the radio was blocking out a lot. I had the manual with me (knowing I didn't know the radio well). I looked up a few things, tried a few settings and buttons and changed bands as well.

Finally I started making a few contacts on 40m (45 minutes after arriving to the hilltop). After getting five contacts I went to chase a few SOTA guys--any contact counts and I knew I could get them. I found George KXØR and later NA6MG, Daniel--without those I wouldn't have made it I don't think.

I tried a few other bands and was not getting it. I went back to 40m after a good half an hour trying others and finally finished (got 11 total, 10 required to activate).

SOTA vs. POTA:

A few observations about the two programs. First, this was not a "fair" comparison between them, not that they need comparing, since I took an unfamiliar radio and had a hard time starting. Why is that an issue? Many hunters could have been calling that I didn't hear and then didn't try again once I got going again. There are a few obvious differences though.

There is definitely more CW on SOTA, lots of spots I saw today were for SSB (phone) and not as many with CW--while the opposite is true for SOTA. People aren't hiking up hills normally like for SOTA, they can work from, or very close to, their cars, they don't have to use QRP equipment and batteries, this contributes to SOTA activators using qrp (and CW) equipment. I've seen quite a few POTA videos with equipment on a table a few feet away from the car.

Next, of course being on a summit has an advantage for propagation where a park is generally lower. Finally, as just supposition, the SOTA chasers are voracious--they are on you quick since they don't know how long you'll be there. I think I switched frequencies too quickly for POTA.

Overall, it was a successful activation, which is the important thing. I learned a few new things, also a plus. It did take longer than I expected or wanted, but hopefully being more familiar with the radio will help with that. Not sure where I'll go next.

Video of the activation

Bnd	Call	Date / Time	Frequency	Mode	Name	Operator	Other
40	WA0JLY	7/25/2020 14:46	7.037	CW	Dennis	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	AC6YY	7/25/2020 14:48	7.037	CW	NENAD	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	WA6MP	7/25/2020 14:49	7.037	CW	Miroslav	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	W0ZAP	7/25/2020 14:53	7.037	CW	RICHARD	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	N7HLS	7/25/2020 14:56	7.037	CW	TIM	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	KX0R	7/25/2020 15:04	7.032	CW	GEORGE	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP SOTA
60	NA6MG	7/25/2020 15:20	5.332	CW	DANIEL	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP SOTA
40	W2RS	7/25/2020 16:00	7.037	CW	RAPHAEL	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	KN7D	7/25/2020 16:04	7.037	CW	LAWRENCE	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	K7III	7/25/2020 16:07	7.037	CW	Jason	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP
40	NA6MG	7/25/2020 16:14	7.061	CW	DANIEL	AC0PR	POTA K-3077GunlockSP SOTA