ACØPR, ham radio blog: FAILED Activation (POTA K-6092), not Skunked, but not Good

This is my first failed activation for POTA--Joshua Tree National Land Historic Area. It was pretty disappointing. There were three things I'll be changing for next time I give it a try. My position, the orientation of the dipole, and the coax cable.

In the area:

This is in a desert conservation area, so it looks cool and has lots of cacti that are impressive and a few

Joshua Trees. It's actually a VERY odd place for a specific Joshua Tree zone, because there are many more nearby outside of the boundaries of this historic area. In fact, there are relatively very few trees compared to outside of it. Odd. (And yes, I'm very confident I know the boundaries well). It's also in K-6096 Beaver Dam Conservation Area, which is WWFF KFF-4966 as well.

I had scouted out this area before so I knew what I wanted to do--I didn't follow it completely, which at the end I think contributed to failing, meaning not reaching the 10 contacts I needed. I only ended up with four. The only road that is in the actual boundaries of this area ends in almost a box canyon--no way for a signal to get out. So I planned to hike up the side of one and operate from the top. I got a late start so when I got to a flat high point, and it was time to be on, I didn't hike to the very top. Biggest mistake of the day. Directly to the east of me was part of the hill, but I thought it was more northeast until I was all setup and realized it was due east--in the way of where I wanted my signal to go.

Also, once I got my directions straight I realized the ridge I was on did not run north-south, so I would have to angle the legs of the dipole. However, I couldn't do that just right either since the drop off was too steep and I had to modify the orientation of the dipole. It ended up facing southeast so the northeast would not get the concentration of the signal.

Anyway, I was setup and got on the air.

On the radio:

Not a whole lot to say here unfortunately. After 10 minutes of calling with nothing, I started to wonder

if I was getting out at all. The radio showed good SWR and power. My coax has been taped up for a few weeks now with some fraying of the outer woven sheath. So I thought maybe it was that. However, I was getting out on the Reverse Beacon Network, so then I wasn't sure what to do next.

I got a few calls but far between lots of calling. There's also the SKCC Weekend Sprint so I thought I'd get some of them, but the exchange takes forever and the few I tried didn't hear me. So late start, few calls, now the sun is completely up and it's getting hot. "Only" supposed to get to 96 degrees, but I was still feeling it. I looked at the rest of the hill and realized it would have been so much better to just finish climbing it. I was using a new battery as well, a Bioenno, which is much lighter than the SLAB.

Anyway, I realized I just wasn't going to make it so decided to try again another day and fix the issues for next time. Oh well, still cool to be out in the desert.

Date / Time	Call	Bnd	Frequency	Mode	POTA	ST	Rec	Snt
9/12/2020 14:26	AA6UZ	20	14.059	CW	K-6092	CA	559	559
9/12/2020 14:42	K0ERE	40	7.066	CW	K-6092	KS	599	599
9/12/2020 14:43	K6LDQ	40	7.066	CW	K-6092	CA	559	559
9/12/2020 14:50	VE3LDT	40	7.066	CW	K-6092	ON	559	449