The West Georgia Amateur Radio Society (WGARS) is a great group. We like to do three things: 1) talk on the radio, 2) get together, and 3) eat. We did all three this past weekend during the Fall Support Support Your Parks on the Air weekend (POTA). We like to do about 4 gatherings a year namely Field Day, Winter Field Day, and the Spring and Fall Support Your Parks on the Air Weekends.
This fall we went a little uptown and rented one of the pavilions at Cheaha State Park (K-1037). This gave us shelter from the elements, power for the slow cookers, and plenty of benches to set up on. There were restrooms nearby with running water. Cheaha Mountain is the tallest point in Alabama and our pavilion was just a little down from the summit.
The weather was perfect. In the morning it was in the upper 40’s rising to the mid 70’s by afternoon. As I said earlier, we like to eat. There was an abundance of food, we had Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, BBQ, baked beans, buns, garlic bread, dunkin’ donuts, coffee, soda, and I am sure I missed a few. The bottom line is we could have fed half again as many and still had leftovers. There were over a dozen of us there.
We set up three radio stations. We had a Yaesu FT-991A and an Icom IC-7300. They were running FT8, CW, and SSB. I was running an Elecraft K3(s)/10 on FT8. My original plan was to run FT8 until it got warmer out and then switch to CW. However, we had a group gather around my station and we were doing what we like to do, kibitz and socialize. With FT8 I can run the radio and join in the conversation. We had a lot of fun chatting with one another. By the end of the day, I worked 40 states and 4 countries for a total of 120 contacts. The DX were Argentina, Canada, Ecuador, and Spain. States covered all 4 corners and in between. Not bad for 10 watts!
I had the pleasure of meeting Ward W4RE. Ward is a Vietnam Veteran and what made our meeting special is that we both served with the 101st Airborne Division. We were a generation apart with me serving between wars, but anyone who has served with the 101st understands that it is not a cakewalk; we had an immediate bond. Like me, Ward is a CW op albeit, much better than I. I am hoping that during one of our future meets, Ward and I can run a CW station together.
This was the trial run for my K3(s). I upgraded my K3 to a K3S. It is a QRP radio with a max power of 12 watts. The difference between 10 watts and 100 watts is about 1.7 S-units, a small change for CW. I operated the radio pretty much the whole time I was out there and it performed flawlessly.
While my K3 was in the shop for a repair and a going over, I put my name on the list for a KX2. There is about a 3-4 month wait for them and if things didn’t work out I could always cancel the order. When I received the invoice for the KX2, I asked my wife Mary K4SEZ about it, thinking it was worth a shot and as I was getting ready to cancel the order; she got on the computer and checked the books (she’s an accountant) and said “Happy Retirement”. I was ecstatic. I retire in 54 days and I have already made plans for that little radio. It was a great weekend that was full of surprises. Winter Field Day is right around the corner — can’t wait. 72 de Scott
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