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Operating Notes - POTA at Patuxent National Wildlife Refuge (US-0334)

·372 words·2 mins
POTA Operating Notes US-0334 US Fish & Wildlife Service Maryland Successful Activation
Park(s): US-0334
Contacts: 36 | Park2Park: 20 | Total: 36
Weather: Sunny, High 80 Degrees F (30-33c)
Time: 11:30-13:45 Eastern (15:30-17:45 UTC)
Activation Successful
Equipment: Icom IC-7300 & Rez Recon 40
Photo by Myself

The drive to the visitors centre was great, really nice to know that this is here so close to DC, and central Maryland. As per the POTA directions I checked in with the staff, who directed me towards the far end of the carpark and suggested that would be the best place to activate from. Very freindly staff!

I didnt realise until later, that there were some park benches near where I parked, and because of this I ended up operating from the trunk of my car, which was not the most comfy!

View from car

This time I atempted to use HAMRS again for logging, but it appears to like to go to the end of the input box if you replace a character or two, which is a bit unintuitive. This ended up with me making a fair few mistakes on the logging side.

Setting up, took about 10 minutes this time.

As the weather was quite warm and I was in the boot^WTrunk I enabled my car’s “camp mode”. Whilst the blast of AC’ed air was a welcome relief, it unfortuantly caused a large amount of QRM. I’m not sure if it’s the car’s inverter or the AC, I suspect the former.

What went well #

The staff at the wildlife refuge were extremley freindly and very welcoming of POTA activators.

When went badly #

Logging using HAMRS was, for me, a excersise in frustration. I see why people like the application, as there are some really nice features, however some of the “helping” features end up with some odd things happening. Having US-0123 in the park feild and needing to change that to US-0453 I would normally put my text cursor at the end of the 5, hit backspace twice and type 45. In this case it unfortuantly moved to the end of the field after the first backspace, resulting in a US-0145.

What could be improved #

Not having a seat was a bad decision, as I ended up with my leg falling asleep frequently and having to get up and walk about for a few minutes every 20 or so minutes. My Trunk’s matts were not comfortable at all, luckily there was enough room for my legs to fit inside the car.

QSO Log

Date Time (UTC) Callsign Mode Band RST Sent RST Received Park
20240720 1557 N0DIM SSB 20m 59 59 US-3727
20240720 1609 WB5SKM SSB 20m 59 56 US-7088
20240720 1622 AE4XZ SSB 20m 59 56 US-2741
20240720 1628 W8DF SSB 20m 59 58 US-3310
20240720 1629 VE1SK SSB 20m 59 59 CA-4838
20240720 1635 W1SRR SSB 20m 57 55 US-0065
20240720 1635 W1SRR SSB 20m 57 55 US-7485
20240720 1641 KJ5BVP SSB 20m 57 59 US-3059
20240720 1643 K3CHS SSB 20m 59 59 US-4510
20240720 1645 NY5E SSB 20m 59 55
20240720 1645 KD9REA SSB 20m 59 55
20240720 1646 K4EM SSB 20m 59 57
20240720 1650 KZ4BX SSB 20m 59 59 US-1863
20240720 1653 W0TX SSB 20m 59 59 US-1209
20240720 1658 KJ5EDW SSB 20m 56 55 US-3000
20240720 1700 VE1NR SSB 20m 59 59 CA-6327
20240720 1701 KO4GBB SSB 20m 59 55 US-7461
20240720 1701 KO4GBB SSB 20m 59 55 US-3762
20240720 1702 WR4MG SSB 20m 59 55 US-7461
20240720 1702 WR4MG SSB 20m 59 55 US-3762
20240720 1706 KJ5CTS SSB 20m 59 53 US-8680
20240720 1706 KJ5CTS SSB 20m 59 53 US-10551
20240720 1711 KZ4CP SSB 20m 59 59
20240720 1712 KC5VOY SSB 20m 44 56
20240720 1714 K0AXL SSB 20m 44 44
20240720 1717 KD9KJC SSB 20m 59 54
20240720 1718 N0JLF SSB 20m 59 58
20240720 1719 WA9POQ SSB 20m 59 59
20240720 1720 KD9VFA SSB 20m 59 57 US-4178
20240720 1720 KE8RRG SSB 20m 59 59
20240720 1723 KQ4OXS SSB 20m 55 59
20240720 1723 AA4AT SSB 20m 59 59
20240720 1723 N5VMN SSB 20m 59 59
20240720 1724 KD9ZCG SSB 20m 59 55
20240720 1724 W4MPX SSB 20m 59 59
20240720 1725 N5SRC SSB 20m 59 54

QSO Map

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