I was able to make it up there this year for a New Years activation. I had done a half marathon earlier in the morning at the Olympic Oval in Kearns. I did this on the way back. I had 47 QSOs, all on 20 meter phone. This got me up to 433 total QSOs at this park.
I was down here for the Franklin Mountain Trail Run. I got to do this on a support your parks day. The first part of this was in the evening after 0:00 UTC. I worked 20 meters phone for 25 contacts. It was blowing dirt up there, and I didn’t want to stay up there too long. During the trail run, I took my 2m HT radio with me to the top of North Mount Franklin and had 2 QSOs, both with stations in Cd. Juarez. Thanks XE2FBB and XE2VLG. Gracias a Filipe y Víctor por los contactos.
Up on Transmountain for the activation after sunset.
On top of North Mount Franklin to get the 2 meter contacts. The HT is in the pocket of my hydration vest.
It was a beautiful springlike day, and the ground had dried out enough that it wasn’t too soft to drive on. I did this on a lunch break of sorts. In a matter of 23 minutes, I had 31 QSOs on 20 meter phone, two with El Paso, and 3 park to parks. This brought my total for K-4398 to 962, 38 shy of Kilo.
It was off to the flight park again for a President’s Day activation. The road going in was a little muddy, but not too bad. I worked purely 20 meter SSB this time. The band conditions were good. I got 77 QSOs in about 40 minutes.
In the Maidenhead system, there are 100 squares in a field. The field ‘EM’ lies entirely in the United States, containing the Texas, the lower Great Plains, lower Midwest, and most of the Southeast. In 2022, I started to notice I had most of the squares in ‘EM’. On 13 Nov 2022, I had a QSO with KG4BLR in EM61 (Alabama) to give me 98. I waited a while not getting the last two. Then I started to use Ham Alert. I put in all of the POTA sites within the grid squares I needed as an alert. On 31 Dec 2023 I had a QSO with KB0RFC at K-0294 in EM07 (Kansas). Then on 20 Feb 2024, I had a QSO with AI5P at K-7346 in EM43 in Arkansas to give me 100.
| year | new grid squares in EM |
|---|---|
| 2017 | 2 |
| 2018 | 19 |
| 2019 | 29 |
| 2020 | 17 |
| 2021 | 26 |
| 2022 | 5 |
| 2023 | 1 |
| 2024 | 1 |
A map of the field 'EM'.
I went back to the national forest enclave where I have many times. This was a Friday afternoon activation, all on 20 meter SSB. In 35 minutes, I had 73 QSOs to give me a total of 1035 for K-4398 Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. My #1000 was K6NJG in Los Angeles (DM14).
I was out in Eagle Mountain, Utah for an exam session. Before the session, I tried my first activation of the Pony Express National Historical Trail in Eagle Mountain (DN30xh). It was a very windy day with a storm coming in. I had to cut my activation short due to the arcing and sparking in my car. The storm appeared to have a lot of charged particles. Later that day, the cold front came through and gave us some snow.
Operating in the wind at Eagle Mountain.
This day I did two activations. For the first activation, I went to the Utah Flight Park K-5929. I saw K7JSG there. He was activating and working the Idaho and Oklahoma QSO parties. I set up about 200 meters to the east of him. I had 44 QSOs on 20 meters, both phone and digital. This got me up to 554 QSOs for the park.
I then went over to Saratoga Springs and activated the Pony Express Trail (K-4578) from Harvest Hills Park. I set up on a park bench and used my crappy pole vertical. I had a total of 23 QSOs on 20 meter phone and 15 meter FT8 including 1 in Japan and 1 in Indonesia. This brought me to a total of 604 QSOs for this park.
During a weekend visit to Kanab, I did three activations. The first one was east of Kanab on US 89 just inside Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (US-4399). I had 35 QSOs on 20 meter phone. The next morning, I activated the Old Spanish National Historic Trail (US-4575) just north of Fredonia, Arizona (DM36rx). I had 19 QSOs on 20 meters with 6 digital and 13 voice. Then I drove north to US-5984 Squaw Trail BLM Recreation Management Area where I had 16 phone contacts which was surprising due to the shape of the geography around there.
These were my first activations using the ‘US-‘ prefix instead of the ‘K-‘ prefix.
Grand Staircase of the Escalante site just inside the boundaries (DM37va)
Bowl shaped enclosure at Squaw Trail (DM37rb)
I was up here for a 50K trail run, the Antelope Island Buffalo Run (on 29 March UTC). At the end of the run, I activated US-3062, Antelope Island State Park (DN31vb). I had 29 QSOs, 11 on 17 meter phone, 18 FT8 on both 17 and 20 meters. I then packed up for recovery at home.
On the way back from the Wind River Reservation coming over South Pass, I stopped at the False Parting of the Ways. This is a place where four national historical trails come over South Pass and follow Wyoming Highway 28 into the west. The trails are the California, Mormon Pioneer, Oregon, and Pony Express Trails. This makes five parks (US-6194, US-4566, US-4573, US-4576, and US-4578). Due to the amount of wind and the challenge in reading off five parks, I went strictly on FT8 20 meter. It was a quick stop. I had 22 QSOs.
This was a Friday evening activation and all of the QSOs were on 6 Apr UTC. This was completely SSB with a total of 50 QSOs. I kept going on 20 meters until I couldn’t get any more, then I went to 40 meters and got 3 more.
After making a combined POTA MOQP contact, I decided to make a few more. I tuned in a log with 2 40 meter and 3 20 meter phone QSOs.
This day I did the Serengeti Half Marathon in the hills above Erda. When I got done, I activated US-11161 North Oquirrh Management Area BLM Recreation Management Area (DN30up) between Erda and Lakepoint. I had 15 QSOs on SSB 20 meter, 3 were DX, 1 France, 1 Alaska, and 1 Northwest Territories. I went into Tooele for lunch, then activated US-5970 Fivemile Pass BLM Recreation Management Area (DN30wf) just west of Fairfield on the Utah County side. There I worked 24 stations all 20 meter SSB.
I was back in Kanab, but I left my ham sticks at home. For US-10988 (DM37rd) I strung up a long wire that was no more than 3 meters (10 feet) off the ground. I worked 20 meters getting 14 SSB and 38 FT8.
A couple of views from Peek-a-Boo
This was quick activation at the flight park while the XYL was doing something close by. It was pretty windy, and band conditions were bad as they had been all week. I got 13 QSOs (4 SSB, 9 FT8) on 20 meters.
I was a VE at a Laurel exam session in Eagle Mountain, Utah. Before and after the session, I activated US-4578, the Pony Express Trail, for 63 QSOs (with 2 EUDX on 15 m). I also made some QSOs for the 7th Area QSO Party (Utah County, Utah).
Views from two locations on the Pony Express Trail in Eagle Mountain, Utah (DN30xi)
This day marked 40 years since I joined the Army, and I got to celebrate in a special way. I did a POTA activation from a site of importance to our nation’s independence. I had my Xiegu G90 and Wolf River Coil antenna, my airplane carry-on configuration. It was a challenge get out between those buildings. I tried 15 and 17 meters, but my 13 QSOs were on 20 meters, all FT8.
View of Independence Hall (FM29kw)
Propagation map from US-0738
This was my first out of country activation, activating as M/WX5LOK. A lot of success at distances around 1200 km. It was GB-0450 Whitlingham Country Park near Norwich. I struggled a little bit but managed to get 10 QSOs FT8 and 1 SSB. The closest was G8IXM in Norwich. The contacts were made on 20, 17 and 15 meters.
A view or the QTH in GB-0450 (JO02po)
Propagation map of the QSOs
This was a former military training area. Given the part of the country it is in, it was probably used by British forces quite a bit. This was a frustrating attempt at an activation. I only made 2 QSOs within on 40 meters Germany on this one. When I was tearing down my station, I found I had some bad coax that was probably making a capacitive connection at best. I will go better prepared on my next trip to the Bundesrepublik.
This was my first activation since coming back to the US. I went back to the flight park an a warm afternoon with almost no wind, which is unusual for this location. It was relaxing to sit out there in the warmth. All 46 contacts were on phone. The first 37 were on 20 meters, with 3 more on 40 and 6 on 2 m 146.52 FM. I usually don’t pick up so many on 2 meters. This brought me to a total of 663 QSOs for this park.
This was a Father's Day POTA in Hobble Creek Canyon with the grandkids, the first time I had activated US-4398 from this location. It was all FT8. The propagation pattern followed the canyon's profile.
QTH in Hobble Creek Canyon (DN40fd) with the grandkids
Propagation followed the pattern of the canyon
I didn't have a lot of time for ARRL Field Day this year, but I was able to do a little over 3 hours of operating (1B UT - portable battery). I set up three different times at Fish Park (aka Hunter Park) (DN40cj) about 1 km from my home QTH. Thanks to Sean Gardner (operating Sun City Amateur Radio Club (K5WPH)) and Kevin Bowen (K7SW) for two of my 66 QSOs.
This setup was in 35 °C (95 °F) heat, the shade was nice
This was a Tuesday night activation of the flight park. I did a mixed FT8 and SSB activation on both 17 and 20 meters to get the 37 QSOs and get me up to 700 QSOs for this park.
I was close by doing a 5K run in Lehi. The cool down activity was a POTA activation at US-5929. This activation was pure phone with all but one 2 FM contact on 20 meters for a total of 39 QSOs. This gives a total of 739 QSOs for this park (261 to go to Kilo),
The reason they call it flight park is because of the parasails; they were out in number this day
This was a POTA activation close to the same spot as the Father’s Day activation. The band conditions were not very good. I worked 20 and 17 meters FT8 and had 24 QSOs.
This was a quick stop on the way to Denver. I was having trouble with band conditions but managed to make 13 QSOs all on 20 meters FT8. The location was just off of I80 near Point of the Rocks, Sweetwater County, Wyoming (DN51oq).
A view from the historical site with the Union Pacific passing by and Point of the Rocks, Wyoming on the other side of I80
Ten months after completing it, I received my Level 2 certificate for UCARES. The latency was mostly because I had been really busy.
The 20 meter band was finally open after really bad conditions all summer. I went to the park before 0:00 UTC and had 40 SSB QSOs. I went to IKEA in Draper, then I went back after 0:00 and got another 49 QSOs. That gave me a total of 828 for the park.
The sun setting on another POTA activation at US-5929
I finally tried APRS. I had had an Anytone AT-D878 radio for several years. It’s a really nice radio. I had bought it for DMR but had barely used it. I remembered I could do APRS with it. I took in on a trail run above Cedar Hills and Pleasant Grove, Utah (DN40di and DN40dj). It worked well except when I was running in Grove Greek Canyon.
My trail run track as shown on aprs.fi
This was a Friday afternoon activation. I was trying to avoid the affects of an incoming solar flair. I started on 10 meters and got 16 QSOs before the noise floor got to a point where I could hear no more. The I went to 15 meters and had 6 more. I wasn’t hoping for much on 20 meters, but once I got going, I was able to manage a few pileups and ended up with 37 QSOs on 20. All were SSB. I had to leave to spend some time with the grandchildren. I ended up with 59 QSOs for a total of 887 for this park.
I was back in Moab to support another Moab 240. This time I worked Hidden Valley, net control, and Pole Canyon. While I was at Pole Canyon, I got to see the comet Tsuchinshan. I also sent out one WX packet. However, I was collecting weather data my whole time at Pole Canyon.
After leaving on Tuesday, I went between Moab and Monticello and activated a couple of parks, US-5776 Looking Glass Rock BLM Interpretive Site (17 phone) and US-11728 Windwhistle Campground BLM Recreation Management (20 FT8, 109 SSB, total 129). The second activation crossed 0:00 UTC. I ended up running my batteries dead while there.
On Thursday the 17th, I went back to US-0770 Chamizal in El Paso and activated with 7 phone and 25 FT8 for 32 QSOs. That gives me a total of 170 for that park.
A picture of Comet Tsuchinshan from the Pole Canyon Aid Station (DM58ji)
The weather staton and J-pole at Pole Canyon
The setup at Looking Glass Rock (DM58hg)
Some radio activity at the Windwhistle campsite (DM58ge) before bedding down
There is a Whataburger by la Bowie, very close to US-0770. This is POTA fuel.
Another quick Friday afternoon activation. It was all 20 meters except for one FM 2 meter. I had one DX contact from Spain. The 78 QSOs got me up to 965 total for this park.
I went back here before a church cleaning assignment I had on a Saturday Morning. This time I activated on the POTA workhorse, 20 m SSB. I had 43 QSOs with got me up to 1008. My number 1000 was AA4JP, Corey, in Russellville, Kentucky at a distance of 2199 km.
My setup for Kilo with the snowcapped Oquirrhs in the background
Cumulative percentage of QSOs v distance to get Kilo
This activation was from the Eagle Mountain Trailhead (DN30xi) overlooking the city center. I started out on 10 meters phone and got 20 contacts including one DX to Mexico and 2 to Alaska. I then got 114 more on 20 meters SSB. This gives me a total of 261 for this park.
QTH on the Pony Express Trail in Eagle Mountain, Utah with Lewiston Peak in the background
This is my second time out here after a year’s absence. This time I had 99 QSOs for a total of 221 at this park. I had 2 FM 2 meter contacts. I started the activation on 20 meters with one DX contact with Alaska. I had 5 more QSOs on 10 meters with a DX park to park with Alaska and another DX to Japan (JR6LMJ).
For Skywarn this year I made contacts via AX,25 (APRS), Echolink, FM, SSB (HF), and Winlink. I sent and/or received 135 reports.
Equipment used for weather collection during Skywarn. A Kestrel 5000 Pro for t, RH, and BP; a RM Young 41003 radiation shield with a Fluke 2626 sensor inside; and inside the shack with the Fluke 1620 readout and a Accurite readout.
Collected temperature data. The 2626 data is in blue and the Kestrel data is in green.
Map of HF contacts
Skywarn Certificate
I was back at the Eagle Mountain Trailhead (DN30xi) overlooking the city center. I had a total of 69 QSOs on 10, 15, and 20 meters all SSB.
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