This is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway special event.  I made it with my FT-817ND on 5 watts into an EARCHI 9:1 end fed antenna with a 33 foot wire 10 feet off the ground at the feedpoint going to a pvc pipe and dropping down to about a foot off the ground along the pipe.  Looks like an inverted L with the feedpoint up high instead of down low.

They gave me a 5-7 signal report. This was a little over 1400 miles out of Utah on 20 meters 14.266 MHz.  I am really blown away how QRP and a joke of an antenna can work so well sometimes.  

I guess to an extent, the old saying "If you can hear them you can work them" holds true.

I very, very rarely actually transmit.  I guess I am a little shy and unfamiliar with HF QSO protocols.

The radio is a bone stock FT-817ND, stock mic, and an MFJ travel tuner to match the antenna.  

Well that can be remedied pretty quickly.  How about you participate in Field Day this year, in June.  An easy "contest" that is not really a contest, but you will work a lot of stations with minimal interaction with each one.  If interested let me know and I can get you lined out. You WILL have fun.  Another thing to do is get started in POTA.  I just started that myself. You can start with next to nothing. What you have will work fine. Just sign up at the Pota website and you can start hunting and going for awards immediately. And you can "activate" parks too if you want to go out into the field and actually be in side one, where you become the "hunted"  Again If you want to know more, you can contact me (I am good on QRZ) or PM me here and we can talk if you like.   If you don't like personal interaction, you can google these activities to learn more too. But you would have a ball with both of these simple activities without much pressure or stress.

73  James K0UA

Thanks for the info.  It's funny because I have had my ham license for over 8 years already, and just haven't made a lot of contacts.  There was an ZL station operating on the beach portable earlier that I tried, but he had a pretty good pileup going.

I've heard about POTA and I am fortunate to have many state and national parks within a few hours drive.

It's really the QSO protocols I need to become accustomed to.  I suppose there's nothing like practice.  I can read up on it some tomorrow.  

Many years ago I had a CB and talked to a local, very informal group of people for hours every night.  And really I had hoped to find something like that with amateur radio, but there aren't any ragchew groups on the local repeaters, and my schedule is so inconsistent that it's hard to commit to regular nets.

But it was fun making a contact that far away with a QRP radio.  If I'd managed to get the ZL guy, my wife and kids would be sick of hearing about it.  

POTA is a lot of fun.  It's like mini-DX only instead of callsigns we're chasing park numbers.  At last count there were over 9,700 parks on the list in the USA alone.  I've worked a bit over 1,200 parks in the past year as a Hunter and have really enjoyed it.  The QSO's are just hit-and-run DX-style signal reports so it's easy and quick.  There are frequently pileups but since they are mostly stateside the signal strength is pretty high.  There are, however, a lot of DX POTA stations as well.  A LOT of countries have picked up on it so they are in the mix as well.  Without even trying I've hit 15 countries.

Jump in and join the fun.  Nothing to lose and it is a blast.

I'll assume you're at least a General since you presumably used phone on 20M. I have been licensed for just over a year and understand being "mic shy" and concerned about protocol and etiquette. The ARRL Operator's Guide covers it all, but I think that just listening to how others have QSOs is somewhat adequate.

Participating in the Arfcom Net on Tuesday evenings is a fun way to get in a little practice in a no pressure setting. See the tacked thread in this forum.

Re: Indianapolis Speedway W9IMS

I made a contact with them, too. Apparently, there is some kind of thing for having QSOs with them for all 3(?) of their specified weekends? I think you can get a special QSL card from them for this.

If you need any assistance, just ask.  Yes, practice is the best way to get involved.  Well actually the best way to start is just to start.

80 meters is the big "ragchew" band. Yes some are a bit of a "clique" at times, but many of the groups are welcoming of newcomers. Or find a buddy and have a scheduled time to yak on the radio.  QRP is not the best on 80 meters especially in the summertime because of the summertime static.  Always a storm somewhere and these static crashes get propagated just like our signals. Lots of guys with kilowatts on 80. It is much better in the winter nights. Good luck, and jump in, and don't hesitate to contact me.

If you ever want to chit chat on 80 let me know. I don't mind tag chewing if the convo is interesting. Not sure where you are and how well it'll work. But I don't mind trying.  

POTA is a lot of fun. Really simple interaction too. The QSOs almost always go:

Activator: CQ POTA (call sign) at Kilo (insert number)

Hunter: (Call sign)

Activator: (hunter call) you are (insert signal report) into ( state or park usually)

Hunter: Acknowledges however they want. Then gives signal report and usually state to activator.

Activator: Acknowledges and call for me activators, some say thanks or some just say 73


Most of us who activate are VERY patient and want more people doing this. So jump in an have fun. You don't have to sign up to hunt either. People hunt us all the time who aren't signed up.

Last year I made the sweep as a new ham and got the certificate. Made contact this past Sunday. As a race fan, it' probably my favorite event of the year.

I need to make contact with you, OP, for my WAS!

keep listening, that's a good way to learn the lingo.

go to the POTA spotter, sign up, and start hunting park activations.

It's easy, because they activator submits the log.

https://pota.app/#/

https://parksontheair.com/

not much lingo to learn with SSB.

Once you're ready to do your first activation, the FT817 will work fine with a good antenna.


It goes something like this.

go to the spotter I posted above, and spot yourself, you need to know your park number.

maybe start by hunting a few by calling  - "park to park derek45"

"the park to park, go ahead"

"park to park DELTA ECHO ROMEO ECHO KILO 45, we are at KILO 3340, your 59"

you exchange park numbers, and signal reports, etc.,  and when he says


"Q R Zed"  ( call me )

that's when it's time for all the hunters to call him.


I've been a ham, active on HF since the 1990's, and POTA is the most fun I've had in years.

Yes, I think you can get some kind of certificate.

Years ago I set up an LoTW account and uploaded a handful of JT65 logs I had.  But it has been so long since I used it, I couldn't figure out how to log the contact.  It looks like you need to use different logging software and export a file to upload to LOTW.

Looking at the POTA website, there are a couple of locations ner me that are accessible by 4x4 or ATV only and have never been activated before.  That might be a fun day to go activate one after I get some experience, and give people an opportunity to log a rare location.

I don't know if grid square hunting is popular, but I bet I could help someone log some rare grid squares too.  I am in a pretty remote area and there are only a handful of hams.  Looking at some of the POTA activations in the area, I didn't recognize the calls signs as ones I hear on the local repeater nets, so I don't think the local guys are doing it.

Lots of hams are not interested in V/U repeaters.

you can look them up here...

https://www.qrz.com/

You CAN manually log and create an adif file with the little adif file creator built into the TQSL software you download from ARRL to upload to LOTW, but it is slow and tedious to manually fill out the facts of the QSO instead of having radio to computer integration and letting the radio fill out the frequency, mode etc in the log. But you can do it that way if you want to log on paper.

You will need to apply for another digital certificate if it has been over 3 years since you signed up for LOTW and got your original one.  And because you are talking abut JT65 I know that it has been more than 3 years. JT65 is pretty much extinct on the normal HF bands. It is still used on EME.  FT8 and FT4 are the current modes in use by 99 percent of digital users.

If you need any help with getting back on LOTW, I can help with that too.

Thanks, yeah I think those JT65 contacts were all circa 2017 or so.  The computer I was using is long dead.    I remember jumping through a lot of hoops back then trying to use a Garmin etrex with a NMEA out cable and some obscure software to get the computer clock synced up without an internet connection.  Now I'm reading that you can use a USB GPS but it has to send 1 second pulses and I can't find one on Amazon that says it does.  Seems like it would be better to use a phone connected to the computer for time sync since phones have internal GPS, and network access most of the time.

I have a very compact windows computer but it's easily 7 years old itself, and it has been stashed in a tote with some of my ham gear so the battery is probably dead weight.  For most ham stuff, an older computer is probably adequate.

I'm also having issues with the windcamp battery in the 817.  It charged okay the first time I got it back out.  But the next time I tried to charge it, the charger indicated full in less than an hour, and the voltage was only 11.1V.  The charger indicates full now every time I connect it, regardless of the voltage.  I pried open the charger case and gave it a sniff, and it has that telltale "smoke was let out" aroma, so I ordered a new 12.6V, 1A 3 cell lipo charger. Hopefully the little barrel connector will fit so I don't have to swap it out.

Funny thing is the on board fuse (not user serviceable) in the charger is intact.  But the charger is definitely not behaving as it should.  Hopefully the battery pack will revive.  I don't think these packs have built in balance circuits.

I also have a car jump starter pack that I made an EC4 to powerpole adapter that can be used for backup power for the radio.  And I have the regular factory NiMh pack as well, but it's not as slick as the Windcamp setup.

Hopefully I can get out to some parks over the summer.  But it seems like I need to do a little more preparation and get my logging in order and get practice using it most of all.

Sorry for the long winded post.  Just a lot on my mind about diving back into HF after not using it for a long time.

A couple of ways to maintain time synch.  One newer way is to use a network time protocol program called JTsynch.  This will allow you to in effect to synch off of others on the air. So you go with the "herd" or pick someone and synch your computer to them.  You could be out and off of the grid forever and still be in synch.  Of course the other old way, and one I have used during field day is turn on the "hotspot" function of your cellphone for a couple of minutes and then connect your computer wirelessly to your cellphone and get the time set using your regular time synch program, and then turn off your hotspot and put your phone away and just run on the pc's own internal clock for a while.  Depending on how accurate your PC's clock runs, this could be several hours before needing  a re synch.  Some PC's may run a whole event like Field Day without really needing a re-synch. It just depends.  Below is the link for JTsynch

JTsynch

As far as logging for POTA activations, a lot of people are using HAMRS for their field logging, including POTA and Field day.
It is very simple and makes the adif file and is free for PC usage.  They do charge $5 for use on a cell phone or tablet. I cannnot think of a simpler logging program.

HAMRS logging app page

That makes sense about the PC clock being good for a bit.  I think I should have cell service near or at some of the locations I'd like to operate from.

With the JTsynch, that seems like a good option unless literally everyone uses it.

Thanks, I'll check this out.  $5 is less than a fast food sandwich, so likely worth it for the convenience of phone/tablet use.

HAMRS is convenient but it has been known to crash. Some people lost entire activations. Supposedly it's been fixed. I lost a few one day when it crashed on me. But just beware. I went back to paper or N3FJP.

@ManiacRat461

I downloaded HAMRS to give it a try, but I don't understand what they mean by "comma separated" in the field where you enter the park.

Attached File

Sometimes people can be activated at two places at once. Say a state park in a wildlife area. You would separate them with a comma.

This right here.

Off grid, I get an FT8 time sync manually by listening to WWV and manually set the computer time on the tone at the top of the minute. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 tries, but usually get it in under  sec sync. Time freqs are 2.5, 5 , 10, 15, 20 mhz. Easy to remember.

What the minute is doesn’t matter, it only matters that the seconds are synced.you really only need to sync it for the 15 second cycle, ie, starting to listen and transmit when everybody else does, the actual time doesn’t matter, but I do use my watch for the minute to set, just so the computer does have the proper time for logging

Also don’t worry about QSO format, just jump in with both feet,

Okay, that makes sense, thanks.

Ha, good old WWV.  I remember my dad using it to set all the clocks in the house with a shortwave radio when I was a kid.  

I have not use the specific software in question, but comma separation is a common thing when uploading data into a database (or excel, for that matter) table. The program throws away the comma but puts the items on either side of it into separate fields or cells. So, do NOT use a comma anywhere within an entry or it will be seen as a separator.