Tag: X6100
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Winter Field Day, 2025
– a retrospective When I was mostly awake in the dark on Saturday morning, I felt for my watch and found the lower-left button and pressed it once, to shift from local time to what I still often think of as Greenwich Mean Time. Next, the upper-right button to illuminate the face. Eleven-hundred something. Five…
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Buckhorn State Park, US-1443
Lat week I found a window of time to go play radio! The night before, I spent some time looking at the POTA map and tentatively decided on going to Buckhorn S. P., one that I never activated before, though it is not far away. The day dawned chilly (in the ‘teens), breezy, and sort…
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Saved by the “octopus”
The big surprise on a a recent activation was the missing power cable for the X6100. No worries, there in the tangle of assorted cables was the “octopus” I made last year; a power connector for every field radio to a pair of powerpoles. After returning home I found the missing cable on my bench,…
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A wintry activation of US-1480
It was overcast, seventeen degrees, and flurrying gently when I rolled out of the driveway en-route to Wildcat Mountain State Park, and the sun was about to get above the horizon as I was driving along the county highway. As I promptly realized when I got to the park it was just too cold for…
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Van Loon State Wildlife Area, US-9870
When I finished hiking the 7 Bridges trail it was almost 1 pm, and definitely lunchtime! Fortunately I had brought a cooler and was able to recharge on sandwiches and cold liquids, and (fighting off post-lunch laziness) I was ready to start the other part of my plan for the day: activating US-9870, Van Loon…
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Dell Creek SWA; US-4281
Dell Creek State Wildlife Area, US-4281, occupies several unconnected tracts of land, mostly in Sauk County, west of the Wisconsin Dells and Mirror Lake State Park. There are 13 parking areas scattered among them to provide access. Early Sunday morning I started at the northernmost ones along Dore Road, which all lacked shade, had lots…
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A new park: Willow Creek SFA, US-10646
Today when I left the house I had a list of parks in my head; some new, a few that I just haven’t visited lately. Necedah, Buckhorn, Rocky Arbor, Dell Creek, Mirror Lake, Natural Bridge, Devil’s Lake, … As I drove away from the KwikTrip with a fresh breakfast sandwich and a big cup of…
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Back on the air at Wildcat Mountain
It was cool and damp, and the sun was not yet up, when I headed off along the back roads toward my favorite activation spot, hot coffee in hand. Last year on June 25th I activated Wildcat Mountain State Park, US-1480, and started an unbroken string of activating only that park; not by planning or…
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Staying in that rut
After the last post I resolved to go to a different park next time; alas, that resolution evaporated last Saturday morning just after I got my coffee (big cup and full vacuum bottle) at the local Kwik Trip! Onward to Wildcat Mountain! The moon was setting, near the horizon, as I drove westward, and soon…
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Winter Field Day 2024 at Wildcat Mountain
WFD is, first & foremost, an emergency communications exercise conducted under less-than-optimal conditions (at least for those of us in the Northern states, lol). This year I made a virtue of necessity and used my lack of planning (see the previous post) as part of the exercise; after all, emergencies do not give us advance…
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Hung a new antenna today!
It seems like just yesterday I was thinking about getting an antenna up in the trees at home … Now, as the sun sets, I have one! The day started sunny and cold, but after noon sunny was winning and the temperature got up to around 30. I had all the necessary stuff handy (I’ve…
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(tr)uSDX and X6100 at Wildcat Mountain
Well, in accordance with my last post there seemed to be nothing left to try but to take the (tr)uSDX out to a park and try it on a resonant antenna, and the next day seemed to be free, so it was up before dawn to make coffee and sandwiches, load the car with radio…