Ham On A Bike

The Parks on the Air program has revitalize my passion for Amateur Radio.  I am fortunate to live in an urban area where I have several POTA sites near my home that is convenient for me to activate by bicycle or if I choose, public transportation.  The metropolitan Louisville area and the southern Indiana cities of Jeffersonville, Clarksville and New Albany, located along the Ohio River across from Louisville, KY. USA has an abundant area of parks and historical POTA sites that provide stunning, serene, and picturesque areas to setup to operate portable Ham Radio activities. Below is an example of a portion charming scenery of Louisville, KY's Waterfront area near downtown along the Ohio River which is part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Trail (US-4572) that is part of the Parks on the Air list.  A portion of the waterfront  on the Ohio River at  Louisville, KY USA There is one drawback urban Parks on the Air operating especially along the banks of the Ohio River betwee

  There is something spiritual and innate about the early morning moments of a new day.  As a Ham Radio operator who does a lot of Parks on the Air,  that moment the sun peaks just above the horizon introducing the freshness of a new day is incredibly serene.    Living in Kentucky, USA, summer mornings can be insufferable. At times, the heat island of Louisville situated in the Ohio River Valley creates a vicious daily cycle of high heat and high humidity during the daylight hours with nighttime conditions never providing cooler relief. Some days at dawn the temperatures can be in the low 80's with humidity near or above 70%.  That's why most of my summer Parks on the Air and portable activities were done at sunrise to avoid those dangerous conditions.   Those Terrestrial weather conditions along with Space weather conditions (Solar Flares - Radio Blackouts) during the summer months found me doing what I called, "Beat The Heat" activations. I've found getting in a

  It's My Frequency .... BUT! I've been siting on the contents of this blog for several weeks.  As we move forward through the recovery process from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, and NOW with the approahing CAT 4 Milton about to slam Florida the week of October 7th, 2024, I felt there is no  better time than the present to post this topic about  "IT'S MY FREQUENCY!" Recently I've began spending some time returning to some of the digital modes I've been absent from for quite a while. I was dismayed to hear some vocal chatter from operators of frequencies TRADITIONALLY set aside for digital operations.  The vocal chatter consisted of operators stating they knew it was for digital operation but I'm going to use it anyway. Let me put it out there. NO ONE OWNS A FREQUENCY. TRUE. BUT..... I also understand the eagerness to get on the air and capture that rare DX, or that POTA or SOTA operator you've wanted for months or that last state for your WAS

Amateur Radio - From The Back Rooms to the Open Air W3HCW 1957 Photo: Courtesy https://www.twocommunications.com/ For most of my early years of my Amateur Radio existence, operators' stations locations were known for their simple, modest and sometimes enormous antenna towers. This was and is basically a good indication that a "Ham Radio" operator resides somewhere near those structures.  And if you had the opportunity to visit the radio rooms (Ham Shack) of those operators, some of them may have been in a corner of a room, in a closet, a spandrel, a garage, a shed or look similar to the photo above In today's world, that is far from the case.  Due to HOAs (Home Owner's Associations) and other covenant restrictions, ham operators in their infinite ingenuity, come up of many types of inconspicuous means of assembling antennas to enjoy their hobby. The minimization of electronics have given Ham Radio operators the ability to communicate "To infinity and Beyond&q