Ham On A Bike

  Renowned Golfer Jack Nicklaus made this quote about fishing.  "There are always places to go fishing. For any fisherman there's always a new place, a new horizon".   I equate that quote to my portable Amateur Radio activities. There are always places to go operate Ham Radio.  There are always NEW Parks on the Air, Summits on the Air, Islands on the Air and other places to operate portable and another day or opportunity to make a QSO. During my daily Early Bird Parks on the Air activation on August 13, 2025, I decided to operate QRPp ( less than 1 Watt ) with my QRP Labs QCX 40 Meter Mini with a 9 Volt / 200 mAH battery.  Due to the excessive heat in the Ohio River Valley in Kentucky, U.S.;  I try to get out around dawn to "Beat the Heat" and recently take advantage of the morning greyline over my QTH. I don't operate QRPp often but I looked back at my previous QRPp operating and found I seem to do this when HF band conditions are questionable.  ...

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...

  WITH using James Watt As some of you know I do some QRPp Parks on the Air activations using the QRP Labs QCX Mini. For the past couple of years I've had GREAT results using my 40 and 20 meter QCX Mini with what I call, "My Smoke Detector Battery" setup This spring and so far this summer I've used both 40 and 20 meter QCX minis with a 9 volt/200mW battery for WSPR operations.  And most recently I've used the 9 volt/200mW battery with my 40 meter QCX Mini for for early morning CW Parks on the Air activations. While using my YouKits HB-1B during a POTA activation on April 29th, 2024, I set up another vertical antenna with my 20 meter QCX Mini to use as a WSPR station with a 9 volt/200mW battery. I ran this setup for almost an hour and was amazed with the distance and how many beacons picked up my less than a watt signal from Kentucky, USA.  QRP Labs QCXX Mini 20 Meters   A few days later on May 1, 2024; I decided to give it another try but this time on 40 meters wh...