{"id":21563,"date":"2016-09-29T08:25:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T12:25:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=21563"},"modified":"2016-09-29T08:25:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T12:25:56","slug":"recap-of-great-smoky-mountains-npota-activations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/recap-of-great-smoky-mountains-npota-activations\/","title":{"rendered":"Recap of Great Smoky Mountains NPOTA activations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"gsmnp-map\"<\/p>\n

Last week, I attended the W4DXCC convention<\/a> in Sevierville, Tennessee. The road trip afforded me several opportunities to make NPOTA activations through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LowePro<\/p>\n

I took my field kit which included the Elecraft KX2, QRP Ranger battery pack (not pictured), and EFT Trail-Friendly antenna.<\/p>\n

Thursday, September 22, 2016<\/h2>\n

\"img_20160922_125928781_hdr\"<\/p>\n

My first stop was the Ocunaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee, NC<\/a>, where I had planned the “two-fer” activation of the Great Smoky Mountains (NP26) and the Blue Ridge Parkway (PK01).<\/p>\n

First thing I did was ask the park ranger on duty how I could find the footpath to the point where the two parks overlap. Turns out, I\u00a0had at least a one mile hike ahead of me.<\/p>\n

PK01 \u00a0and NP26<\/h2>\n

\"img_20160922_130239063\"<\/p>\n

I love hiking, so that wasn’t a problem.<\/p>\n

\"img_20160922_130429145_top\"<\/p>\n

The only problem was I hadn’t accounted for the hike in my plans, so I knew I would be a little late for the scheduled activation time.<\/p>\n

When I reached the Blue Ridge Parkway, I ventured down to the river where I found an excellent spot to set up my field kit.<\/p>\n

\"img_20160922_140821652\"<\/p>\n

Thankfully, within thirty minutes, I had logged 15 contacts. I quickly packed up and\u00a0attempted to catch back up with my schedule.<\/p>\n

\"Thankfully,

I was grateful the Elk were elsewhere Thursday!<\/p><\/div>\n

Back at the ranger’s station, I learned that the Ocunaluftee Visitor Center is also another National Park entity:\u00a0the Trail Of Tears (TR12). I had no time to deploy my station once more, but made a mental note to add it to activations on my return trip.<\/p>\n

NP26 and TR01<\/h2>\n

Next, I hopped in my car and drove to the Newfound Gap parking area where the Appalachian Trail (TR01) crosses the Great Smoky Mountains Park (NP26).<\/p>\n

The view there was\/is amazing:<\/p>\n

\"img_20160922_150244733_hdr\"<\/p>\n

The area was packed with tourists, so I decided to hike up the Appalachian Trail (AT) to escape the bulk of the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"img_20160922_150632201\"I hiked at least one mile up the narrow and steep AT before finding a suitable spot to set up my gear. It was a tight operating spot, but I managed to hang the antenna and position myself in a way that wouldn’t block foot traffic on the AT.<\/p>\n

\"img_20160922_153601700_top-1\"<\/p>\n

I logged 18 stations in the span of about 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

I also took\u00a0several breaks to\u00a0answer questions about ham radio from hikers. \u00a0I was particularly happy that one family\u00a0took sincere interest in what I was doing and their young kids were fascinated that I was making contacts across the globe where there was no cell phone coverage nor Internet.<\/p>\n

I packed up at 20:30 UTC, hiked back to my car and \u00a0managed to\u00a0arrive at the conference center in Sevierville in time for dinner with my friends.<\/p>\n

Sunday, September 25, 2016<\/h2>\n

My activations on the return trip, Sunday, included the same locations as Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"elecraft-kx2-appalachaintrail\"<\/p>\n

TR01 and NP26<\/h2>\n

Instead of heading north on the Appalachian Trail, I decided to head south.\u00a0I was running late to activate the site and knew if I headed north I’d have a long\u00a0hike ahead of me. Once again, there were a lot<\/em> of visitors at the site–many were there for a Sunday morning hike and were\u00a0making their way (quite slowly) north. The southern route had\u00a0no foot traffic at all, so I headed south.<\/p>\n

\"at-and-elecraft-kx2\"<\/p>\n

I found a suitable site to set up radio, but only because the trail was so quiet I could sit in the middle of it. The entire time I operated, I only encountered one hiker who was absolutely amazed I was making contacts across the continent when he hadn’t had cell phone reception in days.<\/p>\n

I logged 14 contacts in 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

NP26 and PK01<\/h2>\n

Next, I headed back down the mountain to the Ocunaluftee Visitor Center to the same site where I set up before.<\/p>\n

\"img_20160925_111251786\"<\/p>\n

Unlike my Thursday activation, contacts trickled in very<\/em> slowly. It took over one hour to log 11 contacts. Propagation was very strange: the only stations I worked on the 20 meter band–a total of four–were located in Idaho and Slovenia.<\/p>\n

\"img_20160925_111448716_hdr\"

You can *almost* see my antenna hanging from its first location.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once, I even re-deployed my antenna, thinking that may help. I managed to raise the entire 35′ length into an ideal tree on the bank of the river. It was completely vertical with no slope. That did, perhaps, help snag my final two contacts.<\/p>\n

TR12<\/h2>\n

\"img_20160922_141838425\"<\/p>\n

Despite the fact I was running late and I had struggled to make the minimum ten QSOs required for the NP26\/PK01 activation, I decided to also attempt TR12 (Trail of Tears).<\/p>\n

I hiked back to the Ocunaluftee Visitor’s Center and found a quiet spot, once again, near the river. I was happy with my operating\u00a0location\u00a0and the fact the antenna deployed with no problem.<\/p>\n

Sadly, though, this activation was not meant to be. Even with multiple spots on the DX Cluster, I stopped operating after having only worked four stations in 45 minutes. If I hadn’t been on a schedule, perhaps I would have stayed another hour.<\/p>\n

I didn’t let this bother me, though. I knew the TR12\u00a0activation would be a gamble and I was happy to have provided four NPOTA chasers with another NPOTA catch for the day!<\/p>\n

All in all, I worked a total of 64 stations en route to and return from the W4DXCC conference. I call that a success, especially since I was able to enjoy some excellent hiking, scenery, weather and I even had a few opportunities to promote ham radio to the public.\u00a0Of course, I feel like each time I do one of these activations, it also hones my emergency communication skills.<\/p>\n

W4DXCC<\/h2>\n

Speaking of the\u00a0W4DXCC, the conference was amazing as always and I’m happy to have been a part of it. For the second year in a row, we hosted a “Ham Radio Bootcamp”–a day-long tutorial on all aspects of ham radio. Once again, it drew a large crowd.<\/p>\n

\"Vlado

Vlado (N3CZ) demonstrating the IC-7300 functions and features at the Ham Radio Bootcamp.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Each

Each year, the convention operates as KB4C in a dedicated radio room. This year, we had two IC-7300 transceivers on the air simultaneously.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"hex-beam\"

We had at least three antennas available including this excellent hex beam.<\/p><\/div>\n

If you’re into DXing, contesting, or you’d simply like to make some new friends in the community, I would encourage you to put the W4DXCC conference<\/a> in your calendar for 2017!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I attended the W4DXCC convention in Sevierville, Tennessee. The road trip afforded me several opportunities to make NPOTA activations through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I took my field kit which included the Elecraft KX2, QRP Ranger battery pack (not pictured), and EFT Trail-Friendly antenna. Thursday, September 22, 2016 My first stop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[545,3,3196,1154],"tags":[5098,5083,4102,4072,5089,5493,5088,5503,1303,5096,5504,5492,5502,5501],"class_list":["post-21563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ham-radio","category-news","category-portable-radio","category-travel","tag-eft-trail-friendly-antenna","tag-elecraft-kx2","tag-ham-radio","tag-n3cz","tag-national-parks-on-the-air","tag-np26","tag-npota","tag-pl01","tag-qrp","tag-qrp-ranger","tag-sedco","tag-tr01","tag-tr12","tag-w4dxcc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-5BN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21537,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/npota-activations-this-morning\/","url_meta":{"origin":21563,"position":0},"title":"NPOTA Activations this morning!","author":"Thomas","date":"September 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"If you're around the radio this morning (Sunday, Sep 25), and you'd like to make some NPOTA contacts, note that I plan activate: Great Smoky Mountains\u00a0(NP26) &\u00a0Appalachian National Scenic Trail\u00a0(TR01) starting around 13:30 UTC (9:30 EDT), Great Smoky Mountains\u00a0(NP26) &\u00a0Blue Ridge Parkway\u00a0(PK01) starting around 15:00 UTC (11:00 EDT) and hopefully\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"elecraft-kx2-appalachaintrail-npota-tr01","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Elecraft-KX2-AppalachainTrail-NPOTA-TR01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21515,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/great-smoky-mountains-national-park-four-npota-activations-planned-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":21563,"position":1},"title":"Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Four NPOTA activations planned today","author":"Thomas","date":"September 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Around noon (EDT) today, I'll start my short journey to the\u00a0W4DXCC conference in Sevierville, TN. En route, I'll pass\u00a0through three National Parks: the\u00a0Blue Ridge Parkway, The\u00a0Appalachian National Scenic Trail\u00a0and the\u00a0Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It's a beautiful drive and the weather appears to be near-ideal--clear skies. This also affords me\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"npota-tr10-pk01-qrp-elecraft-kx2-clipboard","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-Elecraft-KX2-Clipboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-Elecraft-KX2-Clipboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-Elecraft-KX2-Clipboard.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-Elecraft-KX2-Clipboard.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21416,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/npota-photos-from-weekend-two-fer-activation\/","url_meta":{"origin":21563,"position":2},"title":"NPOTA: Photos from weekend “two-fer” activation","author":"Thomas","date":"September 19, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"As I mentioned in a previous post, what I love about the National Parks On The Air program is that it combines two of my favorite things: national parks and ham radio. My family visits national parks regularly, so it's easy\u00a0for me to pack a small radio, do a quick\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"npota-tr10-pk01-qrp-encampmentview","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-EncampmentView.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-EncampmentView.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-EncampmentView.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/NPOTA-TR10-PK01-QRP-EncampmentView.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21260,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/npota-activating-the-carl-sandburg-home-ns07-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":21563,"position":3},"title":"NPOTA: Activating the Carl Sandburg Home (NS07) today","author":"Thomas","date":"September 8, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This afternoon (September 8), I should have a chance to activate the Carl Sandburg Home again for the ARRL National Parks on the Air program. You might recall, I activated the site Sunday as well. I'll plan to use the Elecraft KX2 and EFT TRail-Friendly antenna combo once again. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Elecraft Kx2 ON Clipboard","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Elecraft-Kx2-ON-Clipboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Elecraft-Kx2-ON-Clipboard.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Elecraft-Kx2-ON-Clipboard.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Elecraft-Kx2-ON-Clipboard.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":21360,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/national-parks-on-the-air-activating-two-sites-simultaneously-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":21563,"position":4},"title":"National Parks On The Air: Activating two sites simultaneously today","author":"Thomas","date":"September 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, I plan to\u00a0activate both the Blue Ridge Parkway (PK01) and Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail (TR10) two-fer for the National Parks on the Air (NPOTA). I should go on the air sometime\u00a0between 16:00-17:00 UTC (12:00-13:00 EDT), weather permitting. I'll plan to start on the 20 meter band (14286 kHz)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Ham Radio"","block_context":{"text":"Ham Radio","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/ham-radio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I'll hike to the point where the Overmountain Victory Trail meets the Blue Ridge Parkway.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/overMountainTrail.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/overMountainTrail.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/overMountainTrail.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/overMountainTrail.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19178,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/05\/one-week-of-hamvention-air-force-museum-wright-brothers-and-national-parks-on-the-air\/","url_meta":{"origin":21563,"position":5},"title":"One week of Hamvention, Air Force Museum, Wright Brothers and National Parks On The Air","author":"Thomas","date":"May 25, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I returned home last night\u00a0from my week-log\u00a0Dayton Hamvention\u00a0trip around 8:30 PM. The Hamvention actually ended at 1:00 PM on Sunday, May 22, but my buddy Eric McFadden (WD8RIF), his son Miles (KD8KNC) and I stayed Sunday night in Dayton, and Monday night at Eric's home in Athens, Ohio. After packing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Antennas"","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"DSC_4449","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DSC_4449.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DSC_4449.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/DSC_4449.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21563\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}