It was a bit of a wintry day yesterday, Saturday 1/4/2025 - but everything was great and we were comfortable and felt safe in the Suburban while driving up the mountain to Grayson Highlands.
We started with a quick lunch at the Railroad Cafe in Whitetop, a great place that we almost always visit when going to this particular park - and not too far away.
Upon arrival at the park, the roads were snow-covered and icy in spots. The state trucks were clearing the roads a couple of times while we were there. Thank you to those guys and the park staff for keeping things open, clear and safe for us to enjoy.
In the wintertime, much of the park is closed down - but it's open year round - and there are still a couple of places to set up for winter radio work. If you go higher, more parking is available - but at the overlook, you will have cell service and decent data speeds. That makes logging and spotting easier, so that's where I usually like to set up.
I used the Yaesu FT-891 and the Yaesu ATAS-120A antenna, seen pictured below. I love this setup for mobile. I previously used some self-contained enclosures with radio/tuner/battery in a soft case which is great for field work, but not great for in-vehicle operations. This 891/ATAS setup is the most streamlined so far, for me. It allows you to get your keys and go - you don't pack anything radio-related at all. You just go. That allows the radio operator to establish and maintain dominance as top activator at your favorite park(s). :)
After trying many different logging solutions, for in-vehicle POTA, HAMRS is where it's at. Having "unlimited" power for your laptop and with access to wifi/data, being able to see confirmed call signs and with park to park contacts, being able to validate correct parks as heard on-air, is a plus. HAMRS also makes it easy to perform bulk edits to park numbers when activating in multiple parks. At this location, I activated both US-1303 (Grayson Highlands State Park) and US-9935 (Virginia Bird & Wildlife Trail).
Radio setups come and go, but so this is what I'm using now - and I'm loving it.
With a final tally of 110 contacts, I was able to reclaim my top activator spot in number of activations and number of QSOs. My personal goal is to maintain those rankings for this park as well as Hungry Mother State Park US-1303 in Smyth County, VA. And with this activation, order has now been restored. :)
I believe POTA makes us better operators. It makes every day field day. You find out what works and what doesn't. You find out how to make improvements to portability, antenna deployment techniques, battery and run time options vs weight, etc. I encourage more activators at these parks and others so that we can all be incentivized to get out there and keep activating and practicing!
Thanks to all the POTA hunters out there for helping to make Parks On The Air such a reliable and consistently fun part of the amateur radio hobby. 73! - KB4TAD