Stumbling my way into the wrong park! US-0733

Sun, 06 Sep 2026 12:48:39 +0000

I came home from a bit of a longer run of work trips last week.

My beautiful wife and I had planned on getting out and doing an activation. Truthfully, I don’t know why she enjoys tagging along for these activations but she does, and it’s awesome!

Prepping the gear

I decided I wanted to give the TenTec R4020 a go at an activation. I normally operate the TX500 but I’ve really been wanting to put the R4020 on the air at a park.

My first CW POTA activations! US-7649, US-10659

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction

For years I’ve been fascinated by CW or morse code. For years, it’s also been a struggle for me. I was originally licensed at age 14. Back then, the general class required a 5 WPM code exam. I took that as literal and practiced at 5 WPM to pass the test.

After passing the 5 word per minute code test, I spent some time listening to code on the air, but it sounded like a foreign language. What I didn’t realize was that a character at 5 WPM sounds much different than a character at 25 word per minute. This was my challenge.

CW on N2OEF

Stumbling my way into the wrong park! US-0733

Prepping the gear

My first CW POTA activations! US-7649, US-10659

Introduction