QRP Wizardry: Mastering Low-Power POTA During Poor Band Conditions

What can happen with ever-changing band conditions, propagation, space weather and a QRP radio during a Parks On The Air (POTA) activation? Subscribe be part of my 2000 Subscriber Giveaway! https://tinyurl.com/42cvrd7v Changing band conditions, propagation and space weather are all part of amateur radio and there is no way around that. You hear another station coming to you loud and clear and all of the sudden their signal dips down into the noise, making in almost, if not completely, inaudible. These changes can't be avoided nor do they adhere to your schedule. These constant changes make Parks On The Air @ParksOnTheAir (POTA) activations more challenging. Now you add a QRP (low power) radio and a compromised antenna, the challenge gets even harder. This POTA activation is again from US-1743 White Clay Creek State Park @DelawareStateParks17 and US-0898 White Clay Creek National Wild & Scenic River @NationalParkService in Newark, Delaware at the Carpenter Recreation Area location (this location is not a 3fer, just a 2fer). Watch the video to see everything that happened! Thank you to the all of the hunters and fellow activators for the contacts! New POTA-themed QSL cards are IN! QSL info can be found on my QRZ page. ALL amateur radio operators world-wide need to know the DX CODE OF CONDUCT. It was meant for DX contacts, but it really applies to ALL aspects of amateur radio (DXing, contesting, POTA, SOTA, Field Day, special events, etc...). DON'T BE AN ALPHA HOTEL! http://dx-code.com. EQUIPMENT USED: Radio: FX-4CR SDR HF Transceiver DIRECTLY FROM BG2FX - GET YOUR OWN AT www.bg2fx.com! Mount: ULANZI MT-33 Flexible Mini Tripod @ulanzi Antenna: MFJ 1620T 20M HF Stick & Shark Antenna S-F15 Ham Stick Tuner: MAT-TUNER mAT-10 Automatic Tuner Coax Cables: ABR Industries @ABRindCoax N9SAB's 1:1 QRP Nano Dipole Balun/Choke for Common Mode Currents/Noise Reduction Gen II - http://bit.ly/3UEy9Zf Case: Apache 2800 Weatherproof Protective Case (Medium) Tri Mag Mount: MFJ 336S Battery: Bioenno Power 12V, 4.5Ah LFP Battery Tripod: UBeesize 64" Phone Tripod @ubeesize9784 External Microphone: DJI Mic Kit + DJI Lavalier @DJI Camera: iPhone 15 Pro Max Logging Device: iPad Pro (Spotting, information & logging) Logging App: KI2D's Ham2K Portable Logger (a.k.a. "PoLo") Tumbler: RTIC 30 oz Insulated Tumbler Ham Stick Bag: Lixada 55 Inch Fishing Rod Bag Large Tool Bag, T-shirt, iPad Pro sleeve and various pouches from Special Operations Equipment @SOEtacticalgear (SOE): https://www.originalsoegear.com or https://www.soetacticalgear.com Range Shorts & hat from Kitanica @KitanicaUSA - https://kitanica.com 3D PRINTED QR CODE PLAQUES - EMAIL Jess N4JAH via QRZ.com -- 💚 Support the Channel 💚 Please like 👍 & subscribe ✅ and click the bell 🔔 for notifications of new videos! Don't forget to leave a comment 📜! ☕️ Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/K3JRZ 🅿️ Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/K3JRZ Connect with me on: ✖️🐦 X/Twitter - https://twitter.com/k3jrz 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/k3jrz/ -- Parks On The Air - https://parksontheair.com Parks On The Air Facebook group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/parksontheair/ Parks On The Air Slack group - https://parksontheair.slack.com Parks On The Air spotting/stats/awards/and more site - https://pota.app LOCATION INFO: White Clay Creek State Park - https://destateparks.com/whiteclaycreek White Clay Creek State Park Map - https://destateparks.com/wwwroot/maps/white-clay-creek/WhiteClayCreekMap.pdf White Clay Creek State Park on Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Clay_Creek_State_Park White Clay Creek National Wild & Scenic River - http://whiteclay.org Map of White Clay Creek National Wild & Scenic River - https://nps.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=ff42a57d0aae43c49a88daee0e353142 NPS' National Wild and Scenic Rivers program - https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1912/index.htm Article from the NPS on the White Clay Creek National Wild & Scenic River - https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/white-clay-creek-wild-and-scenic-river.htm White Clay Creek on Rivers.gov (National Wild & Scenic River System) - https://www.rivers.gov/rivers/white-clay.php -- MUSIC COPYRIGHT 1992 - 1997 BY GANGSTER PUMP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. -- CONTACT TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 - Intro 01:17 - KD5FMU - P2P - https://www.youtube.com/@HamRadioCrusader 03:16 - KB9VBR - P2P - https://www.youtube.com/@KB9VBRAntennas 04:48 - W4WKU - P2P 06:10 - WE4CB - P2P 06:59 - WD9GCO - P2P 08:33 - N9ITB - P2P 08:57 - NW9F - P2P - https://www.youtube.com/@GraymanPOTA 10:03 - KN4NGK 10:41 - W9MID - P2P 12:06 - K3LWD - P2P 13:16 - KB2GCG 14:02 - Recap/Outro -- I am not affiliated administratively with the Parks On The Air organization, but a happy participant in the POTA program. --