POTA

My first POTA activation on January 9, 2021

VE-0198 Earl Rowe Provincial Park

Thanks to KC1MGA, K8GQ, WB9FXQ, KG4DJY, WN9P, W4OY, WA9DAU, N4ESU, K4SHF, N1PGF, K2HA, KO4EBY, NO2C, N3TU, AI4F, K1KTF, KI0EB, K9ICP, KC9IL, KW2DX, KC3OTP, NT2A, N4CWB, KC1NEK, KC3PFR, K2JWD, N1TIZ, N2YDC, KE9ND, KZ9F, K4RLT, N3GDS, K4CAE, KB2TGU, AB4ER, NE4TN, K3JRZ, KI4NSP, K3DBI, N3CDF, K2WPM, KE8LGN, K9YQ, KC1NAJ, K9EPD, WW4PM, W1ENB, KN4SEF, W0LMU, KG4UFV, N1JTK, W4NLT, KC3OEP/M, W8DKC, KX4PK, N1CCC, N9DRC, KC2DPF, KA9JCP, KB0DK, VE3SL, KE0BVQ, KA0LDG, KM4ODS, W3UC, W2MSA, W2ASC, KK0GT, N1IBQ, KB0FUL, N8TU, KC9OYE, for my first park activation.

Now, what is not in the video...

The video was an improvised recording by my family that was seated in the back of the car, so only few QSOs are taped and nothing about the setup.

I went to two other parks on previous days and I couldn't tune the antenna. High SWR, radio was acting erratically, even at low power, etc.
In my case it seems I needed to ground the antenna and the radio to get it to work. Once I've added the braided strips for grounding to the car body, everything started to work as expected. I noticed some hams don't do this and don't have any issues with mag mounts. Certainly it wasn't my case.

I received questions about what was used for the activation, so here is the list:

• Transceiver FT-857D at 100W on the 40M band (with ground braided strip to car body)

• Antenna Opek HVT-400B for mobile

• Magnetic base on the roof of the car (grounded with a braided strip to the car body)

• 12V 35AH battery deep cycle sealed AGM

• Pen and Paper log (next time will try using VLS Logger for Android)

• SWR was around 2, I didn't spend much time tuning the antenna