Antenna Down Mid-Activation! | POTA 2-Fer | Rhino 5–6

Parks 5 and 6 of my POTA Rover Rhino: a 2-fer at Arabia Mountain and Panola Mountain, right on the line between the two parks. This one was messy, and I'm leaving it all in. Over 30 minutes on site: setting up in gusty wind, the antenna coming down mid-activation, the fix, and 11 contacts in the log during the Georgia POTA Sprint, mostly on 40m SSB. Running a Yaesu FT-891 into a Spooltenna EFHW on a LilDude 6 mast. 💨 WHAT WENT WRONG (AND IT WAS ON ME) The wind was gusting hard all morning. At MLK, the park before this, my tripod wouldn't hold up in it, so I moved the mast to a fence with twist ties. Here, the Spooltenna hangs on the screw of my electric-fence-post holder. I usually angle the post so the screw points up, because I lost the retainer I used to use. This time I didn't. A gust knocked the Spooltenna off at the end of a QSO, and I called CQ a few times before I realized nobody was hearing me. Mast still standing, Spooltenna on the ground. I almost said a word I can't say on the air 😅, pulled the post, set it back at the right angle, and kept going. The lesson: angle the screw up, every single time. Third park, second wind problem, and both were my setup, not the gear. This is real POTA, and things go wrong. You fix it and keep rolling. 🦏 THE RHINO: 10 parks in one UTC day (Fri 10/16 night through Sat 10/17 afternoon), part of the Georgia POTA Sprint. POTA published the Rover Rhino the same day. 📍 PARKS US-7139 Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area US-2193 Panola Mountain State Park 📊 THIS STOP 11 QSOs logged from 11:44 to 11:59 AM Eastern, inside the Georgia POTA Sprint window 40m: 10 | 20m: 1 8 states worked 4 park-to-park contacts, and every hunter gets credit for both parks Longest: K5BTX, park-to-park from Texas, about 970 miles on 20m 📊 THE WHOLE ROVE 135 QSOs, 124 hunters, 31 states plus Canada, Puerto Rico and Colombia Longest: HK3MS in Bogotá, Colombia, about 2,080 miles on 20m 🙌 THANK YOU TO EVERY HUNTER AT THIS STOP 20m K5BTX (TX, P2P from US-2995) 40m K8IKO (OH) KE4ZUN (SC, P2P from US-4577 / US-0720) K4KAL (GA) AC4SH (GA, P2P from US-0716) K4OTT (GA, P2P from US-4473 / US-7446) KN4NGK (TN) KW2G (WV) KA3ZJW (PA) KE4UQO (NC) KJ4JWC (NC) Special shoutout to AC4SH, who worked me park-to-park here and at MLK, to KW2G, who worked me at 9 of the 10 parks, and to everyone who hung in there while my antenna was taking a nap in the grass. 🎒 THE STATION (affiliate links; I only list what I run) 📻 Radio: Yaesu FT-891 (100W, the radio in my field go-box) https://dxengineering.pxf.io/DWJRxa DX Engineering carries the FT-891 and almost every other piece of station gear you'll see in my videos: coax, connectors, batteries, masts, analyzers. Free shipping: https://dxengineering.pxf.io/m4o4O7 📡 Antenna: Spooltenna EFHW, the only antenna I used on all 10 parks of this rove. It hit the ground and went right back up working. https://www.spooltenna.com/?sca_ref=1... Code WAVESANDWINGS = free shipping Outside the US? Spooltenna ships internationally through DX Engineering: https://dxengineering.pxf.io/E0VbWP 🎣 Mast: LilDude 6, an 18 ft carbon fiber mast. Ultra-portable and field-tested on 50+ activations. It stayed standing through every gust. 🔧 Mounting: an electric fence post with a screw holder, plus long twist ties from Home Depot. Pro tip from this video: angle that screw UP. 📝 Logging: World Radio League, code WAVESANDWINGS = 10% off Premium Full gear list: https://linktr.ee/wavesandwingsga 🦏 ROAD TO RHINO: THE SERIES Ep 1: 31 QSOs in 19 min, Fort Yargo US-2177 →    • Training for 10 Parks in 1 Day: 31 QSOs in...   Ep 2: 73 QSOs from the Jeep, Walton WMA US-7902 →    • 73 QSOs in 58 Minutes From My Jeep… Then G...   Ep 3: 10 QSOs in 6 min in the woods, Oconee WMA US-3763 →    • 10 QSOs in 6 Minutes in the Georgia Woods ...   Ep 4: First call… Slovenia, MLK Jr. NHS US-0846 →    • First Call From Downtown Atlanta… Slovenia...   🔴 THE RHINO ROVE VIDEOS (10/16–10/17) Park 1: Hard Labor Creek US-2184 (Fri night) → https://www.youtube.com/live/dbRdnHMUMXA Park 2: Walton WMA US-7902 (Fri night) → https://www.youtube.com/live/6xEYdVy8eqA Park 7: Gaither WMA US-7838 with AK4BB → https://www.youtube.com/live/e4Ug8VEY0kg Parks 8–10: The Rhino Finish, Charlie Elliott / Clybel / Marben 3-fer → https://www.youtube.com/live/taHFa6FBjOw 📡 Free ham radio study and reference: https://hamcompass.com 💬 Join the Discord:   / discord   73 de N4CRP, Howard | Waves and Wings #pota #parksontheair #hamradio #amateurradio #potarhino