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Even though the long range forecast for Saturday, March 19th is calling for rain and drizzle, I am contemplating doing another NPOTA activation.  The weather this time of year is always changing, so I am hoping that next Saturday will actually turn out nice.

This time I have a hankering to go on up to HP28, Morristown National Historical Park, which actually consists of four different areas:

1) The Ford Mansion
2) Washington's Headquarters Museum
3) Jockey Hollow
4) Fort Nonsense

The best area for operating without causing too much undo commotion to anyone else, is from the parking lot at Jockey Hollow.  Jockey Hollow is where the Continental Army wintered in 1779-1780 - a winter which turned out to be way more severe than the previous winter, which has become better known as "The Winter at Valley Forge".

That's where Dave KD2FSI activated HP28 back in January (and where I logged for him as he handled his really first big HF pileup).  I noticed some pretty tall trees right next to the parking spots (the parking lot is big), so maybe I can quietly throw my PAR END-FEDZ 40/20/10 into one of them.  Of course, the main bands for operating will be 40 and 20 Meters.  As is always the case for W2LJ, operations will be primarily CW - but I am thinking of perhaps even doing a little QRP SSB if activity on the CW bands gets lax.  I'm not sure if HP28 has been activated via CW. Maybe I can be the first.

This weekend, if I get the time, I would like to finally experiment with building a magnetic loop antenna for 40 - 10 Meters.  I have some coax in the basement that's too short for anything else and would serve well, I think.  I have a 365pF variable cap that I got from eBay.  I have been reading some articles lately and it doesn't look like building a rudimentary loop would be all that difficult.  If I have success with it, maybe I can eventually come up with a homebrewed version of the AlexLoop WalkHam model that I can use for portable ops. It might prove to be a viable option when I want to be away from the Jeep, and yet I can't hang an EFHW, or doublet.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club has two meeting nights each month. The fourth Wednesday of each month is our "official" business meeting, where we take care of all the normal matters that come before any Amateur Radio club. 

                                                                    Designed by Dave Hackett KD2FSI

The first Wednesday of each month is our informal "Operating Night" meeting.  This tradition was instituted by our founding and current Club President, Marv K2VHW.  His idea was to have an evening set aside where the older members of the club could meet with the newer Amateur Radio ops and engage with them about some radio or operating related topic.


Marv has been down and out with some back troubles, so at our February meeting, Ron N2LCZ. our Recording Secretary, suggested that for the March operating night, that we should do an NPOTA activation. The Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail (TR23) runs right in front of our meeting place, the South Plainfield CERT Building, which is on the corner of Hamilton Boulevard and New Market Avenue - Hamilton Boulevard is part of the trail.

We are, quite literally, only about 25 feet or so from the roadway, and the Trail.  Our meeting place was originally a gasoline filling station that was converted by the South Plainfield Police Department into a satellite Community Policing Building.  When the SPPD took over the mantle of Emergency Management, they generously offered use of the building to the South Plainfield CERT/RACES team.  SPARC is allowed to use the building for its meetings.


So last night we got together to put NJ2SP on the air.  Dave KD2FSI set up some equipment, his Yaesu HF transceiver and ran some coax out to the screwdriver antenna on his van. Power was provided by a Werker deep cycle battery. We started out on 20 Meters, where unfortunately, we had a close to S9 noise level.  Even so, we made QSOs from the West coast to Suriname.

When 20 Meters dried up, we switched over to 40 Meters where the background noise level was slightly lower, but the incoming signals were much louder. And that's where the bulk of our 51 QSOs were made. We were busy for the better part of an hour.

The best part about it all was that neither Dave or I made the QSOs.  I sat there as a logger and "QSO Coach" (and control operator) while some of the other members of SPARC, who have no regular access to HF took over. It was not hard to tell that they had a blast and after one or two QSOs, they were behaving like HF veterans.

The high point of the evening was when a visiting YL sat down and took over the microphone.  I scribbled out a brief script for her, so she would know what to say and she took off and hit the ground running.  40 Meters seemed like it was quieting down, but as soon as her voice went over the air, the dam broke loose and we had another pileup on our hands. Lee Ann has visited our club a few times and is deciding whether or not she would like to pursue obtaining her own license.

I am willing to bet that last night sealed the deal.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

The South Plainfield Amateur Radio Club has two meeting nights each month. The fourth Wednesday of each month is our "official" business meeting, where we take care of all the normal matters that come before any Amateur Radio club. 

                                                                    Designed by Dave Hackett KD2FSI

The first Wednesday of each month is our informal "Operating Night" meeting.  This tradition was instituted by our founding and current Club President, Marv K2VHW.  His idea was to have an evening set aside where the older members of the club could meet with the newer Amateur Radio ops and engage with them about some radio or operating related topic.


Marv has been down and out with some back troubles, so at our February meeting, Ron N2LCZ. our Recording Secretary, suggested that for the March operating night, that we should do an NPOTA activation. The Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail (TR23) runs right in front of our meeting place, the South Plainfield CERT Building, which is on the corner of Hamilton Boulevard and New Market Avenue - Hamilton Boulevard is part of the trail.

We are, quite literally, only about 25 feet or so from the roadway, and the Trail.  Our meeting place was originally a gasoline filling station that was converted by the South Plainfield Police Department into a satellite Community Policing Building.  When the SPPD took over the mantle of Emergency Management, they generously offered use of the building to the South Plainfield CERT/RACES team.  SPARC is allowed to use the building for its meetings.


So last night we got together to put NJ2SP on the air.  Dave KD2FSI set up some equipment, his Yaesu HF transceiver and ran some coax out to the screwdriver antenna on his van. Power was provided by a Werker deep cycle battery. We started out on 20 Meters, where unfortunately, we had a close to S9 noise level.  Even so, we made QSOs from the West coast to Suriname.

When 20 Meters dried up, we switched over to 40 Meters where the background noise level was slightly lower, but the incoming signals were much louder. And that's where the bulk of our 51 QSOs were made. We were busy for the better part of an hour.

The best part about it all was that neither Dave or I made the QSOs.  I sat there as a logger and "QSO Coach" (and control operator) while some of the other members of SPARC, who have no regular access to HF took over. It was not hard to tell that they had a blast and after one or two QSOs, they were behaving like HF veterans.

The high point of the evening was when a visiting YL sat down and took over the microphone.  I scribbled out a brief script for her, so she would know what to say and she took off and hit the ground running.  40 Meters seemed like it was quieting down, but as soon as her voice went over the air, the dam broke loose and we had another pileup on our hands. Lee Ann has visited our club a few times and is deciding whether or not she would like to pursue obtaining her own license.

I am willing to bet that last night sealed the deal.

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!

If you've never done any type of portable operating and you're intrigued by NPOTA, and are thinking of activating a park or entity, there are several things that you need to do. To a lot of QRPers, this will all be "Elementary, my dear Watson", as so may of us are used to taking our radios to all kinds of off-the-beaten-path locations.  But if you've never left the friendly confines of your Home shack before, here are some things to consider:

1) Scope out the entity or park before "Game Day". Know where you're going to operate from. Is there an out of the way place where you can set up, or will you be right in the thick of things?  Are there any prohibitions/releases/permissions needed?  You want to know about these things and get them out of the way and taken care of before Activation Day. There's nothing as disheartening as showing up and having a Park Ranger come up to you and say, "You can't do this, because (insert any number of reasons) .........". And, while we're on the subject of Park Rangers ......... I know this is so basic as to almost be insulting, but I'm going to mention it anyway. No matter what else happens during your activation, PLEASE ..... at all times be  cooperative, courteous and respectful to NPS employees. They're just there doing their job. It's important that we present Amateur Radio operators and Amateur Radio operations through the best lens possible. Don't ruin things for your future brother and sister Hams by being rude, pushy, or by having an attitude.

2) Know your equipment, know your antennas.  Know what works, what doesn't. Take what you need (with backups), but leave the fluff at home. If you've never done a portable operations gig outside of Field Day, then you need some practice.  Portable operations are not quite the same as Field Day. Close, but not quite the same.  First off, your activation more than likely won't be for 24 hours, so you're going to have to consider power.  Power is the most important thing.  4, 5 or 6 hours at the 100 Watt level?  You're going to need to bring heavy, fully charged deep cycle batteries with you. 4, 5 or 6 hours at QRP levels? Life gets much easier. Smaller, lighter SLAs or better yet, feather-weight lithium ion batteries will serve you well.

Second, you may very well be "it".  Solo ... a party of one.  So that means all the work will be performed by you. Make sure your setup will be manageable by you, alone without any outside help. Don't be overly ambitious. There's nothing wrong with just tossing a wire into a tree and going "au natural". If you can manage elaborate that's all well and good, but this is supposed to be enjoyable for you, too. The KISS* principle is a good one to remember and it applies to NPOTA and portable ops in general, very, very well.

Antennas.  Unfortunately, there is no "one size fits all" solution, but the idea is to make a lot of contacts. You don't want to spend all your precious time setting up aerials to get on the air, so go with antennas that are relatively easy to set up quickly. Operating stationary mobile from the car?  Hamsticks, Buddisticks, Buddipoles, screwdriver antennas are all good choices.  Operating away from the car?  End fed wires, Buddipoles, Buddisticks, dipole antennas, and the Alex Loop are all good choices, but again, your environment (presence of trees or not?) and/or park rules will be a big factor in deciding what you can or cannot use.

Logging. Logging is one of the most important aspects of NPOTA, and you really can't be casual about it.  So far, in the early moments of NPOTA, it appears as though this program is quite the huge hit. It's not unusual to tune across the HF bands and hear pileups taking place. All these NPOTA chasers want credit for their time and effort. It's your duty as an Activator, to do your best to record the QSOs as reasonably accurately as you can. Bring an accurate watch with you, preferably one that can be set up to display UTC time.  For the actual task of logging, whether you bring along your laptop, or log on your cellphone (Hamlog is excellent for this!), or even log using plain ol'  paper and pencil, you need to perform this task efficiently and well. Keep in mind that you will need to upload your logs to the ARRL's Logbook of the World.  This is how Activators and Chasers get credit.  If you're not already on LotW,  then you need to send in for a password and set up an account. If you're already an LotW user, you will need to download and install the latest version of Trusted QSL. This will allow you to set up locations for your account other than "Home" using the NPOTA entity designators as location names. THIS IS IMPORTANT! If you do not upload your log using the NPOTA entity designator as your location, neither you or your chasers will get credit for all your effort.  Believe me, you do not want hundreds of e-mails from angry NPOTA chasers asking you why they didn't get credit for working you. Not that that would ever, ever happen!  ;-)

If your NPOTA activation will be your first solo portable experience, go to a local park away from home and try your setup there. Some people would recommend setting up in the backyard, but it's way too convenient to just walk back into the house if you've forgotten something. When you're away from home, even if it's a short distance, and you discover you have forgotten something vital, you are way more than likely to never, ever forget it again. Don't feel bad about making a checklist for yourself. Checklists are very, very good things.

3) Know yourself. Know your limits. Everyone would like to go hiking and activate that trail, or activate that park in the middle of the beauty and solitude of Nature .....but if you can't walk to the corner mailbox without getting winded - you're not going to activate a SOTA peak or a mountain trail.  If you need to, find a place with a parking lot (gives you the option to operate from the car if you're not the outdoors type or if the weather is bad), picnic tables (if you're only somewhat the outdoors type) and "facilities" so your activation can be an enjoyable, exhilarating experience that you will want to repeat, and not look back upon with dread. You're most likely to enjoy your outing if you're comfortable, so dress appropriately, bring along water (and snacks if you need to), bring along some type of folding chair if you think it will be required.

4) Bring your cell phone and one of whatever VHF. UHF, VHF/UHF handheld(s) you may own. God forbid you sprain an ankle and need help, it just a call way, via telephone call or a repeater contact. The cell phone has an added benefit. If you are lucky enough to have cell service at your chosen location, you can log onto DX Summit or DX Heat and you can self spot your activation. You can quite literally go from calling CQ to pile up conditions within seconds. If you do self spot, please make sure to put "NPOTA" and your entity designator in the comments portion of the spot.

I really hope the above doesn't scare you off or deter you. It wasn't meant to, it was meant to bring some common sense ideas to be considered by new, or less experienced portable operators. Once you've left the shack and have gotten into the Great Outdoors, with your radio providing you with fun and companionship, I guarantee that you will be smitten and will want to go out and do it again, and again, and again, and again.

One last caveat. I am by no means an expert on portable ops. I'm not a SOTA Mountain Goat, nor a W1PID nor a WG0AT nor a N7UN, nor a K0JQZ for that matter.  I'm just offering basic advice based upon my own limited experience. The comment box is always open, so please feel free to add to what I have written here; or correct me on anything I may have gotten wrong. We all learn when we share.

I've posted this video before, but to see how simple, easy and fun and successful this can be, here's the YouTube video that Sean Kutzko KX9X posted about his activation of Pigeon Key in Florida.

72 de Larry W2LJ

QRP - When you care to send the very least!

*KISS = Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Of course, W2LJ picks one of the coldest, windiest days of the Winter season (so far) to do an NPOTA activation. Of course!  But it was a blast (of cold air) nonetheless - even if I still haven't warmed up some hours later.

We got a light dusting of snow yesterday, which was a prelude to today. It was sunny and clear, but the winds were blustery and our high temperature for the day was reached last night at Midnight. Ever since then, the temperatures have been dropping. As I type this, it's currently 16F (-9C) outside. While I activated NPOTA, it was 24F (-4C).


I headed out at 11:40 AM to the Washington-Rochambeau National Historical Trail TR23, which we know as Old Raritan Road in Scotch Plains, NJ.  I wanted to set up at the historic  Frazee House, but that part of Old Raritan Road is currently blocked off for repaving.  I settled for operating at the entrance to the Ashbrook Country Club golf course in steady.  It's right on the trail, as you can see from the photo above. At the entrance to the golf course is the remnants of a cannon that was used in the Battle of Short Hills in June 1777, as seen in the photo below.

Set up was easy, I've done it so many times at lunchtime at work that I could do it in my sleep. The cold made things a tad more difficult, though; but I was ready to get on the air at Noon (1700 UTC), just as I had planned.

I started out on 20 Meters, using the Buddistick.  It really helps to bring a cell phone along on these kind of outings. Having a smart phone enabled me to go onto the DX Summit Website and self spot. Within a few seconds of sending the spot, I was busy handling QSOs.  There was never a really deep pileup, but there weren't many lulls either.  When a lull hit, I used the opportunity to either change bands, or turn on the car to warm it up a bit.  As an experienced QRPer, and being used to working weak signals, you get into the mindset to avoid as much background noise as possible. While I was operating, the engine was off. I would rather be a bit cold than miss another QRPer because of engine noise.

After 20 Meters, I operated on 17 Meters for a while. I had wanted to use 18.086 MHz, but I could tell that was pileup territory for one of the DXpeditions.  So I "QRL"ed on 18.072 MHz, and not hearing any answer, I camped out there for a while.

When the Jeep interior cooled down as to start becoming uncomfortable (I'm ALL about comfort!), I took the opportunity to warm the interior up, and to switch from the Buddistick to the 40 Meter Hamstick.  I get a better match with the Hamstick, only 1.3:1, which is lower that the 1.8:1 that I get with the Buddistick.  I still have to work on finding the ideal combination of arms and whip length for 40 Meters on the Buddistick. 40 Meters was as productive as 20 Meters.  Most of the QSOs were made on those two bands, although 17 Meters was not a slouch by any means.


I called it a day at 3:00 PM (2000 UTC) just as I had planned.  In the end, I made 88 QSOs, which is actually way better that any Bumblebee or Skeeter outing that I have had, and is not bad for 5 Watts to less than full sized antennas. My best DX was California, Arizona, Puerto Rico and two stations from Belgium.  I worked a few of you readers that I know from here, and I thank you heartily for those Qs. I also worked my best friend and Ham Radio mentor, Bob W3BBO. I worked QRP notables Steve WG0AT, Guy N7UN, fellow QRP Fox hunter Chris KQ2RP, and I also worked Kay Craigie N3KN, outgoing President of the ARRL.

But the best QSO of the day was when I worked Dave KD2FSI, who I logged for at Jockey Hollow on Saturday.  This was perhaps Dave's second or third CW QSO, maybe?  It was a blast to be there and to hear his fist on the air!

All the QSOs have been uploaded to LoTW. I can't wait to activate another NPOTA entity. The bug has really bit now. As the seasons change, and the weather gets warmer, the strategy will change from antennas mounted on the Jeep, to perhaps wires tossed in the trees.  The best is definitely yet to come!  Thank you Sean KX9X and the ARRL for sponsoring this great program!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!