CW POTA at K-5088 with the MTR-4B and the WRC Sporty Forty antenna system

Today I'm at a fairly rare park: K-5088 Anderson Hill State Forest. It had only been activated four times prior. I wish I could have done a longer activation to give people the opportunity to get the park in their log, but the weather was pretty iffy. I'm using my MTR-4B, which has performed great so far, and my new Wolf River Coils Sporty Forty coil and 213" whip. I'm using the tripod from the Gabil antenna, and a radial system design I stole from Pat Rundall N0HR. All in all, it was a short but successful activation. I think the longer whip on the WRC antenna works slightly better than the Gabil antenna, but it's not quite as compact or packable. Different antennas for different uses. One is easily packable, but a bit of a compromise, while the other is much larger and heavier, but much less of a compromise and good for drive up activations where you can't string stuff in the trees. Without the coil, it's a 1/4 wave resonant, multi band antenna system. With the coil, it's resonant on 40m and 30m, but higher Q and probably slightly less efficient. Either way, I'm happy with the performance so far. Thanks for watching and 73!
Evan
K2EJT
www.buymeacoffee.com/k2ejt
Intro: 0:00:00
Activation: 0:03:03
QRT and final thoughts: 0:22:39

[@Swamp-Fox]

That Sporty Forty is nice to have in your quiver for places that you can't hang a dipole or EFHW. I really like that Mountain Topper!

[@betterbprepared]

Nice activation! I am going to pick up the Gabil tripod and the Gabil GRA-7350TC within the next couple of weeks. They are already in my shopping cart, just gotta click the buy button. I have used the Sporty 40 on SSB activations, and it makes a nice antenna.

[@dugbohamradio]

Nice Setup and great you have 20 meters tuned. I got the MTR4b I am using with my EFHW , but a vertical is on my wish list for next year.

[@lewiskline7074]

Nice video as always. Elevating with two radials (3 to 4 feet above ground) will pick up sigs substantially c/w ground radials (~3 db). Can make them linked for 40 and 20 mtrs for a quick change. Love your work. Thanks for all! de WA3KKB.

[@EvanK2EJT]

Yeah, I need to get a tripod that gets the radials up off the ground. That one is so short it's hard to get them up off the ground. I'll definitely give it a shot though! Thanks for watching!

[@davidryeburn6446]

I'm not surprised you had problems using the antenna setup on 10 m. The 17 ft antenna length and radial length is close to 1/2 wave on 10 m. I'm even surprised it sort of worked on 12 m where they are just a bit short of 1/2 wave. If your ground is very conductive then the low radials get detuned and their length isn't that important but if the ground conductivity is low or if your radials are elevated you definitely don't want 1/2 wave radials! Add a few shorter ones and I'm sure it will work better up at that end of the HF spectrum. You can leave the longer ones attached so you can change bands without changing the radial system.
David VE7EZM and AF7BZ

[@EvanK2EJT]

The whip collapses WAY down to where you can get it a quarter wave on 6m. On those higher frequency bands you have to mess with the radials to get it to tune, but it'll do it.

[@Cab3475]

Why is it that I can pick up so much more of the QSO when I’m watching videos like yours versus when I’m actually on the air?!?! I have only had about 6 POTA QSOs so far. But these videos (shout out to K4SWL, W4ARB, K9KJ, et al) seem so much easier to copy.

[@EvanK2EJT]

Good question, and one I don't really have an answer for. Part of it might be that since you're hearing things from the activator's side, it's much louder and clearer. The hunters are hitting us with much more power than we're running, so they're a lot clearer on our end than we are on the hunter's end. Some of it might also be the cadence we're running. Most of us try to send at a reasonable speed, and space things as clearly as possible so people watching the videos can follow along. Either way, if you're copying more of the QSO, you're copying more of the QSO, and that's a good thing! Before you know it, those 6 POTA QSOs will turn into 600. Thanks for watching!

[@w4arb]

I’ve found that putting my phone in my pocket, or generally anywhere lower than the radio fixes that issue. my MTR4B does the same thing

[@EvanK2EJT]

Yeah, I usually lay it on the ground but it was wet. The KX1 is just as bad. Interestingly enough, the MTR-3B isn't anywhere near as bad as the 4B.

[@w4arb]

@@EvanK2EJT interesting! it doesn’t really bother me but it is the only radio i own that picks up interference from my phone.