Currently, I get to “enjoy” having off from work on Mondays. So, I took the opportunity to go try out a new tuner and antenna setup at a local park. Walter Hill Floodplain State Natural Area isn’t very big or scenic (just google Trash Mountain in TN). But, it is minutes from my home QTH, and there’s plenty of room to play radio. I took my Yaesu FT-891, a new LDG Z100 Plus tuner, and a lightweight EFHW for 40/20M with to give it a go.
I started by hunting other POTA stations on 20M, but that wasn’t quite enough to get the 10 contacts I needed. I filled in the middle of the log after calling CQ a few times, before I remembered the 891’s “playback” feature. You can record a CQ (or any other often used message), and play it back with the press of a button…very convenient. That netted me a few more QSOs, and I finished out the 10 contacts hunting some more POTA operators. Setup and takedown were much easier than with the mast I normally carry, but I feel like the EFHW doesn’t perform nearly as well as the inverted V on the mast. Oh well! I still enjoyed it, and I’m much more likely to do more impromptu POTA activations when the setup is less complicated.
