The RARS Portable Operating Group met on May 28, 2022 at Blue Jay Point County Park in northern Wake county to activate the Mountains to Sea Trail (K-8313), as part of the Parks on the Air (POTA) program. Attendees included over a dozen hams, some experienced and some new, who came to enjoy the mild May weather and HF propagation. Several hams generously brought their portable stations to share with participants....
I managed to sneak in a Parks on the Air (POTA) activation during a recent Cub Scout camping trip at Falls Lake, K-3841. As part of setting up camp, I threw up a SOTABeams Midi Bandspringer in a tree behind the tent, snaking both aerial and ground wire back in via the rear tent door for later use. After a long day of activities and eating, we settled down in the tent around 9:30pm and the youngest was out by 10pm....
Today marked the beginning of a new CW contest geared towards the intermediate CW operator. I’ll put myself in that bucket. The Medium Speed Contest is geared for operators aiming to work at speeds of 20-25 words per minute. The exchange is your name and a serial number. My goal is to use this contest for practice. That means I’m sending by hand with my Bench BY-1 paddle and I’m not using spots....
The RARS Portable Operating Group met on April 23, 2022 at Umstead State Park near Big Lake for our second outing. Attendees included a dozen hams, some experienced and some new, who came to enjoy portable radio on a very pleasant spring day. The program was on public service events and was presented by the RARS Public Service Chair, Jeremy Lindsley K2HJX. Jeremy gave an overview of different types of public service events, explained how they normally operate, and demonstrated the portable VHF/UHF station that he regularly uses to run a public service net control station....
This year’s North Carolina QSO Party was a blast. I like this contest a lot because I’m “the DX”, it’s only 10 hours, and I don’t feel pressured to use mind-numbing CW speeds (I ran at 23 WPM). My goal was to operate 100% CW and make more QSOs than last year. Both were achieved, despite taking a 45 minute lunch and a 3 hour family commitment during the 10 hour contest period....