W2LJ's Blog - QRP - Do More With Less.

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Had a wonderful time today

Posted: 16 Jan 2016 05:54 PM PST
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My good friend Dave Hackett KD2SFI, fellow South Plainfield Amateur Radio
Club member, decided to conduct an NPOTA activation. Yesterday, Dave
posted on Facebook that he was going to travel up to Morristown, NJ to
activate Morrsitown National Historical Park, HP28. I asked
(tongue-in-cheek) if visitors would be welcome, and Dave answered in the
affirmative, so I knew I had to get up there today.


If you saw Dave's setup, you would swear that you died and went to Ham
Radio heaven. Dave recently purchased a minivan, which has become a custom
outfitted portable communications center. Dave has hand crafted a wooden
bed frame, with storage underneath that allows him to cart along everything
he needs for portable Amateur Radio operations. If the need arises, Dave
can operate quite comfortably from either inside or outside the van. He is
equipped for just about any eventuality that you can think of, and if need
be, he can "camp out" in semi-luxury as needed. I should have taken
pictures for this post, but I was so excited about helping to activate an
entity for NPOTA that I plumb forgot!

I got to the park shortly after Noon. It's been years since I've been up
to Jockey Hollow and I took a few wrong turns. I ended up driving through
Harding, NJ. Wow! Talk about seeing where the "1%" lives. What estates!
But I digress.

I got to the Jockey Hollow parking lot and Dave was already good to go. He
had his hybrid homebrew/commercial Buddipole on a painters pole at about
the 15 foot level. He had just finished conducting a run when I drove up,
so he was ready to take a break and stretch his legs for a bit when I
arrived. We chatted for a bit while I admired his set up. Dave was using a
Yaesu at 100 Watts off a deep cycle marine battery, and it was doing him in
good stead.

Shortly after, we got back down to business. Dave folded down the seat, so
I could set next to him (very comfortably) on his padded bed frame/bench
seat/storage cabinet. I offered to log for him while he took the
microphone. Dave called "CQ NPOTA" for a bit and we had a few bites. Then
I decided to whip out my cell phone, bring up DX Summit and spot him on the
cluster.

Quite literally, all Hell broke loose! It was like standing next to a dam
when it decided to burst. We were at the business end of a pileup and were
having the time of our lives. A little over an hour later, Dave decided to
take another break, so I operated station KD2FSI for a few more QSOs, while
he stretched his legs. When things quieted down, we both took a break to
discover that we had made over 100 QSOs in that short amount of time. We
worked all up and down the East coast and as far West as Arizona and New
Mexico.

While Dave was operating solo, he also worked into Canada, the Netherlands
and Belgium, I believe. It was a great time and I'm very grateful to Dave
that he let me be his wingman for the day. As far as Amateur Radio goes,
Dave is still considered a "rookie" as he is licensed for less than three
years. Let me tell you, Dave is no rookie! Dave has taken to HF operating
like a bird to the air or a fish to the water. He is completely at home
behind the microphone for phone operations and behind the keyboard for
digital operations.

And, oh yeah, he's also learning to get comfortable behind the key for CW
operations. I'm hoping that he'll really be comfortable by Field Day!

72 de Larry W2LJ
QRP - When you care to send the very least!