I’ve gone to US-1589 Patuxent River State Park to try to activate the park with the QMX a few times since my last post. I’ve tried with a ground mounted 17’ whip and with my K6ARK 20m EFHW. I’ve yet to be able to activate it with the QMX.

This is a frustrating park to activate with only 5W. I was able to activate US-1596 Seneca Creek Park on my lunch break with the QMX and the EFHW. It was no problem. Patuxent Nature Center is the QMX’s white whale. My theory is that the location that I’m activating from is surrounded by granite cliffs and most of my waves are being assorbed by that.

To test this theory, I decided to take the FT-891 to the park and give it a go on my usual 50 watts. I set up the ground mounted 17’ whip for 4 radials. My SWR was a 1.3:1.

I started with the QMX and fired up FT8CN. I called CQ 5 times and gave up after no replies. More of the same it seems. I took out the FT-891 and hooked it up. An immediate reply. Maybe it isn’t the terrian. Maybe it is the wattage.

Here’s a map of the contacts I made on FT8 at US-1596 Seneca Creek Park using the QMX

Compare this to my map of contacts I made today with the FT-891 on 50W.

It is hard to say if there if my waves are being obstructed at US-1589. Maybe there’s a gap in the middle of the left hand sweep, but I’m not convinced. The US-1596 Seneca Creek map has a similar gap. Even from home, I tend to not be heard by the midwest on 20m. The maps are so similar that I don’t feel confident saying that the terrian is blocking me at US-1589.

These maps are from different different days, so it isn’t a fair apples to apples comparison. My failed US-1589 activations were on a Sunday, a weekday lunch, and one evening after work. The successful US-1596 Seneca Creek activation was on a weekday lunch. So these maps are not a fair comparision. I’m still learning what leads to a sucessful QMX activation.

# Hiking and POTA

Last week I decide that I need to get more exercise. So I said to myself, I know, I’ll pack up the QMX in a backpack, leave the house, and start walking to the small nature preserve near me. My plan was to walk in one direction for 30 minutes, stop, and set up the radio to practice calling CQ on CW, then walk back.

I learned back when I was getting into cycling that I can trick myself into not quitting early by picking a destination half the distance that I planned to ride. That way, I would have to finish the rest of the distance because I had no choice. I also found it motivating if I gave myself a reason to go to that halfway point.

So that’s what I’ve started doing with my solo POTA activations. Last week I took the QMX in my Osprey Daylite pack and hiked the trails of Patuxent River State Park with the radio and antennas on my back. The forest near the nature center is absolutely stunning. Even though the activation wasn’t successful, I throughly enjoyed my walk in the woods.

Today I did the same thing. I didn’t dare hike with my pack this time. The QMX pack with both a vertical and efhw clocks in at 14lbs. My Strohl Mountain Light had that plus my FT-891 and its battery. The pack clocked in at a whopping 35lbs!. So yeah, I’ll come back to the car to get the pack before the activation.

I actually ended up hiking an hour and a half in total because I took a wrong turn and walked 30 minutes in the wrong direction. I didn’t care. Getting lost in the woods is a passtime of mine. I hope to get my fitness to a point where I can activate a summit and bike to POTA parks. We’ll see. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself and just take time to enjoy the walks.

So without further ado, here are the pictures I took from my hike before the activation.