Justin - KD0COV

A picnic shelter with a sign that says STATE TRAIL in Yellow, antenna and Wooden sign to the right

A sign that says Great River Ridge State Trail, A Cooperate Project Wabasha County - Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.

But the activation had some firsts:

- First winter activation. I got the spike about 2" into the frozen ground and the radials on the snow. It worked for 20m, but I couldn't get 10m to tune for anything.

- First time using the Raspberry Pi/DigiPi with […]

[Original post on mastodon.hams.social]

A "Bass" Neon sign with vinyl records in the front, DJ equipment and a piano keyboard.

A larger white and black/grey dog with poiny ears on a couch, records and flowers in the background.

A Neon coffee sign with cabinets of vinyl records in the back.

So yeah, wintertime POTA. but first:

Any and all Minnesotans, Iowans, and Western Wisconsinites: Run, don't walk to The Jazz Shepard Cafe in Elgin, MN.

It is one block from US-9382 Great River Ridge State Trail.

It combines three beautiful things […]

[Original post on mastodon.hams.social]

Every POTA spot should have a Jazz Cafe just one block away.

More later, but this was a nice treat

Me in a red Canada hat and chair sitting by the shoreline of a lake.

More snow in the Twin Cities. Ugh.

Time for a flashback to summer POTA on Lake Superior at dusk, a few miles from the Canadian border.

Looking forward to this again.

Sent out a few cards, wondering if they were received.

Don't know how far down to take this rabbit hole:

"Did you get my QSL?"
"I'm QSLing that you got my QSL"
"Thanks. QSL on your QSLing on my QSL."
"QSL. 73."
"73, QSL."

5 days of a bad cold has left me with little/no voice. Digital modes it is tonight.

On the upside I'm hanging out on JS8 frequencies on 40m in between hanging lights on a tree, so if you see my Heartbeat come say hi!

[Not ham but tech]

Dusted off my 17 year old HDHomeRun Network box.

Recent Linux programs aren't great with this thing, so I found the old one.

VLC being fussy, making it cooperate with mpv.

It's going.

Time to watch the Parade and get some turkey cooked!

(Families appreciate the nerdiness […]

KD0COV in red, 73 From Minnesota on the bottom right. Photos is of a frozen rock formation on Lake Superior.

After a long wait...it's finally here!

My first-ever QSL card. If I've had a QSO with you, let me know and I'll get it in the mail. No SASE needed for Fedi people's =D

FT8TW with "CQ" calls in Green and QSO contacts in Yellow.

It turns out that FT8TW has a beta version that works with FT4. I think it's got a few little bugs still, but I am super happy to have this extra mode in my pocket.

Honestly, any modern phone has the power to do a ton of digital modes. My dream is to get WoAD going on here.

Me: I should go out and do POTA on my work break at the 4 parks by my office! Maybe bike and QRP? Ooh, I should explore obscure bands.

Reality: It's windy, cold out, and gets dark by 4pm.

Me: Can I work remotely from Guam for 4 months? I hear the weather's nice and there's a few parks rarely […]

Wooden frame on a deck, a glass table has the aforementioned items. Garage in the back and vertical antenna on the right.

If yesterday was the last day of outside/backyard radio fun for the year at least it was a good one.

(Current "big" setup: FT-891, Pi/Digirig, portable power, Lifepo4 battery, JPC-12 antenna)

Wolsfeld Woods Scientific and Natural Area. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources

Woods and forests with leaves off of the trees.

And the second park is in the books. Two nice forested places on the edge of the Twon Cities.

Alright, let's do this.

Park 1 in 20m.

"Looks like I Picked The Wrong Week to Take Time off For POTA."

Looking at the solar forecasts.

Looking at my plans for tomorrow afternoon with one more warm day in the forecast.

Northern lights, streaking pink with some green and a few stars.

A garage with pink hues over it.

Good news: The lights are amazing in central Minnesota.

Bad News: The bands are pretty rough - I got all of one QSO tonight that wasn't 3-5 miles away.

An analog TV tuned to channel 3 with "snow" on it. It says 5 Watt Coffee in a decal.

See, this is just begging me to bring my HackRF and putting some Part15 transmissions on it.

A bag of coffee that says 5 Watt Coffee

A shirt that says Five Watt Coffee

A menu for 5 Watt Coffee

Been meaning to stop here, wonder if they'll let me bring my QRP rig and activate from the outside seating?

A Bob's Burgers "Burger of the Day" chalkboard that says: "Bacon Lettuce and 2-Meter Burger" (comes with J-Pole Shaped Fries)

Watching one of my favorite shows tonight and got inspired.

By the way - "Poor Conditions" on 20m apparently means "Lots of contacts in different modes with Central and South America" tonight.

Oof, tough crowd.

Got enough contacts in but even with a SSB contact to Brazil it took awhile. Still, better get out while we still have a few nice days left up here.

Orange diamond sign on the left tht says Perscribed Burn Ahead, do not report. On a trail with fall colors in the woods

Prescribed burn at the SNA today! Hopefully 10m is also on fire this afternoon.

#POTA ar Pine Bend Bluffs SNA on 10m shortly.

(And always remember to check with rangers/officials if they're doing work!)

Aliens from Toy Story in a Claw Machine. "I have been chosen, farewell my friends," they say.

Live shot of me finally getting a QSO callback after a big pileup.

Little POTA on the Prairie.

20m at sunset at the Shurburne National Wildlife Refuge.

Trees and blue sky. Trees are green, orange, and yellow.

A beautiful day at the SNA.

A 4-band activation for US-10727

The 2 Best parts of last weekend's POTA activation:

- Catching a guy at a park 20 miles south on 10 Meters.

- Talking to a man celebrating his 90th birthday. He wanted to hunt POTA stations for part of the day and was having fun scanning the bands. I hope I'm that enjoyable on the air at 90!

Map of Northern Hemisphere with green marks mostly in North America, 2 in Europe.

For fun, here's where One watt gets you on 30 Meters in the evening, using FT8 and JS8Call. Antenna is a EFHW out a window.

QTH = Minneapolis, Minnesota (or close enough)

Started with a Canadian QSO and ended with one 2 hours and 9 QSOs later.

#QRPP

Dude from They Live with sunglasses. An American Flag is to his right, but I'm happy with a QSO from anywhere.

I am here to QRPP and chew bubblegum, and I'm all out of bubblegum.

Fleawatting Friday, FT8 on 30m. Might go JS8 if I'm curious.

#QRPP

A sign that says Gateway Garden, Gateway State Trail on the left. Sign that says welcome in multiple languages on the right.

I wish this was where I finished my activation today, but I wasn't having much luck & there were gardeners starting to need the parking space.

Went to my usual spot on the Gateway instead. 10m only but open to South America.

A blue sky, trees, a blue river, and trees on the other side.

Any chance to do POTA by the shoreline should be taken.

We had a great time at William O'Brein State Park on the MN/WI border while the weather is still good. Made a ton of Park-to-Park contacts on 40m and 20m.

Despite some quirks it's going well -- getting on JS8 and had a nice QSO the last two nights on 2 different bands. It's a nice, slow mode I can take my time on with low power.