Blog
2025 WA0RC 2m Simplex Contest
In 2024, the Waypoint Amateur Radio Club (employee club at Garmin HQ in Olathe, KS) hosted a 2m Simplex Contest for all those in the Kansas City Metro. Based on good feedback from participants, we decided to run it again with some minor tweaks to the rules. As Vice...
2025 WA0RC 2m Simplex Contest
In 2024, the Waypoint Amateur Radio Club (employee club at Garmin HQ in Olathe, KS) hosted a 2m Simplex Contest for all those in the Kansas City Metro. Based on good feedback from participants, we decided to run it again with some minor tweaks to the rules. As Vice...
Activation Report: Little Jerusalem Badlands SP (POTA US-5717 + DM98)
After racing over from Lake Scott State Park and the somewhat frustrating activation I experienced there, my trip to Little Jerusalem Badlands State Park ended up being a nice change in scenery (literally). This park has actually been on my bucket list for some time...
Activation Report: Lake Scott SP (POTA US-2352 + DM98)
After setting out on my first new satellite activation of a Kansas State Park since 2020, I am back home with two new parks in the bag on my mission to operate satellites from them all. It was an exhausting ~36 hours of overnight Amtrak train rides, a couple hours of...
Western Kansas POTA Satellite Rove (DM98 + EM08 Grids)
On Friday, 4/18, I will be making a trip out to western Kansas to activate Lake Scott State Park (US-2352), Little Jerusalem State Park (US-5717), and hopefully Cedar Bluff State Park (US-2330) on satellites. This trip is my first step in 2025 toward (finally)...
2025 VP5/KD8RTT DXpedition Debrief
I am now back from my Turks and Caicos trip and settled with all my logs uploaded. It was a great vacation with plenty of beach time, exploring, and enjoying a respite from the cold Kansas City winter. While my daily update posts shed a little light on the trip, I...
VP5/KD8RTT 2/1 Update
Yesterday was a productive day for radio. I jumped on ISS FM and RS-44 passes and made a few contacts on the former. I was able to get into RS-44 just but was not able to complete a sked with a German ham as hoped. I also got on HF for about an hour and a half last...
VP5/KD8RTT 1/31 Update
Yesterday was a busy day of sea kayaking, exploring the Grace Bay shops, and checking out the Island Fish Fry, so I had no time allocated for radio. I still managed about an hour on 20m FT8 🙂 I only worked around twenty stations using a tuned wire strung up outside...
VP5/KD8RTT 1/30 Update
We spent yesterday at the beach and exploring the island. I was able to try RS-44 at 1808z, but was not able to make any contacts; while I was able to find myself on the downlink, my CQs were never full audible. There may be some interference at play. I also tried the...
VP5/KD8RTT 1/29 Update
I’ve made it to Turks and Caicos! After a relatively smooth travel day, we settled into our condo last evening. I was able to string up a quick wire on the porch and work a few stations on 30m FT8. More HF operations will happen this week in that style, likely in the...
Activation Report: Cuyahoga Valley National Park (POTA US-0020)
My brother Andy, KK4LWR, and I decided to do a quick activation of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park the day after Christmas as we were both in Cleveland visiting our parents for the holiday. My goal was to test out my FT-817, QBV 20/40m vertical antenna, and my...
Upcoming Turks and Caicos Islands DXpedition (VP5/KD8RTT)
From January 28th through February 2nd, 2025, I will be visiting the Turks and Caicos islands for vacation and will be bringing radio equipment with me for holiday-style satellite and HF operations. My main radio focus will be on satellites, FM, APRS, and SSB, but I...
Ham Shack Lightning Alerter with Raspberry Pi Pico
Our work amateur radio club, WA0RC, is very lucky in that we have been given a dedicated room for a club shack and have roof access. However, it is in what used to be a mechanical room, and as such, it is in the middle of the building with no windows. This means there...