As you may have seen in my previous posts, after a bunch of uncertainty, I ended up at the William Howard Taft National Historic Site for a National Parks on the Air activation (or as my 4 year old ham in training says - actimation.)

     My activation at this park actually started as a plan to activate a different park, and with only VHF/UHF.  I was going to be doing a two city tour of Ohio for my work.  The week started in Cincinnati and ended in Columbus.  Because I was flying into Cincinnati I first thought I would just take my buddipole antenna kit along as my "personal item" on the plane, and then hook up my HT to it, and do some FM Simplex from a park that was in between the two cities.  After an e-mail exchange with an obviously very confused park superintendent, I decided to just find a different park, and the folks at the William Howard Taft site were very accommodating, even with very short notice.
     As I was planning the trip, I decided to take along my UHF only mobile radio, to see if I could have any luck there, and I was pretty sure it would fit in my carry-on.  That quickly turned into me realizing that if I could take that radio, I could just take my 857d and have a proper HF activation.  I checked the TSA website, and ham radio equipment is specifically listed as "allowed" so I figured I shouldn't have any problems (and I didn't!  They didn't even bat an eye at airport security!)
     With that thought in mind, into the carry-on went my 857d, some power wire, some coax, and my antenna analyzer.  The buddiepole kit was my personal item, so I managed to pack 4 days worth of clothes, and an entire 100 watt HF station, without needing to check a single bag!

     I snaked the power cable, to a picnic table where I set up my operations.  I did have my laptop along, as I always do for work, so I was able to do my computer logging, which is always nice.

     The only thing I didn't have with me that I normally do that I wasn't sure how I'd get around, was my big ground screw that I normally use to anchor/guy my buddipole.  I knew it would be asking too much to get that on an airplane, so I left it at home and figured I'd use the spare tire from the rental to act as a counter-weight for the same purpose.  It dawned on me as I was setting up, that I had something better though!
     As part of my work, I had shipped some equipment ahead of myself to the first office I was at, and then threw it in the car to take with me on the drive to the second office.  This equipment totaled just under 70lbs, and is all in a Pelican case, which turned out to be the perfect anchor!

     Once I was set up and ready to rock and roll, I snapped some additional pictures of my temporary station:

     After the activation, I even took a tour of the home, in which photography was allowed!  I spotted a couple neat things, which included what would have made a very stately shack chair, if W. H. Taft had been a radio operator!

     I had a blast!  My work will keep me bouncing around the northeast for a little bit, as we are in the process of rolling out some new software and doing the trainings for it.  This means that while this was only my third activation, there will be more to come from me in the very near future - keep spinning the big knob, because the next one will be here before you know it!  

You may not have noticed, but I updated one of my recent posts where I talked about my upcoming trip. I initially thought I was going to be limited to VHF/UHF but I decided to go for it and take HF gear, and I managed to figure out how to make it all fit in my carry-on / personal item. I did double check the TSA site first, to make sure that there are not going to be any issues!
​ First - This will be my personal item:

All that is in there is the antenna, and a bungee cord. My plan will be to use the spare tire of the rental car as the counter weight under the antenna to "guy" to. I normally use a ground screw for that, but wasnt sure about getting a giant sized pointy corkscrew through security.
My 857d, an antenna analyzer, and a coil of extra coax and power lead all fit nicely in my carry-on. I'm pumped because I hate checking bags, and it looks like I'll be able to maintain my record of flying with only carry-ons while also bringing enough gear for an HF NPOTA activation! Here's how the stuff fits - you cant see everything because some stuff is inside other stuff, like shoes: