The WB0NWZ
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My life-POTA partner, Margaret, and I traveled to Colorado and Utah 2025 June 5-10 for our second POTA excursion of the year. We used Green River, UT, as our base to make several daily "runs." While I worked the radio, Margaret caught up on her reading and napping, getting to relax for real after recently retiring. 20 meters was the go-to band. There was some activity on others, but I stuck to what provided the best chance of making the minimum number of 10 QSOs at each spot. On one day, we managed six spots (including a common "2fer" park), earning the POTA "Warthog Rover" certificate (Hakuna Matata, every one!). Spotting was "spotty" on some occasions, but I still managed a good expedition. Out of an initial list of 25 parks, being the perpetual optimist, I managed to make QSOs from 14, which included a number of "2fers", i.e., two POTA parks while at one location. In all, I had 324 QSOs, including more than 100 on one day. All QSOs have been uploaded to QRZ, eQSL, and LoTW. I sent out more than 100 QSL cards and have received nearly 20 in return. That's not a bad rate when sending cards "in the blind" in many cases. Among those returns were some very nice notes, e.g., someone's first QSL card in more than 20 years and - in return - getting his card from more than 30 years ago when he was more into contesting. My thanks to all who answered the call from the wilds of Colorado and Utah and to those who sent a card or eQSL. I have another "expedition" of sorts in mind, one that can earn a certificate suitable for framing. Keep an eye out on my QRZ page. I put together an album of photos from our trip. You can download it as a PDF using this link. |
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| Successful POTA Stops During the Excursion | |
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Thursday, June 5: Colorado & Utah |
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| 5 QSOs |
US-1237 Rifle Gap SP Beautiful views! |
| 30 QSOs |
US-5762
Westwater Canyon of the Colorado BLM Very nice location, though the paved road in is bumpy. |
| Friday, June 6: Utah | |
| 50 QSOs |
US-5857
San Rafael Reef Viewing Area +
US-5867 San Rafael Swell Nice coversations with people stopping by to see what I was doing. |
| 90 QSOs |
US-5866 San Rafael Bridge +
US-5867 San Rafael Swell Spectacular views along the 25 miles from the Interstate to the site. Afterwards, we visited the Buckhorn Pictograph panel. A total of 140 QSOs for US-5867. |
| Saturday, June 7: Utah | |
| 20 QSOs |
US-5817 Lone Mesa +
US-5820 Big Mesa BLM RMA Bands took a nose dive from yesterday. |
| 15 QSOs |
US-11665 Horsethief BLM +
US-5820 Big Mesa BLM RMA Bandthief was more like it. General area very crowded with events. Several QSY to avoid heavy QRM. A total of 35 QSOs for US-5820. |
| 12 QSOs |
US-0010 Canyonlands National Park Stunning scenery. Dismal propagation. |
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Sunday, June 8: Utah |
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| 20 QSOs |
US-11654 North Klondike Barren land but a park is a park. 20m was a bit kinder, but QRM in General area was terrible. Needed more hunters in Advanced area, 14.175-14.225. |
| 21 QSOs |
US-5816 Cooper Ridge Dino Tracks All of 0.3 miles down the road from previous spot. A 500 foot walk up a hill led to some fascinating dinosaur tracks. Still fought heavy QRM and band was fading a bit. 10-17m were essentially dead. |
| 15 QSOs. |
US-0004 Arches National Park Set up in a pull-out along the road. Trying to hear faint stations over the roar of passing cars made things "fun." On average, it was taking about an hour to get 15 QSOs. No pileups today! |
| Monday, June 9: The "Colorado River Run" | |
| 16 QSOs |
US-11650 Cisco Takeout +
US-4575 Old Spanish Historic Trail. A bleak area over a rough "paved" road, but right next to the Colorado River. Mine was only the second activation for the spot. |
| 18 QSOs |
US-5763 Fish Forde Also in a bleak area and only the third time the spot has been activated. |
| 16 QSOs |
US-5760 Dewey Bridge +
US-5794
Colorado Riverway BLM RMA. A nice spot within the Colorado RIver canyon going south to Moab. This was only the third activation for this spot and came about 30 months after the previous one. |
| 19 QSOs |
US-5770 Hittle Bottom +
US-5794
Colorado Riverway BLM RMA. Another pretty spot along Utah Hwy 128. It is too bad that most people motoring down the road think the speed limit is a minimum, and warp at that. I had to pull over too many times to let the Indy 500 cars pass. |
| 3 QSOs |
US-5781 Big Bend
US-5794
Colorado Riverway BLM RMA. With only three QSOs, this did not count as a activation for US-5781. I think it was because the battery was weakening, although the power output meter said full power. |
| Made only five of the seven planned stops. Thanks to three of the stops being "2fers," I did manage six parks in one day, which earned a "Rover Warthog" POTA award for making at least five park activations in the same UT day. | |
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Tuesday, June 10: Colorado Alas, no spots this day. I was too tired and, even without stopping, we did not get home until after 6PM local time. MANY thanks to all the hunters, some of whom found me almost every day. |
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