I started the day out making a 20m 1/4 wave “Fishing Pole” vertical antenna since I have not deployed a HF vertical in several months.

I cut 16'4 inches of 18ga “speaker wire” for the vertical element and four ground radials at around 16’ using leftover 22ga wire. I soldered the connectors on and deployed it in the front yard to trim it to the analyzer. I ended up trimming more than I thought I would, but it was still showing good on the nanoVNA. This speaker wire must be electrically longer than the tape measure shows, because I trimmed it shorter than I figired I should and it was still getting better. That being said, I was wondering how it would work during a POTA activation and possibly to be used for a demo at a future club meeting.

To deploy the antenna, I tape it to a “Fishing Pole” or also know as a “Squid Pole” or “Crappie Pole”. This gets the top up to about 18’ in the air.

Here was the setup:

• PARK: US-4451 - Tuskegee National Forest: Taska Recreation Area
• GRID: EM72ek
• ELEVATION: Approx. 400+ feet
• RIG: Yaesu FT-891 + ATU130 tuner. Set to 20M band and 50W power output initially on SSB, adjusted down to 18W as the day ran on with FT8/FT4.
• ANTENNA: 20m Fishing Pole Vertical with 4x 16’ ground radials
• BATTERY: 12v 23Ah LiFePO4

I headed out to Taska in the Tuskegee National Forest where I meet up with KX4BY and his dog. We spent a few minutes surveying the area and also checked out a neat old fire lookout tower down the road.

Deployment time…. Tape the vertical to the fishing pole, put the pole in the tripod stand, attach the ground radials, unrolll the coax, hookup the rig and battery and it’s good to go.

Tuned 20m real quick. Spun up the VFO a few notches and came across a POTA in Road Island. SSB contact PARK-2-PARK right away. Good sign, hearing a lot of POTA hunters and they are sounding pretty clear.

Got the SSB done, so it was time to deploy the Digirig. Hooked it up. Called “CQ POTA” on 14.074 and almost immediately had several hunters calling back.

Two hours later, 40 contacts, 17M and 20M, SSB, FT4 and FT8, casually taking my time with all the contacts.

I was really impressed with the DX… Not only Brazil, Spain and South Africa, but also ZB2CM in Gibraltar! The simple Antenna works!

All the red on the laptop screen indicated incomming “Hunters” and at times was more than I could answer at once.

MAP and STATS: