POTA at the Middlesex Fells State Reserve

This morning during my son’s baseball practice I had about 90 minutes to myself. I decided to head to POTA site US-8414, Middlesex Fells State Reserve to do a quick activation.

I had a relaxing morning, sipping my coffee and keying Morse Code on my Elecraft KH1 transceiver.

I knew that it would be an easy activation once I saw that a beacon in New Zealand picked me up on the Reverse Beacon Network (RBN). While I didn’t make any two-way POTA contacts outside of the US I took the RBN pickup as a good omen.

My setup

I used my usual car activation POTA setup:

KH1 Transceiver
Kit made QBV 40/20-10 switchable antenna
- Mounted on my SUV’s rack with a C-Clamp
Paper logging (as I always do in the field)
A good strong mug of homemade coffee

My antenna has served me well over the winter since I made it. The screw attaching it to the bottom bracket has become loose so I’ll have to dissassemble it to tighten it up.

Quick work to activate the POTA site

In the 90 minutes I had, I was able to make pretty relaxed and quick work. I’ve had bigger pile-ups but the thing that I love about POTA is that it’s not a contest, as an activator I control the pace.

So I relaxed with my coffee and took calls as they rolled in. I waited a bit between CQ calls enjoying my morning.

I started on 20 meters but once contacts slowed down I switched my antenna up to 40m and kept going. This allowed me to get some local friends, like Desmond (WK1V), added to my activation’s log.

I like that POTA isn’t a contest and I can pace my activation and enjoy my morning