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I had to travel to Eastern Ohio for work, and rather than stay in a hotel, I figured I'd stay in a national park, so that I could play radio every evening. Three nights in Cuyahoga National Park to be exact. It's a forest, which means out there, in the woods, areRacoons, Eagles, Fungus Carrying Bats, and Coyote. There are also Fox, Possum, Mice, Rats, and Skunks.
Well, none of that scares me! I'm a big bad ham radio operator. Because I spent the whole first day getting there, setting up Monday night had to be done in the dark. Thanks to my incredible bravery I was able to set up my antenna by flashlight, unload the rest of my gear and set up the operating position where I was going to have to brave the next 3 nights of ham radio activation:
Well, none of that scares me! I'm a big bad ham radio operator. Because I spent the whole first day getting there, setting up Monday night had to be done in the dark. Thanks to my incredible bravery I was able to set up my antenna by flashlight, unload the rest of my gear and set up the operating position where I was going to have to brave the next 3 nights of ham radio activation:
It's all in how you spin the story isn't it? So, where in Cuyahoga did I find such a great operating position? At a Bed and Breakfast inside the park! The accommodations couldn't have been more perfect! The place I stayed was The Inn at Brandywine Falls which is a great place, run by Katie and George. I found the Inn through the National Park Service web site for Cuyahoga Valley National Park the last time I was in the area, so I had decided that when I needed to come back I was going to make reservations, so that I could activate in the evenings, from a comfy spot! I e-mailed the owners to let them know what I wanted to do, and they were very accommodating. While it wasn't snowing at the time I was there, this would be an awesome spot for anyone wanting to activate this winter, who doesn't want to be stuck out in the cold....the picture from their website below says it all:
Because I was in the area for work I didn't get to stay for the breakfast each morning, so they actually packed my breakfast to go! Now that's service!!
The Radio Stuff
So here's the summary of the setup I used; Inside, I had my Yeasu 857d, running either directly to the antenna or through my LDG YT100 tuner (depending on the band.) This was powered by my 30amp MFJ power supply running through a RigRunner 4004U. I set the radio equipment next to the window and ran the coax out. The room I stayed in (The James Wallace Parlour) also had it's own exterior door, which made getting in and out to my antenna super easy! Because I had a comfortable place to set up, I also had my Dell Latitude E6430 ATG laptop (This is "rough and ready laptop" perfect for those that take a laptop places that most others don't, despite what that 1 guy on Amazon says.) and my Signalink USB so that I could do digital modes as well.
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Outside the window, at the other end of my coax, in the big grassy yard, was my Buddipole Mast. I used several configurations throughout the 3 days. In band order (but not necessarily the order I operated in) I used the standard 20 meter dipole configuration, my home-made NVIS wire with the VersaT as the feed-point, and something that I rigged up on the spot with no prior testing - an 80 meter NVIS antenna. You might notice too, the caution tape to warn any unsuspecting wanderers of the wires on the ground, and in the air.
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For the 80 meter antenna, I basically disconnected my 40 meter wire, connected an 11" arm and one of the coils to each side of the Buddipole feedpoint, and then reconnected my 40 meter wire, to make a loaded 80 meter dipole. It actually worked, and I put a few in the NPOTA log on 80! If anyone has a buddipole and wants to recreate this, it technically would have been an OCF dipole, because on the shield side, I used the whole coil, and on the center conductor side, I jumped the coil about halfway. This gave me an SWR under 2:1 across most of the General portion of the voice part of the band. My tuner knocked it down to go anywhere else in the band I wanted to wander.
How did it Go?
Ultimately, I had 3 nights. The first night, Monday, was spent mostly setting up. The spoiler on monday night was that the batteries in my Antenna Analyzer died, and I didn't have spares, so I was stuck to just 40 meters where I knew my wire was resonant. I only managed a couple contacts that night. The second night was downpouring, so even though I had stopped and picked up batteries, I didn't mess with the antenna. For that reason night 2 was spent back and forth between 40 meters ssb and 40 meters digital. Got a bunch of contacts though! The last night was the home-run night. I started on 20, got a bunch. Went to 40, got a bunch more. Went to 80, got a few more, Went back to 40 digital, and got a couple more. In the several hours on Wednesday night I ended up with somewhere over 100 contacts - what a blast!
So, to wrap it up, in case you didn't figure it out, I wasn't roughing it at all. This was by far my "cushiest" NPOTA activation, and I can recommend it to anyone! If you're looking for a place to do an activation this November or December, but don't want to mess around in the cold too much I can definitely recommend The Inn and Brandywine Falls, inside of NP14!
73 de N3VEM
P.S. It's also close to this place if you want to stop by like I did:
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