In my last activation, partially due to the weather and partially due to time constraints, I did a very restricted activation. Relying on FT8 and activating from the front seat of the truck. So this time around, I did things differently. I wanted to activate exclusively using SSB, but I still wanted to perform the activation within 60 minutes if possible. So I dropped the tailgate on the truck, set up a camping chair, and turned on my FT857D.
Data was patchy but it was possible to connect to the POTA website and take a look at who else was activating – and so I was able to quickly make 3 park to park (P2P) contacts on 20m starting at 12:15UTC I spoke to LA9DSA/P, SP3ATB/P and DH1WM/P.
The first call to LA9DSA in Norway was a little difficult as there was a lot of QSB – but we were both patient and exchanged a kind 53/54 signal report. At times the signal was great but then towards the end of the over he would disappear into the noise. I guess that’s part of the fun of SSB though. My second P2P to SP3ATB/P in Poland wasn’t much better, with a 51/51 signal report but it was workable.
Once I’d grabbed as many park to parks as I could, I found an open frequency (tough thanks to a competition running on 20m) and started calling CQ. It took quite a while to get my first response (well, five minutes, but it feels longer when you’re making the call!) and then I quickly made six more contacts – including another P2P to IW2MJQ in Italy. Again a difficult copy at my end but we exchanged 52/55 signal reports and I only had one more to get.
OE1DXU in Austria came back to me to complete my 10 required QSOs at 13:00 UTC (45 minutes after I first hit the PTT). I thanked him for completing my park activation and he laughed and said it’s good to be the “Golden contact!” Overall, it was a great activation, I had a lot of fun and thanks to everyone for their patience dealing with fading signals and for their good humor when we made contact.
Failures
My only takeaway from this activation was that I was relying on my standard 8Ah LiFePo4 battery, which only offers about 10A continuous output and I’m pretty sure that FT857D wants more like 16-18A at full power – but I’m not sure its exact draw, so I’ll have to hook it up to my PSU at home and see what it actually needs. I’ll likely take something a little beefier for the next activation.
Successes
It’s always a great challenge to attempt a “60 minute POTA” with SSB, and I completed this one with no problems at all even though there was a competition on the bank – in part thanks to lots of other activators out there too!