QRP/QMX CW POTA Activation at US-12451 Pheasants Forever #3 Wildlife Management Area (2026-09-27)

Index and QSO chapters in the description ... It was a bit overcast and damp given the rain from the night before, but the cooler weather meant no bugs to fight during an activation at US-12451 Pheasants Forever #3 Wildlife Management Area. Today, I ran the QMX with a 40M EFHW using a natural center support (i.e. tree) for an inverted V setup. My usual EFHW is for 20M but has a 2mm bullet connector on the end to add an extension for 30M or 40M. The 20M wire also has links for 15M and 17M to make it a no-tuner required multi-band setup to match the bands available on the QMX. Band conditions were decent with some QSB. The biggest challenge was the spotty cell service that prevented being able to spot myself at the beginning of the activation. Fortunately, the auto-respot feature in Ham2K Polo kicked in when cell service temporarily connected and posted me to the spots page. It made for a slow start, but signals were strong otherwise. The initial wave of contacts slowed down after the first 11. I stuck it out to finish with 13, just in case there were any issues - not that I've ever had one before. A big thanks to all the hunters that helped activate the park. ---------- Index 00:00:04 Intro 00:00:50 Antenna Setup 00:08:10 Radio/Logging Setup 00:11:45 Activation 00:37:30 Recap The following links were compiled using André's (VE2ZDX) ADIF to YouTube utility: https://ve2zdx.com/toolkit Time Callsign UTC 00:16:20 W5KEB 13˸35 00:17:08 KB1SF 13˸36 00:18:19 WD8NVN 13˸37 00:19:17 K5OGR 13˸38 00:20:10 K4HPP 13˸39 00:20:56 N9GZ 13˸40 00:21:40 KT4U 13˸40 00:22:37 W8LUT 13˸41 00:24:46 KA9BVX 13˸43 00:26:21 WI5D 13˸45 00:29:40 W8RTJ 13˸48 00:33:12 N9VFR 13˸52 00:33:59 AC5K 13˸53 QMX (midband) QRP at 5w https://qrp-labs.com/qmx 40M EFHW (Homebrew) RG-316 Coax https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078L79MV9 Talentcell 12V Lithium ion (2600mAh) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DY7Y1TLV VK3IL pressure paddle (kit) https://vk3il.net/pressure-paddle-v2/ Mini Portable Speaker (3w/3.5mm) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0824HK17J Notch Acculine Arborist Throwbag (10oz) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D7YCFQ6 OnePlus 9 Phone Camera DJI Mic Mini https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DDL8WGH5 EUCOS 62" Tripod https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09XHZ8F7F 3.5mm Female-Female Adapters https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01C9U3XI4 Cable Matters Retractable Aux Cable https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UGA6QIE ProCase Hard Travel Organizer (Large 11.8" x 8.0" x 3.3") https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CRKC9L7N Thanks for watching and I hope you stick around, subscribe and share the videos to help others enjoy the adventure. #CW #morsecode #practice #hamradio #pota #parksontheair #radio