Portable Ops Challenge Campout At Savoy Mountain State Forest
AA1F and I are not overthinkers. The idea hit us on Wednesday night that we would like to camp out on Saturday night for the Fox Mike Hotel Portable Ops Challenge. Getting a campsite on Labor Day Weekend only a few days in advance is not an easy feat. Essentially, we just went ahead at took nearly the only site left to reserve in Massachusetts. Which arbitrarily landed us in this absolutely stunning campground at Savoy Mountain State Forest in Florida, Massachusetts.
Let’s clear the air. We never made a single contact for the Portable Ops Challenge. While the concept is a great idea, its certainly has a way to go before it catches on. Regardless, Savoy Mountain State Forest is Parks-On-The-Air entity K-4743. We arrived around 3:30pm and set up our gear.
AA1F threw his trusty 20M endfed halfwave antenna into a tree and was calling CQ POTA in a matter of minutes. Since he planned on sleeping in the van, his set-up was complete almost as soon as he arrived. Fortunately this left him ample time to cook us some delicious burgers and hot dogs.
I, on the other hand, had a much more elaborate antenna array. My Max Gain Systems fiberglass push-up mast was secured to the tow hitch I had recently installed in my van for exactly this purpose. I wrote a blog on it here. Problem was the initial design did not work very well. There was too much play in the tow hook supports and the mast tilted at an uncomfortable angle. I fixed this with some good advice and more trial-and-error.
So, the hardware here that you are looking at for the mast holder are: (the hitch receiver now attached to my van), a tow hitch extender, an adjustable pintle mount (#1, which is attached to the hitch extender), another adjustable pintle mount (#2 which is used as a base on the ground and is not attached to the van), specially ordered u-bolts from UBoltsDirect.com, and two anti-rattle hitch stabilizers (an ingenious piece of advice I received).
This design holds the mast fabulously tight at the base, so any bending you see in the pictures is due to the fiberglass itself (and the fact the van is on a slight hill).
The mast is supporting the baluns of 40M and 80M off-center fed dipole antennas set up essentially perpendicular to one another.
AA1F and I ran identical radio gear for phone contacts, namely Yaesu FT891s, LDG Z-100plus tuners, Bioenno 15ah batteries, and 20M, 40M, and 80M bandpass filters. AA1F made around 40 ssb contacts on 20M and 80M, while I made about 140 contacts on 40M in one hour! Additionally, once quiet hours rolled around, I broke out my computer and Icom IC-705 for some fireside POTA FT8…my first ever digital portable ops! I made over 20 FT8 contacts on 80M before I chose to hang it up. Nellie (our dog), had long decided to go to bed, and was waiting for me in the tent. I cannot pass up a night on the ground, even if AA1F preferred the luxury of the van!
I listened to hams shooting the breeze throughout the night. Nellie, however, was repeatedly startled awake by the strange sounds of the forest critters. It usually takes us a night or two to settle in to tent life, but we would not be here long enough for that. The 50 degree weather chilled me after such a hot summer, but my sleeping bag eventually warmed up. A soft rain provided white noise in the morning and lulled us to sleep the day’s beginning away. AA1F and I reconvened, packed it all up, and went and got a cup o’ joe for the long ride home.
Yours,
KM1NDY